If you’re unclear what a VA is, here is a quick explanation. And along the way, we intend to show you how a VA might be useful to you, in your life or business.
The letters VA usually stand for “virtual assistant” – in other words, a personal assistant who, rather than being at your home or office, is somewhere distant. Despite being physically apart from you, a virtual assistant can perform many of the administrative duties traditionally carried out by a PA (personal assistant), or a secretary.
Thanks to modern communication methods, including email, mobile phones and online video services such as Skype and Facetime, it is easy to stay in touch with a person who carries out work for you, but some distance away. And, thanks to those better links, it can be quite practical to work with folk on the other side of the world.
Large companies often make use of this connectivity. Most of us have experienced being put through to an overseas call centre, when calling the customer service line of a large corporation. Sometimes it works just fine, other times such systems can be less than successful, depending on the quality of staff training, or the language skills of the call handler.
But it’s not just about using offshore services, though in some instances they can be cheaper. Many banks, for example, will locate their call centre in one part of the country, perhaps choosing that location not just for economic reasons, but because research shows we trust certain accents more than others!
So, if it is good business for large companies, why not you? Smaller businesses can benefit from this working revolution, too, by hiring a virtual assistant to carry out key tasks to help your life or business run more smoothly.
What could a VA do to help you? Here are some ideas, though this list will not cover everything: booking events, business trips or holidays; sending out or chasing up invoices; reconciling accounts and expenses; making or receiving telephone calls; managing email to save your time; responding to new customer inquiries; preparing presentation materials; transcribing messages, reports and other dictated sound files.
The great benefit of using a VA is that most usually charge only for the time you use. There’s no need to employ them, simply pay for the hours required. And, as they are often experienced administrators, they are highly efficient with their time, possessing greater skills than many of us, when handling computer software such as word processing, handling spreadsheets and presentations.
There are generally no lengthy contracts, so what are you waiting for? Work out what’s holding you back, and contact Time Wise VA today and find out how we can help you take it forward, today!