Butch Nievera – Tips for Outsourcing to Virtual Assistant

Tips to Select Best Strategies for Outsourcing to Virtual Assistant

Introduction ď ˝

Outsourcing and virtual assistance goes hand in hand. With a host of online virtual assistant providing firms around, these web assistants are becoming a ubiquitous business asset. While the trend is now becoming an industry standard, it is hardly coming across as a simple or secure task.

Tips to Select Best Strategies for Outsourcing to Virtual Assistant    

Always have more than one assistant Prioritize your work Gradually add more responsibilities to work Be unnecessarily detailed when instructing

Always Have More Than One Assistant ď ˝

In an ideal world one online assistant dedicated completely to your work is enough to get you through the day. But situations hardly work out that way. Delays are inevitable. Therefore the need to have a potent back up plan is the need of the hour.

This will save face at critical situations and keep things running smoothly.

Prioritize Your Work ď ˝

The prospect of dumping a list of tasks on your VA is extremely tempting, but cannot guarantee quality results. This strategy is foolproof with experienced employees but might not be the approach in training potential new hires. The solution lies in segregating assignments by their degree of importance.

Gradually Add More Responsibilities to Work ď ˝

In this line of work, trust is paramount. Even when you hire a low-cost employee you have to place enough trust on them to respect deadlines and put in quality work. The solution to this problem is rarely resorted to since most people are averse to outsourcing. To remedy this problem, you have to gradually add to the importance of timely submissions.

Be Unnecessarily Detailed When Instructing ď ˝

When working with VAs, you cannot hope to instruct them vaguely. You might end up with the least expected outcome.

Like when you ask your assistant to rent a car – you have to be specific about the type and the preferred location of the rental. Otherwise you will end up with a battery run compact car from a rental place further away than expected.

Managing Email ď ˝

To keep you from wasting time in your email inbox, some virtual assistants will filter your most important emails and respond to the rest on your behalf, Colaiacovo says. Such email management is easy to do remotely, but you need to provide guidance on how to pick out key emails and ask the assistant to copy you before sending out any responses to reduce the risk of errors.

Scheduling ď ˝

Because many scheduling tools are available online, virtual assistants are managing the calendars of many clients, says Kramer Harrawood. Tasks include dealing with meeting invitations from others, scheduling appointments with clients and helping to plan events.

Who I Am‌ ď ˝

Butch Nievera is the founder and CEO of One Contact Center, a leading provider of outsourced call center services, email and chat support, virtual assistant and back-office solutions.