How to Work Effectively with Your Outsourced Offshore Virtual Assistant

Location: Manila Airport, Philippines – Reading Time: 8mins

The following post is a sneak peek at a chapter from my upcoming FREE eBook “Saving the Day, the Virtual Way: How Working with a Full Time Virtual Assistant will Save You Time, Make You More Productive and Boost Your Success in Life and Business!” which will be released for the New Year and only available for download on this site! Make sure you sign-up for my email updates to learn when its released…

Most companies and individuals who have been working with virtual assistants with great success have one thing in common: they are pleased to have somebody else handle their time-consuming, repetitive, mundane, administrative tasks that get in the way of spending quality time with their family, or focusing more on important business issues, such as planning and strategizing for growth.

I’ve put this post together as a quick stop to those of you who have only recently started working with an outsourced full-time virtual assistant (such as Kate, above, who works for my company), as I have had a lot of requests from readers on this type of thing over the last couple of months.

Equipped with exemplary credentials, extensive professional experience and a wide array of skill sets to handle pretty much any task imaginable, virtual assistants are becoming a force to reckon with. What makes them special is that they work for you as a virtual unknown and you may never even get to see them face-to-face at all. Yet they perform the tasks you have set out for them, as competently as any of your physical office personnel would.

If you haven’t started working with a VA yet, and are perhaps still thinking about getting a VA for the first time, then stop wasting your time thinking about it and actually do it! A Virtual Assistant can free up more time for you to concentrate on becoming productive and successful…

You can either hire an independent virtual assistant from a site like Freelancer.com, for example, or if you prefer to have someone do all the interview, reference checking and hiring for you, you can work directly with an outsourcing company that deals in virtual assistants. Once you have selected a virtual assistant that has the background and experience that you require, you can then get to business.

Finding your right virtual assistant is one thing. Getting them to do the job the way you want them to do is another matter. Working remotely, the way you interact with your new best friend is by utilizing the wonders of technology, such as email, the telephone, via Skype or if you prefer, instant messaging and web conferencing. Here are some tips to be able to work well with your virtual assistant to achieve tons more time and become more productive overall, as a professional:

Set Clear Guidelines – You have the responsibility of establishing a clear set of guidelines on how you want the job to be done. To avoid any confusion or misunderstanding, you have to clearly define the tasks that you want your virtual assistant to accomplish. Especially when you have complex tasks. Do your best to provide instructions in great detail.

Don’t Assume Anything – Do not make the mistake of assuming the virtual assistant knows exactly what to do to on any given task, regardless of experience. Perfect example, one of my clients likes all of his emails, letters, reports, you name it, written in Arial font size nine. If he hadnt of told his VA that right at the beginning, she probably would have made a mistake on this subject matter straight away!

Invest a Little Time - Obviously when you first start out together you’ll have to spend a little more time going over things together, but that investment of time will make things easier in the long run, for sure.

Set Solid, but Reasonable Time-lines for Tasks - You should also set reasonable time lines for your tasks. Since you are fundamentally paying your virtual assistant by the hour, you should have a fairly good idea of how long your tasks should take to finish. Communicate these instructions clearly and the terms should be understood by the virtual assistant before he or she starts working. For big or lengthy projects, it is advisable for you to set milestones to ensure that the project is right on schedule.

Build Trust - This kind of remote setup between you and your virtual assistant requires a good working relationship that is based on trust. You may still have some doubts about outsourcing the administrative tasks of your business to a virtual stranger, but if you want virtual assistants to deliver according to your expectations, you have to give them your full trust. As time goes on, your virtual assistant will devote their full attention to provide the support that you need. In the process, they will get to know you better and understand how your business works, allowing them to put more value in the relationship. This is very much the same kind of set-up, as if you were in the same office together.

You can also perform one simple act that makes a lot of difference in your working relationship with your virtual assistant. Give them the credit they deserve. Give positive feedback as a way for you to ‘virtually’ pat them in the back for a job well done. Human beings have this need to be recognized for their worth and your encouragement will spur them on to continue to give their very best.

Follow these tips and you will get a lot more than your money’s worth, I can assure you!

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