5 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Support Your Business

Virtual assistants can add exponentially to your time each day. When your VA works on tasks that don’t generate income but are nonetheless necessary to your business, it allows you to focus on those that directly impact your earnings.

A VA can do the same type of work as an onsite assistant, as long as he or she has the right technology in place. Here is a list, not comprehensive by any means, of various activities that a VA can manage on  your behalf, along with the technology that helps them perform these tasks.

Customer Service

Install a ticketing system for your clients to request information or assistance, and provide your VA with answers to the most frequently asked questions. She can then sign into the ticketing system and respond to most of the client concerns and questions on your behalf, sending you only the most serious issues to deal with. If you’re not ready for a ticketing system, you can give your VA access to your customer service emails. She can answer them for you, and pass on the serious ones to you to deal with personally. You can even grant your VA the authority to give refunds when needed.

Document Preparation

Whether editing, formatting, proofreading or creating the entire document, many VAs can do these tasks expertly. You can send rough handwritten or typed drafts with bullet points that you want to cover, or even create a digital recording for your VA to transcribe. Files may be transmitted by email, or by using collaboration tools such as Google Docs, Dropbox, or a project management system such as Central Desktop, Trello, or Basecamp.

Bookkeeping

Whether you hire an accounting professional or  you assign your VA to bookkeeper duties entering data into a spreadsheet or an online system like QuickBooks online or waveaccounting.com,  your VA can take these tasks off your hand. Simply scan receipts, checks, and expenditures and income, put into your Dropbox or send by email, and let your VA do the rest. If you hire a professional bookkeeper or accountant, they can even prepare your financial documents for you.

If you don’t already have an accounting system, an experienced virtual bookkeeper can also recommend the best one for your business. This Wave Accounting Review from Cloudwards gives a great overview of the app and compares it to QuickBooks online and FreshBooks.

Article Marketing

If you are marketing your business online, you’re likely engaging in article marketing. Provide your VA with your articles, along with your article marketing directory accounts and password information. He or she can then post your articles on your behalf. Using Dropbox, a project management system, or email works great for these tasks.

Administrative Tasks

Virtual assistants can manage your calendar, appointments, contacts, travel meetings, data entry, research and more, depending on what technology you’ve invested in and the needs of your business.

While all of these tasks are necessary to keep your business running well, they are not the best use of your time.

Just think – instead of spending 10 to 20 hours a week on activities that don’t earn money for your business, if you assign them to a VA, you’ll have that much more time to focus on the tasks in your business that are money-makers.  You’ll see a large return on your investment when you outsource these tasks to an experienced virtual assistant.

Photo: © PhotoXpress / Paul G. Moore