By James Mathai. More and more businesses are embracing the benefits of outsourcing services to hiring a permanent staff. From your fingertips you can get cost effective and professional services that can be personalized without incurring extra costs like training, office space and equipment. However some businesses are still reluctant to outsource services because they are not sure where to begin. Virtual assistants can do any administrative or secretarial duties that are done by executive assistants. The only difference is that they work remotely from their own office and not yours. You can use a virtual assistant for anything ranging from customer service calls, email correspondence, creating marketing campaigns or restaurants booking. Still not sure where to begin with a virtual assistant to improve your business? Here is a list of 21 tasks you can delegate to your virtual assistant. 1. Bookkeeping Sharing your bookkeeping systems is one of the easiest things entrepreneurs can assign to assistants. Virtual assistants can then follow up on tasks such as outstanding invoices or unpaid bills in addition to reconciling your bank statements. 2. Data entry Time consuming tasks like data entry can easily be outsourced to a remote assistant. Don’t stress over your many notes, documents and excel files when a virtual assistant can organize them in one accessible file. 3. Data analysis Whether you want your data analysis done in excel or using other analytical software like SPSS a virtual assistant can save you time and make sure your data is expertly analyzed. 4. Database management From updating existing business contacts to uploading latest business cards to your system keeping your database current is important and it’s a suitable task to assign to an assistant. This is important for business owners who want to follow up with clients. 5. Desktop publishing If you want marketing materials like flyers, brochures or any other promotional materials a virtual assistant can design and make sure they are printed and delivered to you on time. 6. Typing You can use a virtual assistant to type your minutes, memos and letters. He/ she can also edit and proofread them for you. 7. Transcription services Online secretarial services are gaining popularity today. A virtual assistant can handle various administrative tasks for you helping you get away from the stress and hassle of your office. 8. Answering phone-calls With the right telephone system you can divert calls to your assistant and they can be your call centre specifically designated for your business. Let them handle any follow up calls as needed and transfer important calls to you. 9. Email management To save you time from sorting out the bulk emails you receive every day, virtual assistants will organize your inbox and filter the most important emails and respond to the rest on your behalf. To reduce risk of error give clear guidance or ask the assistant to Cc you before sending any emails out. 10. Diary management A virtual assistant can come in handy in booking your meetings, setting appointments or making travel arrangements with ease. Don’t be late for a meeting again when a virtual assistant can provide you with timely reminders via SMS or emails. 11. Booking restaurants and travel arrangements A virtual assistant is a valuable resource to finding restaurants and booking them for you. With the help of travel research tools and review sites online they can also book your airfares. 12. Small event management Have an upcoming event but not sure how to go about it? A virtual assistant can plan your event, book the venue and ensure invitations are sent out on time giving you peace of mind. 13. Data presentation Virtual assistants can be a useful resource in helping you turn raw data into PPT presentation for your meetings. This can save you time while preparing for meetings. 14. Social media management Posting articles on your social media pages like Facebook is a time consuming process that doesn’t always translate to money. Have a virtual assistant come up with relevant contents and make sure there is a steady flow of posts for your Facebook pages. 15. Scheduling With the help of many scheduling tools available online virtual assistants can help schedule appointments with clients and plan your events. 16. Blogging Writing blogs every week can be a daunting task for anyone especially busy executives and entrepreneurs. Using a virtual assistant who has good writing skills can help improve your blogs with relevant content that attracts readers to your site that may eventually be your customers. 17. Personal errands Your virtual assistant can assist with things like groceries, picking your dry cleaning and paying bills so that you can focus on important areas of your life. 18. Online shopping A virtual assistant can handle your online shopping so that you have enough time to focus on important areas of your personal life and business. 19. Internet research Internet research can easily be assigned to a virtual assistant. They can help you with finding trending topics that you can share on your social media accounts, doing online market research for you and exploring new products that you can sell at a profit. 20. Online and offline ads With the right training and guidance a virtual assistant can manage the bulk of your online ads like Facebook, Twitter or Google. They can also create, edit and publish your ads in any local publications like newspapers. 21. Website management Virtual assistants can help set up your website, optimize it to make it SEO friendly, change the format/color and update it with new content. As a business owner hiring a virtual assistant can free up time for you to focus on important tasks that bring money to your business. For your business to achieve its full potential of growth and development you have to stop thinking that no one else can do your tasks the way you want them done. Doing everything on your own only kills your productivity leaving you feeling drained. Outsourcing services is a good way of getting expert services where you lack the skills as you focus on your strengths.
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AuTHORJames is a virtual assistant who creates time for busy executives and business owners by managing their administrative tasks. ArchivesCategories |