Even if you threw yourself into it (which you shouldn’t!), there is a big list of things to accomplish to expand your business—more than you could fit into your calendar. You should dedicate the limited hours in a day to the truly important things.
A virtual assistant (VA) can handle some of that work, giving you more time to focus on what’s important. Tasks performed by virtual assistants include everything from cold outreach calls to internal administrative labor.
There are many alternatives available to you when it comes to assigning tasks to a virtual assistant. While more specialized assistants can perform a variety of duties of their own, general virtual assistants can handle a range of administrative and clerical tasks.
Typical Tasks for a Virtual Assistant
When most people think of what VAs do, these are the tasks that come to mind. While they’re not the only ones, several of these are the bread and butter of an assistant’s job. However, they are still tasks that the majority of assistants can do, and they serve as a solid foundation for our list.
Email Management
Emails receive a lot of internal and external messages. This implies that having an untidy inbox can seriously hinder your productivity.
A virtual assistant can sort messages in your work inboxes, whether they’re yours or shared with your team (like questions or tech support). A virtual assistant (VA) can weed out pointless messages, and mark those that require immediate attention.
To make this easier in the future, they can also assist you with setting up mailing lists and folders.
Management of Calendars
Another typical responsibility is managing the calendar, particularly for executive assistants who work remotely. This includes, at the very least, setting up meetings, sending out invites and reminders, and keeping an eye out for scheduling difficulties.
Advanced calendar management is examining the daily and weekly schedules of an executive or team and then maximizing time for concentrated work while minimizing ineffective gaps in their workday.
Data Entry
You can concentrate on your primary duties by assigning your virtual assistant the task of data entry. It’s actually among the most popular and original virtual assistant services available today. Virtual assistants perform data entry-related tasks such as cleansing or checking information, obtaining specific data, and converting databases into easily usable file formats.
Having a VA manage your data results in easier, more structured access across teams and more accurate records.
Investigate any unpaid bills.
If you bill clients for your business, you are aware of how tedious and time-consuming it can be to chase down unpaid bills. You can give your virtual assistant the duty as soon as you send out an invoice. They will keep an eye on the payment, shoot you a message when they get it, and check in if it’s not paid within a set time. It speeds up the payment process for you without giving you headaches from tracking down and managing several unpaid bills.
As a business owner, you would be better off using your time to complete tasks that you can bill for later rather than attempting to collect money for completed work.
Market Research
As a business owner, you are aware that success requires you to keep abreast of emerging trends in your field. You must be aware of the topics that people are discussing, what interests them, and what your rivals are up to.
Since conducting market research requires a lot of time, assigning it to your virtual assistant is a terrific idea. A virtual assistant can conduct market research and compile an annual or quarterly report on any shifts that could affect your company. They can recognize significant shifts in your target market’s demographics as well as in the economy at large.
Your virtual assistant can collect the necessary data and create a report for you without the need for any specialized knowledge or access to a paid database because this is foundational research. With the help of the information your virtual assistant gives you, you can surpass your competitors, grow your business, and supply your clients with what they need.
Answer emails from customer service.
Any business that sells goods or services will have a large volume of customer support emails that need to be answered regularly.
These frequent requests can include everything from a consumer asking for a refund to being locked out of their account. While responding to emails from customer service should be done promptly, most of them don’t require any particular expertise.
By managing your customer service emails, your virtual assistant may free up a large chunk of your day and escalate anything complicated or important to you or another team member.
Conclusion
Delegating work to virtual assistants can drastically improve the efficiency of your company and save you time.
These ten activities cover various administrative duties that can be easily delegated to skilled virtual hands, from scheduling and email management to customer assistance and website updates.
Now that you are free of these obligations, you can focus all of your energy on growing your company and reaching new heights of success.
Speak with our knowledgeable staff to start working with a virtual assistant and regain control of your days while realizing your company’s full potential. We will pair dedicated professionals with you based on your required knowledge and expertise.