The Best Virtual Assistant

High-Level Virtual Assistant – A Complete Guide To Find The Best One

It was in 2009 when the concept of virtual assistants was introduced by Tim Ferriss in his book “The 4-hour Work Week.” He taught businessmen different ways to work less by outsourcing disagreeable and repetitive tasks to any offshore contractor on an hourly rate basis. It provides businessmen with the opportunity to spend extra time on some higher-valued work. They get extra free time to do what they love the most.

This simple caught on with various kinds of virtual assistant businesses and freelancers presenting their services to the needful clients. However, if you look into the matter closely, you will come across so many people, ready to offer assistance virtually. How can you possibly choose the best one among the lot? This guide will clearly portray the points to help get your hands on the best virtual assistants in town.

The real definition behind virtual assistant:

A virtual assistant is primarily a remote administrative assistant for executives. Sometimes, known as a virtual executive assistant, the term “virtual” might get a bit confusing for some people. Well, here, the term does not mean anything that is not real. Well, the virtual assistants are actually real people whose main job is to support executives by working from a remote location.

  • Right from calendar apps to emails and even voicemail, technology has improved to a great extent.
  • Finding full-time executive assistants will be a difficult task to perform. It has created an expectation that executives need to be self-sufficient.
  • Yes, it’s true that you don’t need a physical executive to guard the office door, but it doesn’t make sense to pay yourself to do work that can be easily handed off to anyone else at a lower cost. It helps in improving the efficiency level.
  • Some advancement in the field of high-speed technology gave rise to cloud software. It can be accessed from any part of the globe.
  • Then you have some other communication tools like video conferencing and chat channels, which will make it easier for the executives to hire services from part-time virtual assistants without focusing on the expenses related to full-time employment or office space.
  • These simple steps will actually let you understand the importance that virtual assistants hold. For your question on where to hire virtual assistant, it is better to complete your research thoroughly.
  • Work of virtual assistants:

    There are different types of jobs that a well-trained virtual assistant can complete on time, and without letting you pay a lot of money for it. Some of the most common ones needed are:

    1. Executive administration

    On an average scale, the executives will spend around 15 hours of work per week to cover daily tasks. It will distract them from their main goal and will keep the business in a stagnant position. However, professionals that are procuring help from virtual assistants can cover multiple tasks like 

  • HR executives – to schedule job interviews
  • Sales executives – scheduling sales calls
  • Executives – more like venture capitalists to meet with investors on behalf of the clients
  • Make sure to create a list of the services you want to cover after you hire virtual assistant online. Depending on that list, you need to choose specific individuals.

    2. Marketing and sales support

    As per some major business studies, salespeople spend most of their time covering non-sales tasks. The selling time will be around 11 to 36%, which is a broad spectrum. But, the sales leaders will spend less than just half an hour of their time. The time goes to cover admin and paperwork, email management and to cover internal communications.

  • Well, with the help of a virtual assistant, you can take off these extra tasks from a salesperson’s shoulder and give them enough time to be with the prospects and potential customers.

  • The virtual assistants will take on some of the marketing tasks as well, which align closely with sales processes.

  • From building workflows to cover email cadences to launching email campaigns and monitoring them, the virtual assistants will cover all extra tasks on your behalf.
  • These points clearly answer your question on why hire virtual assistant. If you don’t want to deviate from the main sales goals, hiring virtual assistants to cover extra non-sale tasks is a clever idea.

    3. Dealing with back-office services

    Back-office tasks mostly call for repetitive processes, which can be learned and then handed off to virtual assistants now. These are pretty time-consuming tasks, and also essential. They need constant attention.

  • It takes time to create template documents like contracts, proposals, and sales sheets. With virtual assistants doing the task on your behalf, you need not have to worry about the services at all.
  • They will further cover all kinds of bookkeeping programs on behalf of the main executive. To pursue overdue payments, give virtual assistants a call. They have been well-trained to get the task done on time.
  • Back-office jobs might seem easy but it is actually pretty time-consuming and laborious. Once you have chosen the best virtual assistants to help you out, you get to save a great deal of time!
  • 4. Covering personal life tasks

    Thanks to the internet, now you can cover multiple personal tasks while at work. Executives literally spend 25% of their time covering personal activities while working. It isn’t a bad thing! Planning a vacation, taking care of groceries, and scheduling parent-teacher appointments can help you to get the job done on time. Moreover, the pandemic has actually blurred the line between professional and personal tasks!

    Nowadays, executives make it a point to contact virtual assistants to take proper care of their personal tasks. It helps them to concentrate on office work more and get the business flow going!

    5. Deal with specialized skills

    Some businesses will use virtual assistants for their specialized skills, needed on an ongoing basis or for occasional services. In some instances, these skills won’t just cover administrative tasks but much more than that. These functions need thorough training and will form the sole focal point for the chosen virtual assistants. Nowadays, you will come across virtual assistant contract agencies specializing in specified disciplines.

    Reasons to head towards virtual assistants:

    Have you ever wondered why business hire virtual assistant? If you have a target to fulfill and need to cover all of your business goals on time, you need a virtual assistant by your side. Even if you don’t have strategic planning by your side, you need the best virtual assistants to cover the tasks as demanded. There are some signs of why you need to hire virtual assistant on demand. Some of those points are listed below for your reference.

  • If you are falling behind on your invoices and need help, then the virtual assistant is your one-stop solution to get the services covered on time.
  • Maybe the financial, customer, and sales data is in disarray because you can’t seem to get time. Well, let professional assistants help you to venture into this service to get it covered accurately.
  • Due to some workplace issues, you have employees leaving your organization and moving to a new work address. That gives rise to multiple pending works. Thanks to virtual assistants, you need not have to worry about that!
  • There are times when you can’t follow up with the sales leads fast enough. It is a sign that you need assistance and that’s why hiring professionals will help. Do check out the hire virtual assistant prices before making a decision.
  • You have a customer-centric job and taking care of them is your main motto. Maybe you are lacking behind your customer service. You are receiving negative feedback on poor service. To prevent this scenario from taking a massive growth, hire virtual assistants to the rescue.
  • You can’t seem to balance your work-life status. It is teetering more towards work and you can’t do anything about it. Well, surely you can, thanks to virtual assistants for the same! Let them handle your personal tasks so that you can concentrate on your business projections more.
  • If your sales have started to plateau, it is a sign that you need some extra force or help. Make sure to hire virtual assistant directly from reputed agencies to get the job done with ease.
  • Now, you get the opportunity to save money hire virtual assistant. Their services are not that expensive. Moreover, if you are trying to contact them through an agency, you might probably end up with a discounted deal!

    The cost of hiring virtual assistants:

    There is hard to pinpoint a rate for virtual assistants’ services. It depends on multiple factors. Those are:

  • The cost value depends on the kind of work you want virtual assistants to cover.

  • It also depends on the relationship type you are looking for. Whether you are aiming to cover business tasks or personal tasks, the cost value will differ.

  • You hire virtual assistant to stay on top of responsibilities. Depending on the quality control you are looking for, the rates will vary.

  • The price ranges depend on daily training and management services.

  • Even your method of hiring will depend on the money you are comfortable spending on their services.

  • You can hire a freelance virtual assistant or contact virtual assistant agencies. Some can hire managed virtual assistant services and the rates will differ.

  • Worldwide Virtual Assistants Cost Per Hour

    INDIA

    $7-18

    USA

    $18-35

    UK

    $21-35

    SINGAPORE

    $34-70

    Australia

    $20-40

    Levels of virtual assistants:

    For keeping the calculations simple, virtual assistants are divided into three different heads, based on their expertise levels.

  • You have the basic or low level: These virtual assistants have experience in the task that you want them to complete but will provide some guidance on handling the task a lot easier. There will be some setup from your side.
  • Mid-level virtual assistants: They are targeted as specialists and have more experience than a low or basic level. They will bring in their own processes for completing the given tasks at hand.
  • Expert level: The virtual assistants from this category are high-level experts and noteworthy consultants. They have been into freelancing services for years and have opened up their own agencies, where they present their skill sets. If you need help with creating a strategy and completing tasks at a high level, they are the ones for you.
  • Based on the expertise level you are looking forward to, the virtual assistants will craft an hourly work rate for you. It is only when you are comfortable with the price point that they will start working on your behalf.

    Based on the expertise level you are looking forward to, the virtual assistants will craft an hourly work rate for you. It is only when you are comfortable with the price point that they will start working on your behalf.

    FAQs

    Before you hire virtual assistant agency, it is important to understand the task you are looking for. Your chosen virtual assistant will be a great fit if he has years of experience in covering tasks that you want them to cover.

    Make sure to manage one virtual assistant at a time. You have to prioritize the vertical skill and take tenure into your consideration. You must conduct situational interviews from time to time to learn where the virtual assistant stands in your work.

    It solely depends on your need. Try to be creative and challenging while looking for the best virtual assistant. Even allow your employees to help you out.

    Final verdict

    Overall, you cannot deny the importance that a reputed virtual assistant holds. To understand more about his job role and what makes him stand out in the crowd, give him a chance and start working with him on your new project.

    With the team from Task Leader, you can get any work done at ease. Enjoy services from the best virtual assistants to ease out your work load.