Getting virtual personal assistant services is one of the rising trends these days.
Business owners can take advantage of a lot of cost savings for employees' salary as well as office and equipment costs.
No matter how popular it has become, there are still some who are scared to try this kind of work set-up.
Virtual Personal Assistants (VPAs) can perform same tasks a regular personal assistant is able to do.
The only difference between the two lies in the fact that VPAs do their duties outside of your office.
For some, working with an assistant who is literally miles away is a strange thing.
This, however, shouldn't be a problem if you know the things you need to focus on in order to efficiently work with a VPA.
Below are some tips on how you can make your working relationship with your VPA a success: Know your assistant's skills.
Knowing the strengths of your assistant helps you to efficiently assign tasks.
During the hiring phase, do not rely only on your candidate's resume.
Instead, make simple skill tests such as writing a sample paper that requires some research on a topic, creating presentations, or anything that relates to what you need from your virtual assistant.
You can also consider asking an applicant to review some financial information and create a spreadsheet.
Such exercises will let you know how you can effectively utilize your VPA.
Explain your goals.
Set goals and standards that your assistant should follow.
By doing this, your assistant will have a clear idea of what you expect from him and what he needs to give his attention.
Expect the questions that will be asked beforehand and get ready to answer them.
By explaining your goals and setting a clear definition of the purpose of every task, you and your assistant will be on the same page, and yes, will be headed towards the same direction.
Maintain a two-way communication.
Checking up on your assistant is not a difficult thing to do.
All it takes is just an email or an instant message.
You can even make a call if that's the mode of communication you prefer.
Constant communication helps establish rapport.
Checking your assistant's status for instance while doing a task will help you answer questions the person might not normally ask.
Be open to suggestions.
Your virtual personal assistant most likely has previous experience working for other clients and accounts, making them an expert at the work they do.
Keep your mind open to suggestions on things that you might not be familiar with.
Who knows, these ideas can contribute to producing better work.
If not, you can use them as options should your choice not work out.
Provide feedback.
It always helps when you provide feedback to your assistant every now and then.
This will keep your assistant aware of what and how they do.
Your evaluation will bring you and your assistant to the right track.
Just remember to be constructive with your approach as this will encourage your assistant to work harder.
Everything will fall into place if you only know how to commend or give someone a pat on their shoulder..
Who says working with a virtual personal assistant is complicated? With the tips presented above, it surely is not complicated.
With time, you can always learn to develop your relationship as you grow your business.
Now that you already have a clear idea of what you need to initially focus on, you should now be ready to take the next step.
Go and look for the best virtual assistant there is and make the most out of virtual personal assistant services you can avail.