A Virtual Assistant to Solve Your Delegation Challenges
One of the most important parts of running a small business is keeping your eye on the big picture. But between supervising operations, keeping up with inventory and monitoring the books, most entrepreneurs can get bogged down in day-to-day activities instead of focusing on strategic initiatives and planning for growth. At the same time, many small businesses have not yet grown large enough to afford an entrepreneur the luxury of a secretary or an administrative assistant. That’s why virtual assistants offer the perfect solution to the delegation challenges faced by entrepreneurs.
Delegating frees you up to tackle the truly important aspects of your small business.
An entrepreneur at the helm of a small business should be in charge of the overall direction of a team. This person is the one looking ahead, steering the course, and making needed corrections to avoid getting off track. Let’s take a closer look at the advantages of delegating common business tasks to a highly trained, on-demand virtual assistant.
Administrative assistance: A virtual assistant can apply their skills and focus to the administrative side of a small business. They can input information into your inventory databases and accounting software, take care of virtual paperwork and other cumbersome duties. They can also make entrepreneurs’ busy lives easier by serving as personal administrative assistants, handling deliveries, gifts, tickets and other concierge-type services.
Marketing: This is the area where a virtual assistant from Intelligent Office can provide all the technological flourishes and personal touches that not only drive business to your small business but help you build brand loyalty in your community. Virtual assistants can manage your small business’s social media, craft solid content for your website or blog, create videos and fliers and manage advertising campaigns. There is a lot of repetitive work involved in marketing efforts that can be delegated easily. A virtual assistant can help you generate valuable content for a fraction of what your time is worth.
Sales Support: Making calls and connecting with customers is one of the most important ways that small business owners maintain their cash flow. Many entrepreneurs are professional about making contact with customers and even following up. But that method doesn’t help you reach customers who are harder to engage. For small businesses where regular personal contact helps connect customers to their brand, outreach by virtual assistants can be invaluable to help manage your sales outreach and follow-up with potential customers.
Answering the phones: For many small businesses, simply answering the phone is an essential function of daily operations. Answering the phones in a small business can easily be shifted to a virtual assistant who will politely greet the caller, take down personal details and contact information, and collect messages. For more complex questions, a virtual assistant can also easily transfer the caller to the person that is most appropriate.
Virtual assistants are better in many ways than in-house employees. They don’t require a desk, chairs, benefits or the other support structures that cost entrepreneurs lots of overhead. Virtual office providers have a qualified pool of trained and knowledgeable virtual assistants to ensure that calls are being answered and support functions essential to small business operations are being performed. For small businesses who have limited resources to hire personal staff or have the vision and foresight to streamline their offices, virtual assistants provide major benefits that can help boost growth in the future.
