A term that is becoming more and more fashionable, especially since online businesses do not stop growing.
Since the Internet is the primary medium to communicate, do business and sell.
The virtual assistant is a profession that has not emerged yesterday or before yesterday, but now and in the future is in great demand.
And this is because, with the pandemic, teleworking is no longer an option.
More and more people started working from home.
And with new needs, new opportunities arise.
So, if you still don’t know what this digital profession consists of, stay and see it step by step.
I will tell you what a virtual assistant is and what it does on its working day.
What is a virtual assistant?
The virtual assistant is a digital professional who works remotely to help other professionals and businesses with day-to-day tasks and tasks.
When a professional begins to grow, the first thing he needs is to delegate.
Leave responsibility for specific tasks that do not have to do with your actual job: your products or services to someone else.
By this, I mean creating budgets, invoices, contacting clients, answering emails…
Things that take away productive time from work.
And the first thing that is usually done is to hire a virtual assistant.
It could be compared to the work of a secretary but adapted to the online world.
The virtual assistant is the right hand of the professional or company.
What can a virtual assistant do
What does a virtual assistant do, then?
Administrative, creative, and communicative tasks, above all.
He is in charge of giving constant support to the company or brand for which he works and his clients.
With the help of the virtual assistant, the professional or company that hires you can focus 100% on their products or services and stop wasting time on other things.
The virtual assistant is the one who performs all those necessary tasks in any business but gives so many headaches.
Many times, he meditates.
And this can be done from anywhere.
The good thing about being virtual is that the relationship with the professional or company is 100% online, and the tasks are carried out remotely.
In addition, a virtual assistant can provide services not only to one person but to different brands at the same time.
You can create your workday by adding the support hours for each company.
Create your workspace and your schedule.
That is one factor that makes it an exciting job opportunity and in such demand.
Functions of a virtual assistant
We will see one by one the functions carried out by a virtual assistant.
Schedule
- The virtual assistant is in charge of planning the agenda of the professional for whom he works.
- Organize the week so that the latter only has to work at the established hours and days.
- Days to dedicate to meetings and important calls, days to create and record content, lectures/talks/workshops.
- It depends a lot on the business model, but the question is that.
- Organize the chaos.
Email
- One of the most important functions of the virtual assistant is answering emails.
- This task is one of those typical ones that you don’t realize, and it takes 2 hours of sitting.
- A lot of time is wasted answering emails, and therefore it is essential to delegate it to a virtual assistant.
- This will be in charge of supporting students or clients, responding to proposals, and all kinds of emails that reach the inbox.
- If the professional or company uses automated email sequences, the virtual assistant must know digital marketing, and sales funnels.
- That you know how to master email marketing tools and automation.
Customer Support
- The virtual assistant also acts as a mediator between the brand and the client.
- It offers support to the company and its clients to resolve any doubt or incident.
- Also, to schedule calls or meetings, if it is necessary to speak with a manager or the CEO in question.
- And this should not only be done through the mail but from any communication channel that the brand has with its customers.
- Of course, this function should not be confused with the community manager.
- Because it is one thing to work as a support for clients if they write with any questions in a social network, and another is to answer comments and interactions to publications.
- Or create and design the content.
- This is part of the work of the community manager. When the company is somewhat more significant, they usually count on him to support social networks instead of taking charge of the virtual assistant.
Invoices
- Another thing that gives companies and freelancers so much headache and time is the invoice.
- The payments that are made, those that are due, the invoices that must be issued.
- The virtual assistant takes care of 100%, and it is one of his most important tasks.
- It is one of those usually delegated to a virtual assistant first, along with answering emails.
- Depending on the level of experience and knowledge of the virtual assistant, he will handle only the invoices or directly take all the company’s accounting.
- The size of the company and the team also has a lot to do with it.
- This work, in reality, is complemented by that of a consultancy.
Budgets
- Like the previous one, the virtual assistant also creates and issues quotes to clients, suppliers, and other companies.
- He is in charge of making them, sending them, and following up until they are accepted, and the work with the person in charge of the brand begins.
Events and Meetings
- This function is closely linked to the first one I mentioned to you.
- And is that when a significant event or meeting arises, it is essential to plan it on the agenda and manage everything that it entails.
- This usually includes networking events or public events related to the sector, so everything must go well.
- She is in charge of booking restaurants and hotels, transportation, all the paperwork.
- Manage the event to go as it should and follow the plan created in the schedule.
- And if the company itself creates the event, it will take care of communication, invitations, support, reservations, etc.
Reports
Lastly, reporting.
- The virtual assistant documents and creates reports for the professional or the company of everything happening in the project.
- Of course, reports at a general level as a business model.
- Dedicated professionals will analyze specific metrics of social networks, SEO, advertising strategy, or any online activities.
How should a virtual assistant be?
To be a virtual assistant, no specific training is required as such.
You can carry out these tasks if you have administrative, business, or marketing knowledge.
What is certain is that as the demand for this professional profile grows, training courses are emerging to specialize in it.
And if you need us to talk about skills, an excellent virtual assistant profile brings together the following:
Be an organized person
- This is the primary skill, and without it, it is almost impossible for you to work as a virtual assistant.
- Because your job would be to organize that of others.
- People who hire virtual assistants need an organization to lighten their schedule and help with the things that are turning their day-to-day work into chaos.
Be able to be productive and not procrastinate
- This is a skill as a consequence of the previous one.
- And it is that if you are an organized person who knows how to keep his work up to date, you will have no problems helping others with it.
Getting along with technologies and the digital world
- The virtual assistant works remotely, and his daily tools are 100% linked to the Internet and new technologies.
- You cannot dedicate yourself to this profession if you have no idea how to use excel, how Google Drive works, or make invoices online.
- In addition, as it is a digital profile, you must have notions online and deal with social networks and the Internet in general.
- Think that more and more professionals in the sector are delegating their tasks to virtual assistants, and you will have a lot of job opportunities in this field.
- And not only that, but a website and social networks with strategy are very effective ways to be visible online, develop your brand and attract clients to whom you provide your services.
Have a gift of people
- In the end, the virtual assistant is the one who is in constant contact with customers, suppliers, team members… to mediate in matters where the CEO or manager is not essential.
- You must be sociable and have communication skills to promote the brand’s image.
Be versatile
- A fairly obvious skill since, as you have seen, a virtual assistant does a bit of everything.
Be decisive
- You must be able to deal with unexpected problems and situations, as you have to ensure that the person you are working for does not waste time or get bogged down in their primary tasks.
Be in constant training
- This is essential, as new ways of doing things emerge every day.
- Even more so in the online world, on the Internet.
- Not only as a virtual assistant, but to do your work better every day.
- Also, your project is on the Internet at the level of scale.
- How to differentiate yourself as a professional, gain visibility and reach, and attract better clients.
- Has it been clear to you what a virtual assistant is and what it does?
I hope I have helped you with the post and know how to differentiate what a virtual assistant is and its functions.