10 Tasks to Outsource to your Virtual Assistant

Many small companies can benefit from working with a virtual  administrative  assistant or VA. Here are ten things to consider outsourcing:

Elance is great place for find a VA 

1. Call Handling

A virtual assistant can answer the phone in your company name, speak to clients on your behalf and then, depending on the nature of the call, either action it or else email the details of the call to you for your attention.

2. Email Handling

If a lot of your time is spent responding to emails with basic information, then let your Virtual Assistant  handle them on your behalf. Consider setting up a separate email address for these types of inquires  which your virtual assistant can access. Any emails which are not straightforward to deal with can be forwarded on to you.  Another option is to create a rule in your email account.  

3. Bookkeeping and Accounting 

, Your virtual assistant can keep your financial records up to date, reconcile bank statements and issue invoices via the online accounting systems like Quicken 

4.  Accounts Payable 

A virtual assistant can handle your billing systems for your clients 

5. Customer relationship management system 

A VA can collect  all your business cards or client contact details into a user-friendly  CRM  database and then regularly ensure that it is up-to-date with all names and contact details.

6. Newsletters

Your contact database can then be used for issuing out newsletters to clients in either email or paper form. Your VA can put together a newsletter for you and print it, if required.

7. Meeting arrangements

If you need to arrange a meeting, a virtual assistant can arrange venues and refreshments or catering, send out invitations to attendees and collate their responses.

8. Travel arrangements

A good virtual assistant can book your travel arrangements, whether you need hotels, flights, train tickets, long-term parking or a taxi.

9.  Social Media  management

If you use social media, a VA can keep your Twitter and  Facebook page or your blog up to date. 

10. Typing and proofreading

For meeting minutes, client correspondence or even copy for a brochure, ask your VA to type it and proofread it before it goes out. You may know what you want to say, but a second pair of eyes typing it out can pick up nuances that you may not have noticed.

By finding and working with a virtual assistant who suits your business, you can offload the mundane activities, freeing up more of your time to concentrate on delivering to your existing customers and finding new ones.