The new trend for businesses - start-ups and established corporation alike - is to hire Virtual Assistant teams instead of the traditional, salaried (read: costly) employees. Companies who hire Virtual Assistants tout the benefits of having all of the benefits of an employee with none of the paperwork and compliance, of increased productivity by using software tools like Slack and Zoom to collaborate and the ease of having such a team at their fingertips. This set-up is also said to allow for access to a much greater talent pool.
Can Virtual Assistants really boost productivity? Let's look at some of the benefits and learn why it's more desirable for some companies:
Utilizing a Virtual Assistant reduces overhead. Some companies really do require a physical office building for employees, but for the vast majority, it's truly not necessary. Take, for example, an e-commerce business focused on selling products through their website. Such a company might require a web designer, a marketer, and a sales team, but there’s no reason for those team members to all be located in the same place.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant creates a more agile, profitable business. No one is good at everything, and as a business gears up and starts to have more meetings, deadlines, and email communications, an entrepreneur may find themselves struggling to keep up. A Virtual Assistant is just like any assistant in an office. They can answer emails, help with basic customer inquiries, help make travel plans, and keep a calendar to avoid you double-booking yourself. They can often print, scan, and file documents for you as well.
Double-up on productivity gains. If you outsource tasks that don’t contribute directly to revenue generation or are not what you consider to be core activities of your business, your productivity gains can be worth more than the value of the hours for which your Virtual Assistant will be paid.
A Virtual Assistant might just make perfect sense for your business.