How to Boost Your Sales with a Virtual Sales Assistant

Posted on July 27, 2023July 27, 2023 by Sabeeha Banu

Businesses striving to increase revenue amid a cutthroat marketplace need a solid sales framework. However, building a revenue-generating sales cycle requires skilled staff. Companies invest an average of $2,020 per sales rep on training. Here is where a sales virtual assistant acts as an asset. They give companies access to a vast talent pool and affordable support services.

Who are Virtual Sales Assistants?

A virtual sales assistant is a skilled sales professional who offers support from a distance at a competitive rate. They employ their in-depth understanding of current trends, industry knowledge, and technological insights to identify opportunities and issues in their customers' sales pipelines.

Remote sales assistants can perform many crucial tasks, including lead creation, customer interaction, and sales follow-up.

Virtual sales assistants take care of both vital and non-essential sales tasks. Even if a business already has an in-house sales team, outsourcing time-consuming and dull sales tasks to these virtual assistants will lessen the workload and free up management time to focus on their core skills.

Tasks to Delegate to a Virtual Sales Assistant to Boost Sales

Virtual sales assistants can be a valuable addition to the sales team. Here are some tasks they can do for your organization:

Sales Strategy

Virtual sales assistants improve the in-house team's capabilities by bringing fresh perspectives and expertise. They have specialized skills in sales, which could help the in-house sales team attract more clients and increase sales.

Researches the current trends in the market and the demographics of the target audience
Strategizes ways to increase monthly and annual sales revenue. Creates frameworks to increase sales win rates.
Tracks sales progress and analyzes metrics and much more.

Sales Activities

A virtual sales assistant unburdens the in-house team’s activities by carrying out sales activities. They schedule meetings with prospects and initiate communication with them.

A virtual sales assistant can assist in managing a list of both new and old leads in the sales database. They make contact to see whether the old leads are still interested in the product or service.

Virtual sales assistants create sales reports, close deals, and keep track of sales activities. They devise ways to meet the sales goals daily.

Sales Pricing

A virtual sales assistant boosts revenue by assisting businesses in setting sales rates. In contrast to an in-house employee, virtual sales assistants are paid per project without any benefits.

A Virtual Sales Assistant:

Analyzes the pricing and discount plans.
Performs research to understand how much the potential customers are ready to pay for a service or a product.
Collaborates with the in-house sales and marketing team to create newsletters, social media posts, and other creatives to advertise pricing schemes.
Maintains a detailed database of customer feedback.

Sales Metrics

Tracking sales metrics gives a good understanding of business growth. Virtual sales assistants have intense experience working with various firms and are aware of the best practices involved in sales metrics. They get accurate sales forecasts by timely gauging metrics reports.

Virtual sales assistants also identify sales funnel leakages by conducting complete funnel analysis. Sales funnel leakage is identifying if prospects drop out of the funnel mid-way.

Administrative Tasks

Updating the sales database is crucial in keeping accurate records and preventing mistakes. Businesses can save time by cleaning and updating the database with the help of a virtual assistant.

A qualified virtual assistant ensures that businesses don’t run out of prospects. Virtual sales assistant answers pre-sales questions and replies to inquiries.

Customer Service

Virtual assistants are skilled in problem-solving techniques, inquiry management, and customer satisfaction enhancement. To aid you in pre-and post-sales transactions, enlist their assistance.

They answer questions from prospects to convert them into leads. They take care of customer inquiries so businesses can focus on increasing their revenues.

5 Best Sales Strategy Practices for 2023

Also Read: Why Every Small Business Needs A Virtual Assistant

A business needs a sales strategy in place to be successful. A sales strategy encompasses how a business will market and do business with its target market. It identifies the target market, comprehends customer demands and the purchasing process, strategies pricing, channel sales funnel, development of a sales process, and performance evaluation.

Any business that wants to boost profits and achieve its sales targets should have a sales strategy. A sales plan can help a business connect with its target market, turn leads into consumers, and communicate the benefits of its goods and services.

A sales strategy can help a business with:

Identify Target Market:

A sales strategy can assist a company in determining the particular market groups it wishes to target by using demographic, psychographic, and purchasing trends.

Optimize Efficient Sales Channel:

A sales strategy helps a business optimize its sales operations, from lead generation to closing deals, by identifying the most effective sales channels, streamlining sales workflows, and providing sales training to sales staff to improve their skills.

Track and Measure Sales Performance:

A sales plan has objectives and indicators that enable a company to assess the success of its sales operations. Key performance indicators (KPIs) like conversion rates, average deal size, and customer lifetime value (CLV) can help a company spot areas for improvement and modify its sales strategies.

Identify Sales Opportunities:

A sales plan helps a business identify sales opportunities. It may entail locating new market niches, creating innovative goods or services, or collaborating with other brands.

Stay Competitive:

A sales strategy aids a company in remaining competitive by analyzing the competition, recognizing market trends, and adapting its plans to changing market conditions. It helps businesses to stay relevant, remain competitive, and progressively boost sales and revenue.

How to Build a Sales Strategy?

There are two types of sales strategies; inbound and outbound strategies.

Inbound sales strategy seeks out potential leads along the buyer's journey, engages with them, and attempts to convert them into customers.

Inbound sales strategy aims to provide customers with information using emails, social media, and other channels.

On the other hand, outbound sales strategies are conventional sales techniques that entail contacting potential clients and starting a conversation about a sale. These sales tactics emphasize aggressively seeking out and interacting with potential clients through different media, including cold calling, mailing lists, and advertising.

Building a sales strategy entails a systematic procedure that calls for thorough research, knowledge, and experience.

Understand the Customers

Understanding customers is crucial for providing high-quality service. Businesses can do this in many ways, including by subscribing to research reports, speaking with current customers, and creating a customer persona highlighting the benefits, pain points, and reasons why they would use your product or service.

Businesses must comprehend what motivates their clients to purchase the goods or services to meet their needs.

Use Reciprocation

The foundation of the reciprocity principle in sales is when consumers receive something, they are obliged to return the favor. Businesses typically provide some of their knowledge through free eBooks, movies, articles, and podcasts on their area of expertise to attract new customers.

Reciprocation is one of the simplest ways for businesses to increase sales and brand recognition. Consider what you can do to provide value to your clients. Create a sense of obligation in the customers so they will buy the product, and the sales will increase.

Leverage Social Proof

In sales, social proof refers to the practice of influencing leads by pointing to the actions of other customers and prospects as models. For marketing and sales professionals, it is a great advantage. Social proof can help businesses win over more customers, influence their purchasing decisions, and eventually boost sales.

Many companies employ social proof to pique customers' interest in their products and services.

Quick Lead Response Time

The speed of lead response will impact sales performance. Conversion rates go up if businesses respond to leads in no time. Increasing the response time will have an impact and won't cost businesses anything.

Thus, increasing sales lead response times will help brands get the most out of their marketing spend.

Leverage the Power of CRM

It can be difficult for businesses to keep sales data organized. Using CRM software, businesses can keep track of all memos, data, and communications with prospects and clients. They can streamline the sales process by handling time-consuming, repetitive tasks. Some CRM tools collect, track, and store lead data.

Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Sales Assistant

A virtual sales assistant can effortlessly carry out all the sales team's responsibilities. They:

Helps in Expanding The Reach

Lead creation is crucial if a business wants to stay competitive. However, doing marketing tasks like answering online questions and monitoring social media demands time. Businesses most likely lack the time to handle it by themselves. And hiring an in-house sales team to do it on top of their regular fees might get pricey. Therefore, hiring a virtual sales assistant who can handle all marketing chores is a great option.

Helps in Enhancing Customer Service

Your clients might not like to wait. Customer service will probably suffer when your current workforce is overworked. When you engage a virtual assistant to answer calls, make appointments, or complete orders, your customers will enjoy timely service that makes them love the brand.

Manages Sales

Understanding how to adapt to and manage evolving market trends is crucial for boosting sales. To do this, an online sales assistant is adept in developing sales techniques. They monitor your sales activity to gauge performance. A virtual sales assistant creates a detailed sales report for a business to review and analyze. They also prepare a complete sales report and help in interpreting results.

Renews Focus on Business

The majority of businesses probably perform all sales-related responsibilities independently. However, as the company expands, it gets difficult to do everything. Businesses must decide which tasks they must manage and which they can outsource. Since no one knows the organization's objectives better than a business owner, it makes much more sense to concentrate on macro decisions like the business strategy, annual budget, or product development.

Improves Work-Life Balance

Entrepreneurs suffer from the strain of running a business. It is hard for businesses to separate personal life from work as they micromanage every task.

Hiring a virtual personal assistant can add great help. A skilled virtual sales assistant unburdens businesses of tasks that they find difficult and time-consuming to do by themselves.

End Points

It can be challenging to entrust virtual sales assistants with important sales tasks, given that they operate remotely. For this, businesses need to outsource to a trusted outsourcing partner. A reliable outsourcing partner like Office Beacon has professionals with broad experience and skills. A virtual sales assistant devotes time and effort to increasing sales revenue. Additionally, most companies rely on their sales staff to provide them with client information. A virtual sales assistant can help brands forecast the market climate for the products and services. Such minute details are essential for businesses to thrive in a cutthroat market.

How to Outsource Food and Beverage Manufacturing

Posted on June 30, 2023July 6, 2023 by officebeacon

The food and beverage industry has long been recognized as one of the most critical sectors worldwide. Recent research reveals an impressive growth trajectory, with a remarkable compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.3% in 2023. With the expansion of the food and beverage manufacturing industry, business owners are in need of skilled staff to take their companies to the next level.

Enter virtual assistants- the game-changing resource that can revolutionize your food and beverage manufacturing. Virtual assistants offer an innovative and cost-effective approach to tackling the industry’s demands and enabling businesses to collaborate directly with domain experts. By leveraging the expertise of these skilled professionals, entrepreneurs can streamline operational processes, enhance productivity, increase profitability, and much more!

The Role of Virtual Assistants in the Food and Beverage Manufacturing Industry

Virtual remote assistants play a significant role in the food and beverage manufacturing industry, optimizing productivity and supporting remote operations. The global food packaging equipment market size was valued at $16,901.0 million in 2020 and is projected to reach $33,148.2 million by 2031. This registers a CAGR of 6.3% from 2022 to 2031, indicating the industry's substantial size and growth potential. Virtual assistants enable manufacturers to monitor and control production processes remotely, reducing the need for an on-site presence. Virtual assistants contribute to streamlined communication, real-time data analysis, and remote troubleshooting, enhancing operational efficiency, cost savings, and adaptability in the food and beverage manufacturing sector.

How Can a Virtual Assistant Increase Your Food & Beverage Company's Productivity

VAs are the future of the food and beverage manufacturing industry. It's the most efficient way to increase your bottom line in a budget-friendly way. Your virtual assistant takes care of all the back-end operations so you can focus on other vital tasks. Here's a list of food and beverage manufacturing tasks your virtual assistant can help you with.

1. Inventory Control Tasks

Inventory management is one of the nightmares of business owners. Since it's such an integral business model component, they can't afford to make inventory mishaps. That's why hiring a professional who can handle all the heavy lifting for you is best. Virtual assistants are well-versed with the latest technologies and tools required to manage inventory. They ensure the stocks are always available, place orders on time, maintain safety stocks, and coordinate with other parties such as suppliers, retailers, vendors, etc.

2. Promotions

Brand awareness doesn't come easy. A lot of companies spend significant amounts of money on creating brand awareness. However, outsourcing this task to your virtual assistant will give you the same, if not better, results at half the price. Virtual assistants know the ins and outs of the food and beverage industry. They leverage that in planning, conceptualizing, planning, and executing events for your company. VAs also use both offline and online channels to promote their brand. For example, they might create an attractive ad, send it to the local newspaper, and post it on social media to spread brand awareness.

3. Accounting

Having an expert who can manage accounting tasks and other responsibilities daily is very handy. Business owners need to realize the full potential of their virtual assistants and put it to good use. Most VAs have the necessary certifications required to handle accounting tasks. They also use software tools in the marketplace to optimize and organize your firm's accounts. At the end of the day, this cuts down your burden of hiring an expensive accountant to do basic tasks that your VA can do easily.

4. Vendor Management

Don't waste your time coordinating with endless vendors when you could spend that time taking your business to the next level. Your food and beverage virtual assistant can handle end-to-end vendor communications. From intercepting important information, scheduling or taking meetings to managing orders with them- your VA can do it all. They can also handle contract management, negotiation, and conflict resolution with your vendors and suppliers. They ensure compliance with the set terms and conditions during the whole process.

5. Market Research

Virtual assistants conduct meticulous market research and analyze the data to identify vital indicators, trends, etc. It can help you plan your next steps, understand customer behavior & preferences, and assess competitors. Your virtual assistant collects, organizes, and presents these valuable insights as a research report, making it easy to store and access the database at any given time. Leverage the market research conducted by your virtual assistant to make informed decisions, develop company strategies, and make new products.

6. Social Media Marketing

Virtual assistants can assist you in managing your social media accounts by creating compelling and relevant content, scheduling posts at optimal times, and engaging with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and reviews. They can also monitor industry trends and identify relevant hashtags and topics to ensure your social media presence remains up-to-date and engaging. By efficiently managing your social media accounts, they increase brand visibility, foster customer engagement, and build a robust online presence for your food and beverage business.

7. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

CRM is a critical aspect of running a successful food and beverage business, and virtual assistants can help you implement and manage a CRM system explicitly tailored to your food and beverage business. They organize and centralize customer data, including contact information, purchase history, and preferences. By effectively tracking customer interactions, such as inquiries, feedback, and orders, they give you a holistic view of your customer relationships. With this information, they can develop personalized marketing campaigns, loyalty programs, and customer retention strategies to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

8. Marketing Support

A virtual assistant specialized in the food and beverage industry can provide comprehensive marketing support to help elevate your brand. They assist in developing brand guidelines that ensure consistency across all marketing materials, from logos and color schemes to fonts and imagery. They also create engaging and visually appealing marketing collateral such as brochures, menus, banners, and social media graphics. With expertise in copywriting, they can also craft compelling and persuasive copy for advertisements, website content, blog posts, and social media captions. Your VA can help you effectively communicate your brand's unique identity and key messages to attract and engage your target audience.

How to Work Effectively with Virtual Assistants

In today's fast-paced business environment, virtual assistants enhance efficiency and productivity. By effectively collaborating with virtual assistants, food and beverage manufacturing businesses can leverage their skills, expertise, and flexibility to achieve optimal results. However, the catch is that business owners are not aware of how to harness their full potential and abilities. Well, here's how to establish a successful partnership with virtual assistants, unlocking the full potential of collaboration.

Also Read: Should You Really Hire a Virtual Personal Assistant? Here’s Your Answer

Establish Clear Performance Metrics

To establish clear performance metrics for your virtual assistant, defining specific parameters that align with their role and responsibilities is essential. These metrics serve as measurable performance indicators, and help gauge their effectiveness in supporting your business operations. Some examples of these metrics include task completion rate, accuracy, responsiveness, quality of work, and adherence to deadlines. By clearly defining and communicating these performance metrics to your virtual assistant, you can drive their performance toward desired outcomes.

Foster a Feedback Culture

A feedback culture is essential for cultivating a collaborative and productive relationship with your virtual assistant. Encourage open communication and create a safe space for them to share their ideas, suggestions, and concerns. Regularly solicit their input on processes, workflows, and areas they feel could be improved. Likewise, providing constructive feedback is equally important. Offer specific, actionable feedback on their performance, highlighting areas for improvement and recognizing their strengths. Regular feedback exchanges allow for continuous improvement, alignment of expectations, and adjustments that enhance collaboration and overall performance.

Tailor Recognition to Preferences

By understanding the virtual assistant's preferences, you can ensure that your recognition efforts resonate with them. Every person has different preferences when it comes to receiving recognition and incentives. Some may feel motivated by public recognition, such as praise during team meetings or acknowledgment in a company-wide email. Others may prefer private acknowledgments, such as a personalized message of appreciation or a one-on-one conversation. By tailoring your approach, you create a positive and supportive environment that motivates your virtual assistant to excel and feel valued as an integral part of the team.

Task Delegation and Prioritization

They are vital to optimizing efficiency and productivity when working with a virtual assistant. Consider the virtual assistant's skills, expertise, and capacity to delegate tasks effectively. Assign tasks that align with their strengths, allowing them to leverage their abilities and contribute effectively. Communicate the priorities associated with each task, ensuring that the virtual assistant understands the importance and urgency of each assignment. Regularly review task assignments and adjust priorities as needed, considering shifting deadlines, changing project requirements, or emerging priorities.

To Conclude

Outsourcing your tasks to virtual assistants gives you access to valuable support and expertise to streamline operations. With the trajectory of the food and beverage manufacturing industry shifting rapidly, taking advantage of it is essential to increase your profits. Of course, finding the right virtual assistant for outsourcing can be tricky. That's why it's best to go with a reputable and reliable company like Office Beacon. With decades of experience in the industry, our virtual assistants have helped countless clients reach their goals.

Prepare for Emerging Challenges in 2023 (and beyond) with a Virtual Insurance Assistant

Posted on May 29, 2023July 25, 2023 by Sabeeha Banu

Insurance companies are facing looming uncertainties. Mounting pressure from inflation, rising interest rates, and macroeconomic and geopolitical concerns dampen investors’ optimism. To this end, investors should concentrate on creating a lasting competitive edge.

Often held up in daily responsibilities, insurancers find it hard to focus on the core business operations. With a virtual insurance assistant, insurance agencies can focus on growing their sales pipeline, generating leads, and more.

A virtual assistant can help insurance businesses with many back-office tasks, such as policy modifications, billing, and customer support, and ensure nothing slips through the cracks. This blog will discuss working with a virtual assistant and the services they can provide for insurance agencies.

What Is an Insurance Virtual Assistant?

A virtual insurance assistant works from a distance and handles different responsibilities for insurance companies. They take customer care calls, respond to general inquiries, research potential coverage options to recommend to customers, and more for the insurance industry.

Insurance businesses can utilize a virtual insurance assistant to maximize their productivity and performance. For example, if your insurance agents are stretched thin with incoming policy claims and queries, a virtual insurance specialist can come to the rescue and handle the situation.

7 Key Tasks a Virtual Insurance Assistant Can Do for You

For insurance companies, virtual insurance assistants carry out many activities. They frequently handle the following jobs:

Data Entry in AMS/CRM

Insurance companies can hire virtual insurance assistants to do data entry or data “clean-up” inside the AMS or CRM. Virtual insurance assistants move data back and forth between different software programs and eliminate duplicate entries. Thus, these virtual insurance specialists ensure data is clean and up to date. They can override premiums and commissions inside the systems to ensure the reporting is correct.

Administrative Tasks

Every insurance agency has to deal with administrative tasks such as transcription, file management, email management, and research. Insurance agencies can hire virtual insurance assistants to perform administrative tasks so they can focus on high-value business processes.

Also Read: Is a Remote Assistant Worth the Investment?

Insurance Assistance

A virtual assistant with phone skills can answer customer care calls and help customers with pressing issues. For instance, customers often inquire about what insurance policy they are eligible for and what kind of coverage might be best for them. A virtual insurance assistant conducts research, reviews policy information, and recommends options to clients. Similarly, a virtual insurance verification specialist can verify the claims faster and provide support to an insurance company.

Preparing Policy Information

Making bids and ensuring that the details of each client's policy are updated is part of any insurance agency's general practice. A virtual insurance assistant gathers policy information, modifies current rules, and provides bids for new clients because this requires a lot of administrative work.

Lead Generation, Nurturing & Management

A virtual insurance assistant can assist insurancers in effective lead management. They also ensure insurance businesses close more deals by converting prospects into customers.

Accounting & Bookkeeping

Insurance accounting services have emerged as a strategic approach for insurance companies. A virtual insurance assistant lessens the burden of staffing in-house bookkeepers and accounting professionals. They provide comprehensive services to insurance businesses that make it simple to comply with statutory requirements.

Website & App Development

Insurance businesses need advanced websites and applications that will reduce their insurance work and offer a seamless experience to their customers. A virtual insurance assistant offers top-notch web and mobile applications. They are well-versed in website and app development design to ensure all your insurance business requirements meet your business needs.

Benefits of Hiring Virtual Assistants for Insurance Agencies

Employing a virtual insurance assistant might completely revolutionize the way insurance companies operate. Using virtual assistant services has several advantages, such as:

Improved Customer Service

In the competitive insurance industry, there is a need for insurance carriers to put the customer experience at the center of their business strategy. Insurers that offer superior customer service beat their peers. A virtual insurance assistant does research on your behalf for your support and sales teams. As a result, insurance businesses can save time by not undertaking policy research.

Organized Leads

A virtual insurance assistant can aid insurance companies in managing their vast network of current, past, and potential clients. With a virtual assistant, insurance companies can keep their lead database in order and access it easily.

Focus on Insurance Activities That Drive Growth

An insurance business spends an average of 16 hours per week on administrative tasks and other work that doesn't require their expertise or authority. This substantial loss in productivity inhibits the expansion of crucial initiatives for the insurance industry.

Using a virtual insurance assistant allows business owners to focus on the efforts that promote growth.

By offloading all of the time-consuming and tedious administrative tasks, they free up a ton of time for insurance companies to improve their strategic projects and establish crucial contacts.

A Big Saving on Hiring and Employee Costs

While hiring a virtual assistant, there are no hiring or incentive costs, which can save your company thousands of dollars.

According to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management, it costs $4,129 on average to fill a job opening. It includes:

Time invested in preparing job listings
Cost of posting jobs on employment boards
Recruitment advertisements
Examining applicants and conducting interviews takes time.
Background check costs
Costs of training
Employees benefits

Increased Business Efficiency

Businesses are attempting to cut expenses by broadly sustaining the economic gains made by virtual staff. Salesforce and Airbnb have significantly reduced office space rent. Insurance companies can use virtual insurance assistants to increase business efficiency by taking a cue from these successful businesses.

A virtual insurance assistant swiftly and accurately analyzes large volumes of data. They provide precise market information and help insurance companies make decisions more quickly. They can also speed up insurance back office support and accurately take the role of manual processes in customer service activities like generating quotes or processing payments.

Increased Insurance Sales

Virtual insurance assistants aid companies in boosting sales by enhancing the general consumer experience when using their goods or website. They achieve this by providing customers with quick responses. It increases engagement and leads to higher conversion rates for insurance businesses.

How Much Does a Virtual Insurance Assistant Cost

Generally speaking, a virtual insurance assistant costs $8 to $16 per hour, depending on where you hire them. In contrast, employing in-house employees costs between $17.00 and $19.83.

Insurance companies need to evaluate if they are hiring a trained virtual assistant or whether they need to do so.

Employing a qualified virtual assistant can save insurance companies money and effort on training, saving them up to $1,800 a month.

To this end, insurance companies can save money by working with a reputable outsourcing partner like Office Beacon to hire a virtual insurance assistant while successfully streamlining operations to drive growth.

Conclusion

It has become imperative for insurance companies to acquire virtual assistants due to the many advantages they offer. Are you looking for an efficient way to manage your customers and optimize business tasks? If you nodded yes, Office Beacon could be of assistance by providing trained virtual insurance agents.

Talk to our experts now to see if hiring a virtual insurance assistant is best for your agency.

Delegate Your Healthcare Back Office to a Virtual Medical Assistant

Posted on May 16, 2023May 17, 2023 by officebeacon

Dealing with time-consuming administrative duties frequently causes burnout in healthcare professionals. While occupied with administrative tasks, healthcare professionals look for methods to make the most of their time so they can care for patients.

Hiring a full-time medical assistant is expensive. To this end, virtual medical assistants are a more productive and cost-effective alternative to a full-time medical assistant.

Thankfully, physicians can outsource some of their work to virtual healthcare assistants (VAs) at a reasonable cost.

A virtual medical assistant can help healthcare professionals manage non-clinical parts of healthcare.

What is a Virtual Medical Assistant?

A Virtual Medical Assistant (VMA) remotely performs patient-facing and backend tasks. They handle scheduling, correspondence, and document management. Additionally, they have expertise working in a medical office and are well-versed in the healthcare industry.

A virtual assistant can be a priceless asset to any healthcare practice if they possess the right skills and credentials. Businesses need a reliable virtual medical assistant provider like Office Beacon who can fulfill their clinic and practice needs.

What Does a Virtual Medical Assistant Do?

A medical virtual assistant performs many tasks such as:

Administrative Tasks

The needs of the patients come first for healthcare workers. To this extent, virtual medical assistants oversee scheduling, cancellations, and plans for healthcare practice. Additionally, they educate patients and address any complaints through follow-up. Thus virtual medical assistant acts as the first point of contact for patients and can assist with the following administrative duties:

New patient referrals and admissions.
Appointment registrations that include all scheduling activities, cancellations and patient recalls..
Managing your schedule like patient visits. meetings and events.
Creating a database subdirectory structure.
Management of supplies that entails keeping an eye on and assessing the inventory at your workplace and, as required, placing orders for fresh goods.
Medical billing and classification.
Check-ins and follow-ups with patients.
Medication refills.
Email inbox management.
Document conversion from paper to digital.

Medical Transcription

Virtual medical assistants are skilled in data entry for Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Electronic Health Records. (EHR). Using secure video conferencing software, you can have your virtual assistant take notes during meetings, or you can give them specific directions to type the notes up later.

Front Desk

A virtual medical assistant can run your front office like a traditional receptionist, taking calls, transferring critical calls, relaying messages promptly, screening spam calls, and responding to texts, emails, and live chats.

Insurance Tasks

Virtual medical assistants handle all correspondence with the patient's insurance providers. They facilitate submitting claims. They also confirm the patient's status before pre-authorizing any treatments.

Bookkeeping

A virtual medical assistant can aid healthcare professionals with payroll management, bill payment, and invoice distribution. For healthcare workers to review and forecast cash flow, they also generate financial reports.

Marketing

Without marketing, healthcare professionals struggle to grow their patient base and practices. A virtual assistant in the healthcare industry can manage your social media pages, keep your website updated and user-friendly, and respond to customer feedback. A VA can set up campaigns to aggressively seek out new patients by focusing on people in your neighborhood.

Benefits of Having a Virtual Assistant for Doctors

A study found that healthcare employees spend 3.17 hours every day, or around half of their workday time, on a desktop, typing progress notes into an electronic health record.

Because of this process, they miss nonverbal cues during examinations. Fortunately, using a virtual medical assistant makes it easy to avoid this situation. Here are six benefits to think about:

1. Enhances Doctor-Patient Relationship

Healthcare professionals can quickly and easily schedule patient follow-ups and personal calls for extra medical advice using a virtual assistant. The medical personnel can concentrate on each patient individually while the virtual assistant handles the supporting tasks.

In crowded waiting areas, patients feel anxious. VAs can help doctors schedule private consultations for patients who require them without requiring them to visit the clinic. That leads to a stronger doctor-patient relationship.

2. Saves Time

Doctors frequently find themselves unable to give each patient their undivided attention. Thus there comes a dire need to hire a virtual medical assistant to get assistance with daily tasks.

Virtual assistants can aid healthcare professionals in making up for lost time in their day. A virtual medical assistant collects patient information by asking standard questions and then sends it for analysis.

They check on the patients and give them medication reminders. Spending too much time on monotonous, repetitive tasks will also negatively affect the core operations of your healthcare team. A virtual assistant can handle such tasks, allowing healthcare professionals to focus on high-priority tasks.

3. Cost-Effective

Since the pandemic, the hiring of virtual medical assistants has become rampant as doctors find it hard to finish their daily tasks. Physicians also experienced financial hardship, either directly or indirectly.

Healthcare professionals can hire virtual medical assistants without investing in physical space or office equipment like computers. A VA can save you a lot of money by working remotely. Furthermore, there is no need to cater additional benefits, such as health insurance and a pension, to a virtual assistant.

As a result, you can do your work more quickly and effectively without spending more money. There are days when your clinic is quiet and times when it is overloaded with patients.

In such situations, you don't need to hire a full-time employee and pay them a set salary and benefits regardless of the workload.

Virtual assistants receive compensation based on the project and the number of hours. So, depending on their requirements, healthcare professionals can work with a virtual assistant. By hiring virtual assistants, you can do away with fixed costs.

4. Increases Productivity

If you are a medical professional, you can not undermine the value of constant upskilling. A skilled virtual medical assistant allows you the flexibility to focus on your growth. Your virtual assistant can make time-saving and productivity-boosting recommendations you might not have been aware of.

You can seek a virtual assistant’s help managing your email and updating your spreadsheets, among other things. Thus, you become more effective when you complete tasks like entering data, accepting calls, and communicating with vendors, patients, and payroll.

5. Access to Skilled Staff

Virtual medical assistants are skilled and independent contractors. They ensure assigned tasks are on time and reflect how you want them. As virtual medical assistants are paid per hour and only after work is complete, your VA is motivated to complete work precisely and on schedule.

Lack of accountability is a common issue among full-time employees wherein responsibility is passed from one person to the next. With your virtual assistant, this will seldom happen. Because they are keenly aware of how much their livelihood depends on the caliber of their work, VAs take greater responsibility for it.

Additionally, they will consistently look for constructive criticism to grow.

Virtual medical assistants are skilled in many other areas, such as email management, account administration, bill paying, etc.

You can set your virtual assistant's schedules to suit your needs.

Six Easy Steps for Hiring a Virtual Medical Assistant

Here are the six easy steps for hiring a virtual medical assistant:

1. Document the Tasks

Making a list of the tasks you want to assign to your virtual assistant is the first step in hiring one. Record the specific goals you want your virtual assistant to achieve as well. For this, create a company guide that outlines your business objectives, vision, mission, and work ethic.

2. Create a JD

A detailed job description gives your virtual assistant a clear understanding of what you want from them. The typical components of this job description are:

An overview of your company's history
Requisite level of expertise and education
Obligations and responsibilities list
Weekly hours worked and their hourly rates
List of the software and/or applications you intend to use

3. Post your JD

Once you've completed outlining your job description, the following step is to post it online and start reviewing applications. You can submit your job description through many channels, such as job portals, freelance marketplaces, and virtual assistant agencies. Else you can opt for a reliable outsourcing partner, Office Beacon, to get access to the skilled virtual medical assistant at reasonable prices.

4. Schedule Interviews

Following the posting of the job description and evaluation of the applications, you can schedule interviews with the top 5 to 10 candidates. Ask about their goals, values, strengths, and time management style apart from their job history and skill set to get a general sense of who they are and whether you would get along with them.

5. Assign a Test Job

To narrow down your search and hire the ideal virtual assistant, assign a test assignment. The test job should include the tasks you wish your virtual assistant to fulfill once you onboard them.

Conclusion

The roles and responsibilities of those in the healthcare sector are evolving alongside the industry. Medical virtual assistants are becoming more and more valuable to businesses and individual practitioners. If you are looking for skilled virtual medical assistants for support, Office Beacon can help.

Request a consultation now!

Paralegal Vs. Virtual Legal Assistant: Your Best Bet

Posted on April 12, 2023April 13, 2023 by officebeacon

It’s common to use the terms “paralegal” and “virtual legal assistant” interchangeably. In reality, each of these roles has a specific function.

Some professionals work as paralegals or virtual legal assistants before enrolling in law school for the experience. Some pursue paralegal or virtual legal assistant roles because they are interested in the legal sector but do not intend to practice law.

This blog describes each position and its functions so you may better comprehend the roles. It also highlights the main differences between paralegals and legal assistants.

You can choose which of these positions is the best bet for your company by knowing how a paralegal and a legal assistant differ.

What is a Paralegal?

A paralegal works in a law office with a lawyer or government agency performing various legal tasks. They prepare documents, investigate the facts of cases and write reports. Paralegals can specialize in certain areas of the law, such as family law, criminal law, real estate or immigration law. Their specific responsibilities can vary depending on the area of the law.

What are the Duties of a Paralegal?

Paralegals provide technical assistance to attorneys so they can focus on their clients’ needs. They handle both clerical and legal work, such as:

Conducting interviews with clients
Maintaining communication with clients
Performing legal research
Drafting documents, pleadings, and correspondence
Attending case hearings with lawyers
Locating and interviewing witnesses
Compiling and demonstrating evidence used in court
Summarizing testimony, depositions, and interrogatories
Filing appeals with opposing attorneys
Making and signing documents that do not include legal counsel or third-party legal opinions

What is a Legal Assistant?

A legal assistant performs administrative and client service duties in a law firm. They aid lawyers in their legal research, much like paralegals. Legal assistants are also known as administrative assistants and legal secretaries.

What are the Duties of a Legal Assistant?

A legal assistant help lawyers with administrative and customer service tasks, including:

Composing and editing legal correspondence and documents
Managing the billing for clients by creating, sending, and resolving bills
Gathering and arranging proof and legal papers for the attorney to review
Scheduling meetings, depositions, and interviews with clients and witnesses
Arranging and maintaining paper and computerized filing systems for documents
Providing general administrative assistance, such as planning the attorney's travel and keeping their calendar

Paralegal vs Legal Assistant: Five Key Differences

Here are the five main ways that a paralegal and a legal assistant differ:

1. Qualifications

Paralegal

A college degree is necessary for a paralegal. Most paralegals are recent graduates of colleges who may attend law school. Specific work requirements for paralegals vary by state. For instance, paralegals in California complete a paralegal certificate program certified by the American Bar Association (ABA) and particular educational and workplace criteria.

Legal Assistant

After completing high school, a legal assistant may not need to attend any further education. Many law firms provide on-the-job training for persons without a background in law or formal schooling. Some organizations could additionally favor hiring legal assistants with an associate's degree or a certificate.

2. Skills

Legal assistants and paralegals share many skills, including computer literacy, interpersonal skills, and communication.

Paralegal

Paralegals frequently need to possess knowledge of the legal system's inner workings and intricacies.

Paralegals typically provide specific legal assistance to qualified lawyers and attorneys, and therefore they should possess the following skills:

Legal documentation
Composing legal documents
Legal research
Litigation

Legal Assistant

A legal assistant typically needs a wide range of abilities and knowledge, with a focus on the following:

Scheduling
Legal support
Administrative support
Data entry

3. Experience

Paralegal

A paralegal must have three to five years of experience working in a law office. Before transitioning to the paralegal, a successful applicant may have worked as a legal assistant. Some candidates work as paralegals after completing an internship after college.

Legal Assistant

A legal assistant's position does not require prior expertise. An attorney assistant can typically be a recent graduate of law school.

4. Responsibilities

Paralegal

Working directly with clients as a paralegal might be a beneficial experience for individuals who want to become a lawyer.

They do all the duties of an attorney except for making decisions and exercising authority.

A paralegal's workday includes case analysis, document authoring, legal research, and other activities.

Legal Assistant

The legal assistant doesn't interact with client work. But they perform administrative back-office duties. They spend their time typing correspondence, scheduling meetings, and carrying out administrative tasks to keep the law business running. Therefore, legal assistants' interactions with clients are limited to administrative duties. This interaction is crucial to the legal process since it saves the attorney time and promotes efficiency.

5. Case-Preparation Tasks

Paralegals and legal assistants work closely together to thoroughly prepare cases for trial. A legal assistant's duties are primarily administrative.

They arrange the trial files and papers for the attorney to peruse. They also schedule meetings between the paralegal, the lawyer and clients, witnesses, and other parties.

On the other hand, a paralegal gathers information, interviews potential witnesses and others who may be involved, and draughts declarations and arguments the lawyer will use in court.

Also Read: 11 signs you need remote staffing now more than ever

How Virtual Legal Assistants Can Help Law Firms

A virtual assistant helps law firms streamline workflows by taking care of time-consuming tasks like research, document review, and data entry. They could be a resource for legal firms as they manage several tedious tasks that lawyers are concerned with. They reduce the expense of hiring an attorney and free up the law firm to concentrate on other legal services that can bring in more money.

Here are some tasks that virtual legal assistants can help law firms with:

Legal transcription
Legal data entry
Legal research and writing
Answering calls
Legal bookkeeping/accounting
Email inbox management
Social media management
Setting up legal appointments
Sending out appointment reminders

Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Legal Assistant

Here are the top benefits of hiring a virtual legal assistant.

Save Time & Money:

Because of the numerous administrative obligations, law firms are pressed for time. Using a virtual legal assistant in such circumstances can save valuable time. By employing a virtual legal assistant, attorneys are relieved of the burden of overseeing non-core tasks, covering employee benefits, and paying for infrastructure. As a result, they can spend less money on hiring a virtual assistant and concentrate more on core legal issues.

Business Efficiency

Virtual legal assistants take care of all office work for law companies. They efficiently manage all essential legal tasks like the administration of legal contracts and legal research, increasing the firm's general effectiveness. In addition to handling calls for busy attorneys, they enhance the caliber of legal research and writing.

Utilizing a legal virtual assistant's services has many advantages, including meeting deadlines, working across time zones, and more. However, deciding which tasks to outsource to a virtual legal assistant will primarily depend on the needs of the law firm. VAs are particularly useful for managing administrative tasks that weigh down law companies.

Law firms can access skilled staff and get quick turnaround times, cost savings, and flexibility by contracting with a reputable legal process outsourcing business like Office Beacon.

How Virtual Paralegals Can Help Law Firms

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that between 2020 and 2030, the employment of paralegals and legal assistants can increase by 12%.

Typically, law firms employ paralegals to aid staff attorneys in their work. By assigning administrative and legal tasks to paralegals, staff attorneys can spend their time assisting clients and completing sophisticated legal work.

Law firms can appoint a virtual paralegal to conduct a range of legal tasks, including:

Client consultations
Case file organization
Legal research
Communication between witnesses and attorneys
Creating legal documents and briefs
Verifying legal citations
Legal issue analysis
Upkeep a database of cases
Customer follow-up

Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Paralegal Assistant

Here are the top benefits of hiring a virtual paralegal assistant.

Focus on Specialized Tasks

Virtual paralegal assistants have more specialized training than administrative assistants but less than lawyers. They interview clients, do legal research, draw legal documents, and keep track of filings on a firm's casework.

By delegating administrative and legal tasks to paralegals, attorneys can spend time focusing on more specialized tasks.

Benefits Bottom Line

Assigning less specialized work to paralegals who demand less than staff attorneys improves the financial health of a law firm.

Through outsourcing, a business can only hire paralegals when they need them.

Law firms significantly reduce their overhead costs by hiring a virtual paralegal assistant because they have to pay for the work a virtual paralegal assistant does.

End Points

Virtual paralegals and legal assistants have diverse roles to play. One cannot replace the other. Law companies can choose the best fit for their operation by carefully examining the duties of a virtual paralegal and virtual legal assistant.

Make the Most of Your Workday with a Virtual Executive Assistant

Posted on March 27, 2023July 25, 2023 by officebeacon

Are you overwhelmed with administrative tasks? No time to focus on business expansion? Then it’s time to change how you approach your workday.

In today’s competitive digital economy, a virtual assistant is more significant and valuable than ever. The right virtual assistant can help businesses organize their workflow management. They can free businesses of monotonous work, so they have more time to focus on the vital parts of their businesses.

A virtual assistant can expertly and efficiently manage a huge variety of jobs. Businesses can delegate daily workplace distractions to a virtual assistant to cut their workload by 78%. In addition to personal chores, they can assign administrative jobs like data entry, accounting and bookkeeping, customer service, digital marketing, and more.

Who is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is a remote worker who supports your business by taking care of various administrative tasks, freeing up your time to focus on growing your business. They can specialize in specific fields, such as marketing or accounting, or offer broader, more generalized services.

Here is a list of a few tasks that a virtual assistant can offer for your business:

How to Pick the Right Virtual Executive Assistant

It should go without saying that working with and finding an executive virtual assistant can save organizations a ton of time and effort. An ideal virtual assistant can aid firms in completing the growing backlog of unfinished organizational tasks. When your workload is slipping behind, they will unburden you of administrative work and help you bounce back.

Here are the steps businesses need to follow to pick the right executive virtual executive assistant for their business.

1. Define the Tasks to Outsource

To fully leverage virtual executive assistant services, a business should determine the tasks it intends to outsource. To do this, a firm must first identify the tasks that are time-consuming and the ones that need to delegate externally. Make a virtual executive assistant job description that incorporates the typical day-to-day tasks. Project management tools make it easy to understand the tasks that consume your time.

For instance, if managing your calendar and responding to emails take much of your time, employing an administrative assistant can make you more effective and productive. You can opt for an accounting and bookkeeping assistant if you find managing finances overwhelming.

Knowing the position that you want to fill in advance will help you find the ideal virtual assistant for the job. Office Beacon offers consultation to clients to comprehend their needs and connect them with the right virtual assistant.

2. Figure Out Your Perfect Virtual Executive Assistant

Finding the best virtual executive assistant for your company is easy once you've decided which jobs to outsourcing. Decide what characteristics you require of your virtual assistant first. Make a list of the requirements your virtual assistant must meet. You can reduce your options by identifying such qualities. They ought to be determined by technological, logistical, and professional factors. Some of the most significant talents to take into account are listed below. Among the logistical considerations are:

A skill set that meets your demands
Languages they are fluent in
An appropriate time zone for your schedule
A budget-friendly price range that is accessible

Other traits that you need to look in a virtual executive assistant:

3. Keep Communication Flowing

Working with a remote employee requires effective communication on both sides. Clear communication enables high-quality work, whereas poor communication might impede workflow.

Make frequent phone calls using Zoom or any other communication tool. Mention the best time to contact you. Also, talk about the preferred methods of communication for interactions that are both time- and value-effective with your virtual assistant.

Office Beacon provides fluid communication across all platforms and includes a complimentary SaaS tool for maintaining communication channels open between the business and the virtual assistant.

4. Access Skills & Abilities

When hiring a virtual assistant, you should assess their skills and abilities to see if virtual assistants are a good fit for your business. Here are some qualities you need to look for in a candidate:

Skill Sets: Examine the virtual assistant's skill sets by asking them how many tasks they are familiar with and which ones they excel at.

Strengths & Weaknesses: You must be aware of the virtual assistant's advantages and disadvantages to decide whether they are a good fit for your company's requirements.

Time Zone: Be ascertain whether the virtual assistant's working hours align with yours. Also, specify the time zone in which your virtual assistant should work—either yours or another.

Tools & Software: A virtual assistant should be well-versed with the tools that make their work easier and foster teamwork. Hence, before hiring a virtual assistant, ensure they are adept at using the required tools.

5. A Sample Test

The easiest way to gauge a virtual assistant's abilities is to assign sample work and assess whether or not their performance fulfills your expectations.

Make sure the test tasks reflect what you want them to accomplish. Consider this:

Ask them to organize an event and send you an invitation if you need calendar scheduling.
Ask them to enter data if you need data entry.
Ask them to organize one page of your inbox if you need help managing your emails.
Ask them to make a web page so you can assess their design skills.

Whatever the task is, make sure it is pertinent to your area of expertise and the type of work you would frequently offer them as part of their jobs.

6. Set Realistic Goals

Setting realistic goals is essential to recruit the best virtual executive assistant. Expecting results from your virtual assistant straight away is unrealistic. Give them time to comprehend your company's requirements so they may seize the opportunity and meet your expectations with flawless delivery.

Office Beacon employs expert staff with careful screening, vetting, and training.

5 Ways to Get the Most of Virtual Executive Assistant

Once your virtual assistant is on board, you'll be eager to collaborate with them. You should know how to leverage their talents, get along with them, and manage your time effectively.

Here are the five tips for working productively with a virtual assistant and maximizing their skill sets.

1. Delegate the Right Tasks

To get the most out of your virtual executive assistant, you need to assign the right tasks to your virtual assistants. Delegate the tasks that currently consume your time and take the focus off business-critical matters.

Use the Eisenhower matrix to aid in more efficient task delegation.

Using the Eisenhower matrix as a tool for decision-making, prioritize your tasks according to how urgent and important they are. The four parts are as follows:

Urgent and Crucial
Important but not urgent
Critical but not urgent
Not urgent or crucial

2. Write SOPs

Creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) can take time and effort upfront.

Delegating your workflows to your virtual assistant will be quick after you get over the initial learning curve of designing them and can save time in the long term.

Everything will be precise that your virtual assistant can refer to, so they won't need to ask you for help every time.

Include your SOP's key points, each action step, and any remarks outlining specifics the VA needs to know.

3. Over Communicate

Also Read: 7 wonders a virtual assistant can bring to your world

It is important to communicate effectively with the virtual assistant. A survey of 400 businesses found that poor communication with and among employees costs each company an average of $62.4 million annually.

Great communication strengthens your relationship with your virtual assistant.

You may connect with virtual assistants successfully using video conferencing solutions like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and more.

4. Feedback & Praise

While you work with your virtual assistant, offer helpful criticism rather than harsh comments. Exact your expectations. Provide your assistant with precise directions so that they will understand what went wrong and what to do differently.

Recognize your virtual assistant when they perform well. Don't hesitate to express your appreciation for their contributions. If you can, reward them for a job well done by giving them a small incentive. These can substantially change the work culture you ultimately create, even if they work remotely.

5. Set Goals Together

Learn the objectives of your virtual assistant as you specify your own to it. It can help you create a more devoted virtual staff. Take the scenario where your business is required to create perfect website designs. You can set goals that align with your virtual assistant's goals. For instance, if your virtual assistant goal is to achieve competence in website design, you can accomplish it with your business goals.

Thus, with the proper commitment and communication, you can meet your objectives with your virtual assistant.

Conclusion

If you have a lot on your plate, it might be time to hire a virtual assistant. The best executive virtual assistant services offer to take up tasks you don't have the time or expertise to complete or on your to-do list. They give you more free time to engage in tasks that will speed up the growth of your business.

How an Ecommerce Virtual Assistant Can Help Grow Your Online Business

Posted on March 16, 2023March 16, 2023 by officebeacon

Running an e-commerce business is not a simple task. It entails administering the website, developing a sales strategy, fulfilling orders, improving the client experience, and more. E-commerce business owners are frequently too busy with tedious and repetitive chores to work on the crucial aspects of their operations.

Moreover, technology has a significant impact on the e-commerce industry. For this, businesses need to adopt the idea of virtual assistants to establish their brand presence in the cutthroat ecosystem. A virtual assistant for e-commerce assists entrepreneurs in managing administrative tasks so businesses can focus on profit-making.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant financial losses for numerous firms. Today, many businesses are adopting the outsourcing trend for cost savings. According to Deloitte’s 2022 Worldwide Outsourcing Survey, global outsourcing spending might reach US$971.2 billion by 2023.

What is an E-Commerce Virtual Assistant?

A virtual e-commerce assistant helps businesses optimize their eCommerce operations. They assist them with their day-to-day eCommerce business activities, such as data entry, customer assistance, and marketplace management.

The E-commerce industry is booming, with Amazon and eBay dominating the marketplace. It makes it difficult for new e-commerce businesses to break through. Startups struggle with attracting targeted traffic, acquiring and converting quality leads, actively interacting with subscribers, retaining customers, and developing a brand.

Top Tasks to Outsource to an E-Commerce Virtual Assistant

As your e-commerce business evolves, you have too many responsibilities. You could be squandering hours of your time each week on administrative tasks. You may also struggle with more complex activities, such as website design. To this end, a virtual assistant for e-commerce can relieve you of some of your responsibilities by doing the following tasks:

Listing creation & optimization
Order processing
Inventory management
Order tracking
Customer support
Market research
Administrative tasks
Email management
Bookkeeping
Website maintenance
Social media management

What Does a Reliable eCommerce Virtual Assistant Offer?

Office Beacon offers skilled virtual assistants. They provide e-commerce business owners with remote assistance to help them run their online businesses successfully and build up their operations.

Office Beacon experts can help e-commerce firms manage their online stores, including Amazon Seller Central, Shopify, WordPress, Woocommerce, and Magento.

Some of the e-commerce services Office Beacon offers:

Product Sourcing

E-commerce businesses must display different products in their online store to entice their target customers. They should meet with their brand's buyer personas. The virtual assistants at Office Beacon are product-sourcing experts with in-depth knowledge of the most popular products.

Inventory Management

Even if you have great products for your online business, audience acquisition is not easy. Office Beacon’s virtual assistants can help you keep your store inventory in check and minimize mistakes.

Product Listing

Uploading product titles, optimizing them, updating them, and assigning prices and labeling can consume time. A capable e-commerce virtual assistant at Office Beacon will assist you in effectively managing and updating your product listings.

Customer Service

Office Beacon’s customer service specialists answer phone calls, emails, or live chat queries. Your consumers can benefit from pre- and post-sales assistance from an eCommerce virtual assistant.

Benefits of Hiring an E-Commerce Virtual Assistant

Employing a virtual assistant can provide numerous advantages to e-commerce firms. But how precisely can a virtual assistant (VA) assist you with your eCommerce business? How much value can they provide? How are they better off hiring an on-site employee?

1. A VA Relieves Workload & Returns 40% of the Day

Entrepreneurs in e-commerce spend half of their day on time-consuming administrative duties. Although all administrative tasks are vital for the business, they can be exhausting and time-consuming. You must devote hours to monitoring customer comments, responding to customer issues, entering data, updating product databases, and updating product descriptions, among other things.

As a result, busy e-commerce enterprises can subcontract time-consuming tasks to virtual assistants (VAs) and reduce stress. They can declutter their daily routine and be better equipped to grow their business.

2. Quality Service That Meets your Business Needs

Office Beacon offers comprehensive and high-quality e-commerce shop management services to enterprises worldwide. Also, the e-commerce store management experts enable real-time tracking of e-commerce stores and ensure optimal store management.

Their global delivery centers and operational teams work around the clock to give excellent outcomes in the shortest amount of time.

Office Beacon’s virtual assistants are adept at managing orders. They can assist you in managing your ERP software by consistently updating data about your products and other details.

3. A Higher Level of Customer Support that Adds Value

Customer service is an essential component of online businesses. Businesses should be reachable 24/7 to address consumer complaints; otherwise, they risk losing customers. Poor customer service spoils brand reputation. For this reason, client service must be prompt, pertinent, and effective. Most essential, it should run continuously.

A virtual assistant for e-commerce may handle calls, live chat, and other forms of communication with customers while resolving their issues. As a result, they provide value and improve the consumer experience.

4 Skills to Look in an E-Commerce Virtual Assistant

Finding the right virtual assistant is a daunting task for e-commerce businesses. An eCommerce virtual assistant must possess the following skills, such as:

Research Skills

Researching the goods, market, target market, and competitors should be a strong suit for a virtual assistant. They must collect large amounts of data and be aware of trends and advancements in the e-commerce industry.

Inventory Management

It's crucial to have strong inventory management skills in the e-commerce industry. An eCommerce business needs the right virtual assistant to track the inventory and ensure stock is never a surplus or deficit.

SEO

SEO is essential to the success of any online business. It enables e-commerce businesses to attract their target customers. For this, companies must enhance their SEO strategy; otherwise, they will never be able to connect with their target audience and close any sales.

Problem Solving

An ideal virtual assistant should be capable of dealing with clients and attending to their needs. They ought to be able to persuade uninterested clients to become engaged and contented ones. Office Beacon's virtual assistants excel at providing excellent customer support and are available around the clock to address issues as they arise.

How to Hire a VA for Your ECommerce Store

Hiring a perfect virtual assistant for your business can be challenging, where you vet the VAs carefully by outlining the business needs.

E-commerce firms can follow the below steps to hire the right virtual assistant for their business.

1. Document Before Outsourcing

When working with a virtual assistant remotely, it might be challenging to explain your requirements over the phone and have them fully comprehend you. As a result, record your hiring process and include any relevant instructions and information. By taking this action, you'll be able to hire more effectively by being aware of every phase and communicating it to the candidate.

2. Write an Effective Job Description

Also read: 5 Tips To Write Your Virtual Assistant Job Description In No Time

To find the right candidate, you must write a job description that will appeal to applicants with the skills and qualities you want in a VA. It will be the first factor you consider while choosing a VA.

Be sure to include:

Business goals
Vision and mission
Roles and responsibilities
Apps and tools expertise
Language requirements

E-Commerce VA Job Description Example

Our business is looking for a trustworthy and knowledgeable virtual assistant for e-commerce. Our different E-commerce activities will be your responsibility as you collaborate with our team and report to the E-commerce manager.

Responsibilities and duties for eCommerce virtual assistant:

Keep the website updated with new products and manage the online store daily.
Prepare to put new tactics into action.
Verify that the website's product display is accurate.
Before launching, make sure you get product photos.
To ensure products arrive on schedule, carefully coordinate with the procurement and merchandise staff.
Keep an eye on the technical KPIs.
Assist the eCommerce manager by issuing tickets to the web development companies for sporadic onsite tasks and web development.
Get input from the suppliers and clients.
Create marketing strategies for e-commerce platforms that make changes throughout the year into account, making sure there is continual contact, input, and feedback from management, buyers, and sellers.

Required skills for success:

A strong command of the English language
Customer service that is cordial and sympathetic
Ability to solve issues
Knowledge of Zendesk
Shopify and Facebook experience
Knowing Oberlo is a plus
Prior knowledge of a dropshipping company.

Other Skills:

Customer Service
Shopify
Social Media Management
Zendesk

3. Hire your Virtual Assistant

Online job boards and social media networking sites like LinkedIn are available to e-commerce businesses for posting job descriptions.

Assess the numerous applications to identify a virtual assistant who matches your hiring requirements.

For busy business owners, the hiring process can be taxing. To this end, e-commerce business owners can seek the help of a reliable outsourcing partner, Office Beacon.

Office Beacon has over 20 years of expertise in placing qualified virtual assistants with businesses, enabling it to deliver high-quality service to match your company's needs.

How Office Beacon Works

Step 1: Analyze

They analyze your business goals and identify your staffing and software needs.

Step 2: Source

They source the perfect virtual assistant/s who can meet your specific requirements.

Step 3: Monitor

The team lead sets KPI expectations, trains and monitors your staff, and oversees your project.

Step 4: Report

They share weekly quality reports and bi-weekly feedback emails on your staff’s progress.

Outsourcing eCommerce development to Office Beacon assures that you are working with a skilled staff. Furthermore, Office Beacon manages the complete product life cycle, from conceptualization and development to execution and marketing.

4. Manage E-Commerce Virtual Assistant

You must grant your virtual assistant only restricted access to your store, social media accounts, or whatever else they need to carry out their duties after you hire them.

Give your VA specific permissions based on the tasks they will perform. You may give them a specific job on social media pages so they can curate and post. You can add them as new users in the customer care tools, giving them access to reply to support tickets.

You can grant them user permissions with a Paypal business account, so they can make payments without requiring your credit card information. You may also set up email delegation in Gmail so that others can view and reply to emails on your behalf.

With Office Beacon, maintaining your virtual assistant is now simple because the VAs operate independently without supervision.

Conclusion

Busy e-commerce entrepreneurs who enjoy having control may find outsourcing an alien concept. But outsourcing is vital to achieving the elusive work/life balance, which is tougher to do when you're working alone. Employing a VA frees up your time to concentrate on what matters, such as expanding your business, spending time with your family, or simply giving yourself some breathing room.

Is a Remote Assistant Worth the Investment?

Posted on February 17, 2023July 25, 2023 by officebeacon

Many successful business owners believe that true leadership lies in delegating. When you are too busy building your empire, it’s redundant for you to spend your valuable time, money, and effort on small, mundane things. However, this doesn’t mean that the said tasks aren’t necessary.

Administrative tasks are crucial in the company’s grand scheme to work smoothly. It would help if you had someone in your corner. Meet remote assistants; they are the pillar of support for businesses worldwide. So what does a remote virtual assistant do? Are they worth your money? Read more to know!

CTA to download Office Beacon's virtual assistant service guide

What is a Remote Assistant?

A remote assistant is someone a company/ entrepreneur hires to outsource all their admin/business operations. Outsourcing has been one of the biggest trends of the past year. According to Deloitte's 2022 Global Outsourcing Survey, the total outsourcing expenses will exceed $971.2 billion by 2023. Think of remote assistants as a personal all-in-one tool. Whether sending out emails, scheduling appointments, or handling calls, your remote executive assistant controls everything.

What Services Can a Remote Assistant Offer?

The remote assistant can provide many services depending on the company's needs and wants. Some of the most common ones are:

Email Inbox Management

Answering emails and communicating with your clients will keep your business running, but you will notice that most of the correspondence exchanges add more workload. Your virtual executive assistant can save time and keep emails organized by sorting them priority-wise, forwarding or replying to emails, sending e-invites, managing your subscriptions, and sending follow-up or reminder emails. A dedicated remote virtual assistant ensures you are directed toward emails that need your attention and lessens your burden.

Appointment Setting

As a busy business owner, it can be hard to keep track of all the dairy bookings/appointments, let alone find ample time to coordinate these meetings. While you focus on building your corporate empire, your remote assistant will handle all the back-end tasks for you. They have got you covered, from managing your day-to-day calendar to organizing virtual and in-person meetings and scheduling appointments. Furthermore, you can also task them with handling your travels and planning trips.

Social Media Management

Why hire a social media manager or agency when your remote assistant can do the job for you? Many remote assistants are skilled and have years of experience handling social media accounts for businesses. Your company can benefit from inexpensive but efficient social media marketing strategies. A virtual assistant remotely working can create content calendars, track analytics and help your account grow.

Content/CRM Management

CRM systems can be tricky to handle and take up a considerable amount of your time. Instead of overwhelming yourself with these CRM platforms, let your remote assistant handle it. They will manage and polish your content on various platforms like WordPress, Drupal, Magento, etc. These assistants are also skilled in preparing presentations for projects or meetings, conducting content research, publishing blogs, and more.

Transcriptions

A remote assistant can come in really handy if your business model relies heavily on audio and video recordings. They will edit the audio and visual recordings into 100% accurate written content. A remote executive assistant can provide transcription services for various industries, such as interrogation transcription for legal purposes, time coding, subtitling, documentaries, medical transcriptions, etc. It saves your time and gives you the information needed efficiently.

Workflow Coordination

Get back hours in your workday by hiring a remote assistant. They will carry out mundane tasks like tracking deliverables, compiling meeting minutes, filing and organizing e-files, managing spreadsheets, and cleaning up any cloud or drive accounts. These activities may seem trivial, but they significantly impact your workflow and increase productivity. Your remote assistant makes your business easier to manage by coordinating with your employees, vendors, and tasks.

Event Management

Planning and organizing a conference, team event, or workshop is tiring and stressful. There are a lot of aspects to it, such as finding a venue, catering, promoting, inviting guests, and so on. You need an assistant on your team who can help with all the details. A remote assistant will help you find the best vendors for your event at a budget-friendly price. They will ensure that every part of the event is perfectly organized and oversee the successful execution.

Human Resource Support

Your remote assistant can lessen the workload of the HR team by helping them with various administrative activities. They can post job listings on social networking websites like LinkedIn to attract talented people. Remote assistants also pre-screen these potential applicants and set up interviews for you. Other than that, they can also lend a hand in employee management and workforce planning.

Data Entry

Data entry can be highly complicated and time-consuming, and if it’s not done right, it can lead to business problems. The remote assistant will precisely enter any numerical or alphabetical data into the database. The information is presented so that it can be easily accessed and understood. A skilled remote virtual assistant is on top of the current data entry norms and technology standards to cater to your data entry requirements.

Bookkeeping

It is yet another helpful service provided by remote assistants. Any financially competent business y needs meticulous bookkeeping. Unfortunately, most business owners have too much on their plate or do not have the required knowledge to carry out accounting tasks. Additionally, hiring an accountant can be expensive. Your remote assistant can be your in-house bookkeeper. They can perform tasks like processing invoices, taxes, monitoring cash flows, etc.

What Qualities Should a Remote Assistant Possess?

There are specific criteria the remote assistant must qualify for before you hire them. These criteria are a benchmark of a great remote assistant. Evaluating the individual based on them tells us if they have potential and are suitable to work with you. Some of these qualities are:

Communication

Since the work will be completely offline, strong communication forms the foundation of a good working relationship. The remote assistant should be proficient in English and any other language relevant to your business.

Time Management

You're investing in a remote assistant to save time and money, and they should be able to do the same. Prioritizing tasks, daily appointments, scheduling meetings with clients, etc., should be made to make your life easier. Furthermore, the remote virtual assistant should be a stickler for deadlines.

Tech-Savviness

Digital tools are the backbone of a world of virtual assistants. A 2022 Statista report states that 79% of remote assistants have been using digital tools for digital transformation. Being well-versed in technology will make the assistant's daily tasks more efficient and increase the company's productivity.

Attention to Detail

The remote assistant should have a keen eye for intricate details. They should double-check any form of content or communication that goes out publicly or to the clients. Small mistakes in scheduling or messages can harm the company's reputation.

How Will Hiring a Remote Assistant Benefit You?

In today's cut-throat corporate world, you need someone to help you manage your business. Remote assistants are the all-in-one go-to individuals for several companies worldwide. Now that you know what to look for in a remote executive assistant, let's talk about the benefits you will reap by hiring a remote assistant.

Higher Productivity

The data collected by Stanford University shows that remote workers are 13% more productive than in-house employees. They take fewer breaks and have more time, space, and energy to work. It means they can complete all their tasks efficiently, which leads to increased profits and helps your business grow.

Work-Life Balance

Throwing yourself at work will eventually lead to burnout. Since you will be delegating mundane tasks to a remote assistant, it frees up your schedule to spend time on something worthwhile. In an interview with VirtuDesk, 84.4% of the business owners said their business had a positive impact since hiring a remote assistant. Furthermore, 3.1% of the entrepreneurs also witnessed a similar effect on their personal lives.

Cost-Savings

Even though you might have to pay them a little more than your in-house employee, remote assistants save you money. You save a lot on operating benefits (about 78%, according to data!) It is because they are not liable for benefits like insurance, training resources, and other employee benefits.

Greater Flexibility

Hiring a remote assistant allows you to build an efficient team and help you retain talent. Since their schedule is flexible, they will be less prone to stress or burnout, which invariably allows them to carry out all tasks successfully. Moreover, business owners don't have to worry about constant absenteeism or tardiness with a flexible work schedule. A survey suggests that 43% of these workers felt that flexibility helped them be more productive.

Why Business Owners Find it Challenging to Manage Remote Assistants?

After several interviews, you might have found the ideal candidate. However, the process doesn't end after hiring them. Just like any other employee, remote assistants need to be managed too. Many employers face a fair share of hassles while working with them. Below mentioned are a few common challenges:

Performance Gap

The applicant might have gotten the job due to their stellar interview and resume, but when it comes down to it, you might notice they are not delivering their tasks. The deadlines are never met, the responsibilities are never fulfilled, etc. This underperformance could end up hurting your business, and the whole recruitment process would end up being useless. Therefore, one needs to be careful while choosing the candidate.

Unreliable

If you're outsourcing the job to a freelancer or an individual with no tie-ups to a virtual assistant agency, there's a possibility of abandonment. It had happened to business owners before where the remote assistant disappeared on them in time of need, leaving them high and dry. This is another hassle you have to handle, which means directing more of your precious time cleaning up the mess.

Security Concerns

During their time at the company, it is natural that the remote assistant will handle private and sensitive information regarding the company. They will have access to passwords and confidential data since they will work closely with you. It may raise some privacy concerns if they are unethical and unprofessional. It's advised to do legal work carefully before sharing any such information.

Quality Issues

Initially, it's understandable that remote assistants will take time to adjust to your company's style and culture and deliver the kind of output you expect. However, it may take longer for some, and a lot of micromanaging and training will be required. Sometimes even after all that training, there will be quality issues with the work. So there's a waste of company resources and decreased productivity, which again is a loss for your company.

…but is there a way to overcome them?

All these issues are common in today's business world, but you won't have to face them if you choose to hire from Office Beacon. With about a decade of experience in the industry, Office Beacon has been a trusted agency to outsource remote assistance needs. Our assistants are fully trained and have the professional skills needed to work in the industry. You can rely on our virtual assistants anytime, from meeting deadlines to establishing a solid communication line. You won't face any hassle regarding onboarding or managing. The company legally protects your sensitive data, so there are no privacy breach concerns. You can pick from personal remote assistants to executive assistants remote specializing in specific roles to meet your requirements.

Final Verdict

As a business owner, your time is invaluable, and you need someone to help you achieve your goals. With all the data supporting the facts, it's a no-brainer that remote assistants are the future and worth every cent. If you are looking to outsource work, then Office Beacon has several trained and experienced remote assistants. These professionals are highly qualified and specialize in different fields. Whether you are looking for executive virtual assistants or remote operations staff, Office Beacon scouts for them easily and onboard them in no time!

Real Estate Virtual Assistants: Why Do You Need Them?

Posted on January 12, 2023May 8, 2023 by officebeacon

Real estate is surging with growing demand for industrial and commercial infrastructure. Studies reveal that by 2030, the real estate industry will reach 14.6 billion U.S. dollars.

Image Source: Statista

In such a cutthroat competition, realtors struggle to mark their presence. The major concern for real estate owners is to fit all the crucial tasks into their day.

If you own a real estate company, you would probably recognize these time sinks.

Responding to emails, texts, and phone calls
Processing real estate documents, agreements, and lease records
Coordinating appointments, showings, open houses, and meetings
Creating and distributing flyers, newsletters, listings, and more
Creating budgets for monthly, quarterly, and annual operations
Developing marketing plans for listings
Updating client databases
Researching listings to develop comparative market analysis (CMA) reports
Updating websites and social media profiles

What Is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant?

A real estate virtual assistant (VA) employs their knowledge to manage daily jobs that are crucial to your organization but don’t require direct supervision. They are specialized personnel who take care of business tasks, including cold calling, lead generation, financial tracking, website building, marketing, and database maintenance.

They serve as virtual allies by handling all the administrative work. Thus by hiring a real estate virtual assistant, you can free up your time to concentrate on business-strategy tasks that drive growth and boost income.

What Does a Real Estate Virtual Assistant Do?

Are you, like most real estate agents, thinking about how to leverage the skills of a virtual assistant?

Let us delve deeper into the tasks you can outsource to a virtual real estate assistant.

Administrative Task Assistance

As a busy real estate entrepreneur, you might be inundated with an unending list of administrative tasks. While you don’t have the time to separate the wheat from the chaff, a real estate virtual assistant can help you. Virtual assistants handle back-office tasks, phone calls, data entry, scheduling, and office management.

Email Management: Sort or filter emails, respond to questions from prospects, send follow-up emails, and keep the inbox clean.

Research: Real estate assistant keeps up with real estate trends. They can conduct initial research to prepare dossiers and marketing collateral for your properties.

Data Entry: Enters and updates real estate information – email address, phone number, mailing address, and more.

Calendar Management: Calendar management is vital to ensure things are on track. A real estate assistant tracks tasks, meetings, and other commitments for you.

CRM: Every realtor needs to track leads and manage sales pipelines. A virtual assistant ensures prospects stay engaged and sales opportunities don’t fall through the cracks.

Transaction Management: Real estate agents must coordinate their transactions and deals. A qualified virtual assistant can handle all the minute details of real estate transactions.

Marketing Assistance

A virtual assistant can aid real estate businesses in getting the most relevant leads. They bear the burden of implementing marketing insights and taking care of email and social media marketing campaigns, greatly expanding your reach.

Website Maintenance: A virtual assistant ensures uniformity and coordination throughout your website to present a unified front that your customers can trust.

Social Media Marketing: Real estate assistants update your social media pages to keep your target customers informed and interested.
Digital Marketing: Virtual assistant plans successful digital marketing strategies. They update your social media pages and create flyers, videos, etc.

Listings Management

A qualified virtual real estate assistant can handle all your real estate listing needs, allowing you to focus on core competencies.

Update Listings: People can only learn about a property’s availability through listings. A virtual assistant creates and maintains your listing for prospective clients.

Organize Listings: A real estate virtual assistant organizes listings while you persuade the clients to buy the property.

Customer Support

Virtual assistants are skilled communicators who can converse with clients, respond to their questions, and keep them informed of new postings.

Handling Customer Queries: Handling customer queries can be a daunting task. A real estate assistant addresses customer concerns and replies to emails while you tackle big deals.

Marketing Collaterals: It can be challenging to design a new presentation for each pitch you make to a potential client. A real estate virtual assistant creates presentations and designs brochures for your open house.

Why Is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant Necessary to Promote Business Growth?

According to Technavio’s industry analysis, the size of the worldwide virtual assistant market will increase by USD 4.12 billion, at a CAGR of 11.79%, during the forecasted period.

Image Source: PR Newswire

Your daily grunt work might wear you out both psychologically and physically. Hiring a VA could change everything. Here are a few reasons why:

Cost Efficient

As an entrepreneur, you always look for ways to save money. However, cutting costs could potentially result in hiring individuals who are not competent. Hiring a skilled virtual assistant is cost-efficient. You will only have to cover the cost of your VA’s work hours; you are not responsible for paying for insurance, paid time off, or holiday bonuses. It means you can save money to further invest in expanding your business.

Access to Global Talent

When you hire an in-house employee, you are limited to hiring candidates from your geographical region. In such situations, you sometimes end up hiring underqualified candidates.

Utilizing virtual assistants opens up a world of possibilities. You can hire people from around the world depending on your requirements.

You are not bound to work in the same office premises when outsourcing virtual real estate. As a result, business owners can collaborate and hire people globally without spending excessive money.

Flexibility

The real estate industry demands the knack for swift closures. You will often face unforeseen circumstances. Moreover, in-house employees have a set schedule. They might not always be able to meet your needs. A virtual assistant, on the other hand, works around your schedule to cater to your business requirements.

No Training Headaches

Hiring an in-house employee involves training and onboarding. After the training, it would take weeks for them to get started. With virtual assistants, you don’t have to worry about training and onboarding. A qualified outsourcing company like Office Beacon screens, vets, and trains virtual assistants who can start working immediately.

How Do Real Estate Virtual Assistants Drive Business Growth?

Real estate assistants are very resourceful, dependable, and well-organized. They can assist you in effectively managing your workload and reclaiming your time for activities that promote business growth.

1. Enhanced Efficiency: Real estate business owners have a lot on their plate. And it becomes hard to handle all the tasks alone. To this end, a virtual assistant comes to the rescue by taking a load off your shoulders. As a VA handles other aspects of your business, you’ll be able to meet more clients, close more sales, and make more money. In this way, the company will prosper.

2. Better Productivity: Productivity is an essential driver for business growth. As a realtor, you deal with too many tasks that hamper productivity and leave you exhausted. A VA can assist you by taking on some of the chores you don’t have time to complete. You’ll have more energy to concentrate on your company’s operations and other responsibilities. A VA can also assist you with time management so that you work more efficiently rather than harder.

3. New Ideas: The real estate industry is ever-changing. To outshine, a realtor should bring a fresh perspective to the business. A virtual assistant is well-versed in real estate trends and offers a fresh understanding of your business. They bring new ideas to the table so you can make the necessary changes to move your business forward.

There are some common misconceptions you will come across when planning to hire a real estate virtual assistant.

❌ Not Trustworthy: Not correct. VAs from Office Beacon are reliable and exhibit the utmost professionalism with clients.

❌ Difficult to Work Virtually: Not anymore. Office Beacon offers software for seamless communication between the VA and the client.

❌ VAs are Expensive: Not necessarily. Virtual assistants do not demand employee benefits and only charge for the amount of work they do.

❌ VAs are Not Productive: Virtual assistants are highly skilled and guarantee to do the assignment within the allotted time.

Challenges Real Estate Companies Face

Overwhelmed with administrative and clerical responsibilities, real estate businesses face many challenges. Here are the top challenges a real estate agent faces every day.

1. Customer Service: Reaching out to potential customers and addressing their concerns is time-consuming and tiring. Moreover, today’s digital-savvy customers demand a high sense of attention and detail. With many tasks, real estate owners struggle with customer service and initial sales.

2. Scheduling: Getting to every appointment right is an eternal struggle for a realtor. For many real estate owners, this leads to bad scheduling. Due to poor calendar management, real estate owners run the risk of missing out on crucial business opportunities.

3. Never-Ending Administrative Tasks: The administrative work in the real estate sector frequently piles up. Further, real estate companies fail to carry out administrative responsibilities impeding productivity and hampering workflow.

The numerous time-consuming tasks involved in real estate could harm your revenue and growth opportunities. Hiring a virtual assistant for real estate can allow you to focus on the most significant areas of your business while handling all of these additional obligations.

What are the Best Practices for Hiring a Real Estate Virtual Assistant?

Before hiring a real estate virtual assistant, set clear goals – your expectations from the virtual assistant.

Once you set your expectations right, it will become easy for you to review deliverables and make sure every task you hand your VA is executed with precision on point.

The following are the best practices that businesses need to follow while hiring a real estate virtual assistant:

Identify: First and foremost, identify the areas of your business that need assistance. Then set how much time you need these tasks finished.

Set: Set the goals and the tasks for the real estate VA clear right from the beginning. From this, build a thorough job description highlighting the scope of the work.

Communicate: Now, communicate your requirements, work ethic, and schedule that works for you. Specify the deadline for the VA to complete the task.

Wait: Once you give inputs and set goals, let the VAs do the rest. Clear the doubts the VAs have and provide feedback. And wait and watch the VAs perform.

You can utilize a virtual staffing provider like Office Beacon to get quality real estate virtual assistants at a fraction of the costs.

At Office Beacon:

You get handpicked, vetted, and trained staff in all tools and software used by businesses across the globe.
Virtual assistants with multilingual capabilities give you an edge over your global competitors.
Virtual assistants operate across various time zones (EST to PST) to suit your business needs.
Complete redundancy with fully operational delivery centers across 4 locations.
Backup resources at no additional cost.
Complementary software to eliminate costs incurred on third-party software.

Hiring a Real Estate Virtual Assistant

It is essential to thoroughly weigh your options before deciding whether or not to engage a virtual assistant for your real estate business. Before assigning duties to a remote worker, look at the benefits and costs.

Cost-Benefit

The first step is to decide if the virtual assistant is worth the financial investment. For this, weigh the potential cost of a virtual assistant against the potential benefits.

There is a wide price range for real estate virtual assistant services.

Image Source: Payscale

A virtual real estate assistant’s costs depend on who, what, and where you are looking. As you can see from the above image, the average hourly pay for a real estate assistant is $15.58.

Before deciding on the virtual assistant, weigh the expense against your company’s needs and the return on investment.

Location

The costs of a virtual assistant may vary from location to location. However, there is a common misconception that overseas virtual assistants are expensive.

Image Source: Best of Budgets

According to a study, the Philippines has the lowest average virtual assistant salary of $400 per month, and Australia has the highest average virtual staff salary of $5,600 per month.

Overseas outsourcing is affordable. There are talented VAs all over the globe who are skilled in various aspects of the real estate business. Some virtual assistants are comfortable delivering results across time zones.

There is also a place for local talent, especially in the real estate industry.

For instance, if you need to outsource a lot of client-facing work, it might be beneficial to choose a US-based or even locally-based provider who is more familiar with the specifics of your market. When you require full-time, client-facing assistance or plan to meet with this person in person, doing so usually makes the most sense.

Experience & Expertise

While choosing a virtual assistant, look for the right experience and expertise. Choose a real-estate-specific expert who has a demonstrated history of performance.

Check whether the VA is capable of dealing with your list of outcomes and expectations.

With over two decades of experience, Office Beacon houses vetted virtual assistants with expertise in the real estate industry.

Office Beacon’s real estate virtual assistants are adept at performing the following tasks:

Market research
Data collection (listing information)
Open house management
Conducting market analysis
Preparation of property cards
Scheduling and confirmation of appointments
Follow-up calls to buyers
Transaction coordination
Bookkeeping
Data entry for real estate
Correspondence management
Call screening and answering services

The virtual assistants at Office Beacon can manage different administrative tasks, marketing responsibilities, and even real estate transaction coordinator responsibilities.

Closing Points

Being a real estate agent is quite hard. You have to deal with properties, clientele, and prospecting. Remember that you don’t have to do anything alone if it starts to feel overwhelming. Real estate virtual assistants handle time-consuming, repetitive duties crucial to your business. Hire a capable virtual assistant for real estate to put the emphasis back on building your company.