15 Signs your Business needs a Virtual Assistant

As an entrepreneur or business owner, you need flexibility to handle the ups and downs in the business operation. But what can you do about the daily workload?

Your clock allows you only 24 hours to finish the task at hand. However, there may be unavoidable suituation when the workload becomes overloaded and you are deciding to avail additional support. This is where the role of virtual assistant comes in.

In this blog, we’ll go over some of the signs that will tell you it’s time to get a virtual assistant to help you maintain business efficiency.

• If you are an entrepreneur.
• If you are new to your business and are unable to handle it with the existing strength of employees.
• If you are thinking of expanding your business using cost-effective solutions.
• If you want to focus on managing the major tasks, which will boost your sales.

1. When you are completely new in the market and are missing out on many opportunities due to mismanagement of time and work.
2. When you get overburdened by administrative work and cannot focus on other tasks that could potentially grow your business.
3. You already have an established business and have plans to launch new products or services or open a new unit.
4. You have a well-running business, but your expertise is limited to a few tasks. However, you are trying hard to accomplish them but are still unsuccessful.
5. When you cannot prioritize the urgency of the tasks and fail to meet the deadlines.
6. Your well-established business is going through a rough patch, and you need to boost it in a pocket-friendly way.
7. When you struggle to take, follow up, and get back to clients and end up losing them in the process.
8. You are taking up projects but unable to deliver them on time or are completely unable to take up new projects due to the existing workload.
9. If you find it hard to ace the social media game or are unfamiliar with the use of its features like reels, hashtags, videos, content, etc.
10. When you have health issues that hinder your business growth.
11. Your business is running smoothly, but you cannot maintain the work-life balance and fail to meet family expectations.
12. You are unable to rent an office space or hire full-time employees.
13. When you feel the pressure is unbearable and your body and mind are getting over-stressed.
14. You feel less enthusiastic about expanding your clientele or taking your business further.
15. The competitive market is not letting you stay ahead with your business plan, and you are lagging behind.

Are you still unsure about hiring a virtual assistant? You should know that hiring one has long-term benefits for a business, some of which we have listed below:

• Lower costs: Virtual assistants are usually independent contractors who work as freelancers. Therefore, it is cheaper to hire them instead of a full-time employee. The costs are further reduced when you hire a remote virtual assistant, as they bill you based on the number of hours they work or the scope of work.
• Reduces stress and improves work-life balance: Most startup, small, and medium-sized business owners are overwhelmed with workload. So, they tend to take work home, ultimately leading to a lot of stress and poor work-life balance. Virtual assistants can help take some of that load off your shoulders so you have more time to rest and distress. You’ll have clearer boundaries between work and personal matters, freeing you up to spend time on yourself or your family. When you have more time to relax, you are less stressed, and you are better able to deal with stressors in the workplace.
• Improved focus on core activities: When you hand off admin and other routine work to a virtual assistant, you can focus on the core activities that earn you revenue. When you are focusing on the main business activities, you won’t miss opportunities that can get you new customers or investments.
• Scalable support: If you have less work for the VA compared to normal, they can cut down on the number of hours they dedicate to your business. Conversely, they can pick up more hours to complete tasks if there is an increase in the workload. This arrangement is perfect if your business has seasonal ups and downs in activity.
• Hire worldwide: VAs work remotely, so you can hire one from anywhere in the world. As long as they meet your expectations and fit within your budget, it doesn’t matter where the assistant is located. 
• Easier to provide 24/7 customer service: When you hire a virtual assistant from a different time zone, they can provide customer support on your behalf when your staff are off duty.
• Higher quality of work: Virtual assistants strive to improve productivity and deliver quality work, as these have a direct impact on their reputation and income. Besides that, they also don’t have the usual office distractions like gossiping or regular trips to the break room. So, you can be confident that the VA will do excellent work.

Myth 1: Virtual assistants are not professional

It’s a wrong notion that a virtual assistant isn’t as professional as an in-house office worker. This myth is mostly a result of the idea that remote workers have a lax work ethic or aren’t careful with sensitive tasks.

The truth is that virtual assistants, especially if sourced from reputed service providers, are very professional in how they perform their duties. They’re specialists who are committed to doing quality work. Moreover, considering the kind of information and work they’ll be handling, these professionals are verified and trained so that they can meet your demands and exceed expectations.

Myth 2: VAs are expensive

Contrary to what many people think, virtual assistants are not expensive. VAs typically cost less than a full-timer. Moreover, you can adjust the hours they work depending on the workload and requirements.

If they were full-time, you’d pay the same salary every month regardless of work. You don’t pay a VA for downtime.

Myth 3: They can only do administrative tasks

It is a myth that employers only hire virtual assistants for menial tasks like making calls or managing calendars. The reality is they’re specially skilled people who can do a number of different assignments. For example, some VAs can be skilled in digital marketing, social media management, data analysis, or even project management.

However, what tasks you hand over to the virtual assistant will be based on how much you trust them. Only if you trust them to handle your business data or manage your social media accounts can you enjoy their full potential.

Myth 4: It’s difficult to communicate with virtual assistants

Virtual assistants, as discussed in the previous section, can be from anywhere in the world. And so, there is a misconception that communication with VAs from different time zones becomes challenging. However, considering the kind of technologies we have available to us, communication barriers can easily be overcome. You can schedule video calls to hold meetings or send emails to get in touch when they are unavailable for a call. You also have shared calendars and project management software to help coordinate work and assign tasks.

Myth 5: They are temporary or project-based

It is commonly believed that VAs are for short-term projects or temporary assignments. However, this is a myth because you can hire VAs on a long-term basis. Hiring a long-term virtual assistant can actually be very cost-effective and lead to business efficiency in the long run. When you work with a VA long-term, you can build a strong professional relationship and integrate them into your business as they gain more understanding of your business.

Think of a VA as a partner or team member, not a bandage you put on for a quick fix.

Here’s a list of some of the general virtual assistant tasks :

• Attending, following up and solving client queries through phone calls, emails and chats.
• Managing every data related to the business (data entry and management operations).
• Making cold calls.
• Set the calendar based on the priorities of the events and tasks.
• Schedule meetings and appointments.
• Preparing the MOM (Moments of Meeting).
• Write advertisements and content related to promotions like promotional emails, social media marketing, etc.
• Maintain and manage accounts.
• Market research and business development.
• Creating graphic designs for various purpose.
• Creating weekly, monthly and annual reports on sales, expenditures and profits.

Apart from these, slide preparation and presentation, recruit employees based on research and analysis, taking bookings, managing social media posts and proofreading legal documents are some of the other virtual assistant tasks.

The basic qualities business owners demand while hiring virtual assistants are:

Useful Article: 10 Things to Include in a Virtual Assistant Contract

In-House Staff vs. Virtual Assistants: A comparison

Cost-effectiveness

According to a recent report by Global Workplace Analytics, a company can save up to $11,000 annually for every person they hire remotely (half of the time) as it eliminates expenses related to office space, equipment, and salary. If they work remotely full-time, the savings will be even more. By their very nature, virtual assistants, compared to in-house staff, are remote workers who may or may not work full-time for your company. So, you’ll be paying them only for the hours they work instead of paying them a salary and bearing the other overheads we just mentioned.

Flexibility and scalability

An in-house employee, whether full-time or part-time, will work for a fixed number of hours in a day and you can’t really ask them to work more than those hours without overtime pay. You won’t face this problem with VAs, as they have flexible working hours. If your business routinely has downtime or seasonal fluctuations in workload, you can adjust the working hours of the VA based on the requirement. So, if you want them to work more/less hours for a few months, you can do so. If they pick up more hours, you have to pay them for those hours. If the hours are cut, you don’t need to pay them for those hours. 

Scope of tasks

Virtual assistants, since they work from home, usually only handle tasks that can be completed online. Some examples of tasks that can be done online are email management, research, scheduling, social media engagement, etc. In-house staff, on the other hand, can perform both online and physical tasks because they work onsite. Some examples of offline tasks they can handle are face-to-face interactions with clients, office maintenance, inventory management, etc.

Communication and collaboration

Since in-house staff work onsite, it’s easier for them to integrate into the company culture and teams. However, virtual assistants can leverage modern communication and collaboration tools to efficiently perform their tasks without needing to step onto company property.

Moreover, they don’t get bogged down by office politics, gossip, and other distractions. Thus, it’s easier for them to maintain secrecy and professionalism in their work.

Virtual assistants are a boon when it comes to handling and streamlining business needs. Being the sole proprietor of your business, only you know when to hire a virtual assistant.

If you aim to make a mark in the market, outsourcing tasks (administrative and others) to virtual assistant companies is something you should always consider. They come with years of expertise in dealing with VAs of all types and know exactly what to deliver.

You can find many affordable virtual assistant service firms on the internet, but never forget to keep the things mentioned above in mind before selecting one.