Virtual Assistants are employees who do their jobs from home that focuses their interests on administrative tasks that are likely to those of an executive secretary or assistant.
™
With a large scope of knowledge, that can handle almost all of the administrative works. There is no limit to what they can do for your business.
Essential skills needed for becoming a virtual assistant are excellently written and verbal communication, though it would be beneficial that you have an experienced of being a critical-thinker, problem-solver, and customer service related job as well.
Having a good speaking voice and diction are necessities because the common tasks of being a virtual assistant involve placing calls in behalf of the company, like calling customers for scheduling purposes or to suppliers for delivery arrangement or picking up parcels. These types of positions also include the job of returning calls to prospective clients who seek information about the products and services.
Having excellent grammar, spelling and good writing mechanics are very important. Duties of E-mailing includes client satisfaction surveys and sending gratitude messages to existing clients, also includes follow-up messages to prospective buyers to thank them for expressing interest in what your company is offering.
Excellent Computer skills are vital for researching information online for company databases and written reference materials in virtual libraries, as well as comparing competitor's published information on websites and in digital brochures, booklets, flyers alike. Some task requires the virtual assistant to utilize its skills in compilation, evaluation, and organization to achieve the best output when communicating with clients.
Virtual Assistants are also responsible for creating slides, digital graphics, also charts for online and print copies of presentations or reports and web-based seminar speeches. Gathering information from raw data and compiling into an attractive format which clearly and precisely reflects the information is vastly important.
Although No Degree required for virtual assistant work, he or she still needs a computer to perform the task with running Windows 7 or newer Operating System and a high-speed internet connection, also a reliable landline connection, because the mobile phone is not acceptable. A quiet working environment that is free from noise and distractions while speaking with clients is one of the most common requirements.
Access to Microsoft Office products is essential including EXCEL, WORD, and POWER POINT are required. Working hours are adaptable, as long as the required task is complete. The Payment is based on a per-item basis rather than per hour or salary-based. Virtual assistants work from home and report end product items and track work via software supplied by the company he or she is working with, which installed on the assistant's system. The Company usually assigned one direct supervisor or team leader to monitor assistants, but no teamwork are necessarily required, only the motivation of the virtual assistant to succeed through their skills and hard work is required. Special bonuses are available depending on quarterly achievements.
Here are the six classifications of Virtual Assistants:
1. E-Commerce
2. Social Media
3. Virtual Research
4. Administrative
5. Data Entry
6. Real Estate
In addition to these types mentioned above, there are also virtual assistants for programming, digital marketing, and customer support
Evidently I've been living under a rock. Recently, I stumbled across the small business solution that turned my overwhelming to-do list into something manageable. It's called Virtual Assistance, and it has freed me from the burden of what would otherwise be time-consuming busywork. Simply put, a Virtual Assistant is an off-site employee who provides web or administrative support services, conducting nearly all transactions electronically.
Not only was I surprised to discover this neat lifesaver, I was even more amazed to find that it has it's own association: The International Virtual Assistants Association (ivaa.org). The IVAA website virtual assistant services uk is a great place to find what will most certainly be an indispensable resource for you: Your own Virtual Assistant. Below are the top seven reasons to hire a VA:
1. They are all business. Your Virtual Assistant will support your needs, not the other way around. Since they bill their hours for the work they accomplish - some in increments as small as five minutes - you are not paying for personal phone calls, late arrivals, childcare crises, or sick time. If you detest the forced socialization of a corporate workplace, or listening to the humdrum minutiae of your co-worker's life story, a virtual staff solves that problem.
2. You're in control. Your working relationship is based upon a contractual agreement whereby you state in no uncertain terms what you expect. They either do it or they don't. If you want a web designer who uses Dreamweaver instead of hand-coding HTML, then you specify that. Or, you can entirely defer to your Virtual Assistant's expertise and focus your energy elsewhere.
3. Professional rapport. Your Virtual Assistant is in the entrepreneurial boat, too. They work at home, market their services, prospect for clients, and provide a service just like you do. It's a great way to add to your network base, as they may have found ways to solve problems you never even thought of. Often they have their own network of resources that they utilize for printing, document processing and promotion. Tapping into their resources doubles your own.
4. Cost savings. You can hire a VA from anywhere on Earth. It's as competitive an industry as any other, and you can expect a wide range of fees for various services offered. If you like the fees for web design, but think a particular service is too expensive for document editing or proofreading, you can hire multiple VA's to do different tasks to keep your own costs low. You are not under any obligation whatsoever, except, of course, to pay your bill.
5. Pride in their work. If you are hiring a VA for tasks such as web design, you can easily preview their work. Often the VA service will place testimonials on their site or examples of web pages they have designed. Examine their portfolio pages to determine the depth of their skills and experience.
6. Virtual freedom. No on-site employees means no liability, no worker's comp insurance, and no payroll taxes to calculate. Everyone is an independent contractor. You can utilize a virtual assistant for either ongoing work or on a per-project basis.
7. No strangers in the house. If you have a home office, hiring employees to work on-site could be intrusive. If you have children at home, or a spouse who works odd hours, or you just don't care to open up your private space to others, a virtual assistant is ideal. Most likely, your VA will never darken your doorstep.
When you hire your Virtual Assistant, be sure to ask them to furnish a detailed list of the types of services for which you will be billed. Some VA's will charge to accept your phone calls, read your email instructions, or the time it takes to download a file. There should be no surprises if you have good communication with your VA. Remember, you cannot see your potential VA to evaluate their credibility, nor they you. Consider several exploratory conversations prior to signing on the dotted line. This will ensure that you and your Virtual Assistant will have a productive partnership.
Copyright 2005 by Laura Legendary All rights reserved.