The state of virtual assistants

The State of Virtual Assistants: 2021 Report

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Find out in this article featuring predictions by futurists. And don’t worry – we’ll tell you how the recent advancements of virtual assistants will affect you, your business, and your career. It’s time to stop thinking that virtual assistants are just resources for CEOs and tech-savvy managers – they’re much more than that. Virtual assistants are becoming as ubiquitous as traditional employees today.

 

Two Definitions of ‘Virtual Assistant’

There are two definitions of what a virtual assistant is: a type of software and a type of service. As software, it refers to a program that provides assistance with everyday tasks. The other type of assistant is a person who helps another person with their personal tasks (administrative, management, etc.).

[Considering a Virtual Assistant?]

The Types of Virtual Assistants: Smart Machines & Human Expertise

A virtual assistant serves different purposes, from routine administrative tasks to complex research. Virtual assistants can be software programs designed to make a person’s life easier. They can also be highly specialized professionals that help with a variety of different tasks, depending on the situation’s needs.

 

Now and in the future, both of these types will continue to grow in popularity and diversify — here’s how they’ll change:

 

  1.  Software Virtual Assistants Will Be Everywhere

 

Software virtual assistants are already becoming more common, and their use cases are expanding as well. Many companies offer virtual assistants for business use – some are even planning on releasing more affordable versions for individual consumers as well.

Statistics: There are currently 100 million virtual assistant software programs installed on mobile devices globally.  More than 25% of all mobile searches are carried out via voice – Google alone has over 2 billion voice searches per month. Already, 20% of consumers believe that virtual assistants like Siri will replace all apps over the next 5 years.

Other interesting stats: Many experts believe that virtual assistance software will be a $1 trillion industry by 2025. Additionally, 67% of business owners and executives think that their companies will use virtual assistants in the next 3 years.

 

Alexa and Siri were the first, but many more are entering the market as well. Google has Google Assistant, Microsoft has Cortana, and Amazon has Alexa. These virtual assistants are constantly improving with each software update – and soon, they will be able to perform even more tasks that make your life easier.

Virtual assistants have many uses in the office or at home: you can use them to schedule simple appointments, track packages being delivered to you, create reminders for important dates on your calendar, and even send texts to your friends or colleagues.

Your software virtual assistant will soon be able to complete even more tasks — they’ve already been integrating with smart devices to simplify your life: Amazon’s Alexa can turn on your lights with a voice command, smart locks can let you in when you’re home and keep intruders out, and the Nest Thermostat can keep your heating and cooling bills low every season.

[Up to 70% off: Virtual Assistants]

 

  1. Occupational Virtual Assistants Are Exceedingly Common as Well

Virtual assistants (as a professional occupation) that have talent and expertise are more affordable than their colleagues who are in the office, and they also complement well with software advancements in business operations. Many companies are willing to pay for this higher level of virtual assistant service. These virtual assistants are generally trained to be faster at completing specialized tasks than in-office employees, and they are hired for their ability to learn and adapt well to new skills over time as well.

Statistics: Experts predict that in just a few years, the virtual assistant workforce will double in size. Already, 1 million people work as virtual assistants worldwide. In comparison, there were 25,000 virtual assistants worldwide in 2008. This figure will grow to 2.3 million people globally.

 

Popular occupational virtual assistants

There are five types of occupational virtual assistants (VAs) in 2021, according to this report:  Sales VAs, Customer Service VAs, Marketing VAs, Administrative VAs, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) VAs.

  1. Sales assistants are real hires for sales-driven organizations who want a perfect sales assistant who can prospect, cold call, perform inside sales, and perfect calling scripts.
  2. Administrative assistants are real hires who help in the organization and coordination of tasks that require administrative skills.
  3. Customer service assistants are real hires who help companies in responding to customer inquiries and requests. They will also assist customers on issues such as payment, returns, and refunds while having them provide feedback about the service experience. A customer service virtual assistant is fully in charge of administering customer service technologies (open, manage, and close tickets) – delivering that genuine customer satisfaction that all buyers demand.
  4. Marketing assistants are real hires who help companies with advertising, promotions, events, campaigns, and sales through digital media channels in real-time.
  5. AI assistants are artificial assistants that perform tasks based on voice, touch, and text. They are designed to be proactive and context-sensitive in order to be of more use to their users.

[Up to 70% off: Virtual Assistants]

 

 

 

  1. While promising, AI doesn’t quite cut it (just yet)

 

There is no doubt that the presence of AI in today’s businesses has helped companies operate smoothly when teams cannot afford more customer service employees. For some, businesses are finding that their retention rates are dipping while using AI customer service software.

So what is the perfect balance in incorporating AI, yet still fostering innovative and efficient productivity?

 

Enhancing the Digital Learning Curve

With dozens of AI bots on the market, it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to automate your operations. It’s natural to look for automated solutions first. After all, IT solutions are often more cost-effective than hiring team members.

Many aren’t yet aware that competitive businesses are assigning a full-time occupational virtual assistant to pair with their digital technologies. Occupational virtual assistants are providing the human touch needed for up to less than 70% of the cost of a traditional full-time employee – often in the same tier of low overhead costs as some popular digital software subscriptions.

[Up to 70% off: Virtual Assistants]

 

 

Increasing Retention Rates + KPIs, with “hybrid” virtual solutions

Businesses find that they can finally deliver the genuine customer satisfaction that all buyers expect – when the power of virtual AI meets the power of human virtual assistance – fortunately at a lower amount of overhead costs than a full-time physical employee (allowing the best profit margins).

An experienced, qualified Virtual Assistant provider is capable of supplementing the rest of their service needs. They can handle administrative tasks, marketing, sales, customer onboarding, and training processes, along with Tier-1 support and Help Desk tasks.

[Considering a Virtual Assistant?]

 

 

 

 

There’s nothing more important to a growing business than affordable, value-oriented talent

In today’s digital & service economy, excellent service is the deciding factor for most businesses. If teams do not focus on creating a good experience across each and every interaction, you will lead to negative feedback, bad reviews, and increased churn.

Despite the hype, commercial AI is still maturing. While it can be useful for basic key-phrase recognition and providing canned responses to common questions, ultimately it’s confined to the limitations of a predefined workflow. AI cannot yet think outside the box and adapt to situations that require a degree of empathy and comprehension—and it often falls apart when asked even simple questions outside of what it is programmed to recognize.

[Considering a Virtual Assistant?]

 

 

Relying on AI as a front-line customer interaction tool alone can be dangerous. So rather than attempting to replace human assistance with AI solutions, it’s better to combine them for optimal customer service. The modern workplace is increasingly collaborative, and human assistants remain intrinsically more capable to foster relationships than AI alone.

There’s a place for automation, and there’s also a place for real, human staffing – and VA providers such as MyOutDesk virtual assistants are the top-tier solution for your high-tech help desk & customer service roles for a fraction of what business would pay locally. 

 

 

Focus on your growth & scale your operations

ENVISIONING OF A NEW REALITY FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs & business owners with tools, strategies, and virtual employees – and when combined, businesses have a competitive edge and find growth while efficient systems and processes are put in place.

MyOutDesk proudly provides additional free business growth guides, books, and strategy calls.

See what we are about, and schedule a free ‘Double Your Business’ strategy consultation with us. We’ll take the time to learn more about your business and offer solutions to foster top talent and lower operational costs for your company.

 

 

Claim a free business strategy consult
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide

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Looking back at the BEST OF 2020

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Here are the best knowledge bombs of the leading business influencers & clients this past year.

Do you ever feel like the more work you do the less productive you get? It’s time to stop measuring productivity by how many tasks get completed and start measuring the IMPACT of the tasks on your agenda – and this BEST OF 2020 video compilation will show you how!

You cannot scale your business if you or your most important employees are bogged down with administrative-level tasks in your calendars. MyOutDesk partners with clients by supplying a core group of virtual assistants that focus on data entry, customer support, inside sales, and administrative responsibilities so those in charge of growing the business can focus on those tasks with the biggest impact.

 

Amber Knight

Short-Term Rentals for Long-Term Success (Rented.com)
  • What are all the considerations that a person should take when purchasing a property?
  • What are the things that you’ve learned managing this national pool of not only data but property managers & investors?
  • What are the buying criteria is for short-term rentals?

Arlen Robinson

Revenue Streams through Business Affiliates, Influencers, and Referrals

 A referral program will be something that you want to ease down the line as you start growing your customer base. You want to get immediate exposure, especially if you have access to an affiliate or an influencer that has an audience!

Bill Gallagher

Leadership Strategies for Crisis Management with Scaling Up

 The bottleneck is where? At the top of the bottle. One of the key areas, you have to overcome is is the guy in the mirror or gal in the mirror and then that’s good news. Bad thing news thing right like. You have a company or had a company that was perfectly matched to who you were right and in perfect balance with it.

Brian Icenhower

“Striking Oil” – Hire, Train, Manage a Real Estate Virtual Assistant

 It’s really hard to get out there and conduct 25 phone screening interviews, and then conduct 10 in-person interviews and behaviorally assess everybody … and then train them. But there’s a professional shortcut.

Dan Stewart

WHAT TO SAY NOW The Recruitment Edition

 For those of us who work in the real estate space, we tend to go solo agents at some point. Then you think about you have a lot of opportunities that you can handle; so you need a team. And all of a sudden they have the responsibility to attract more people.

Dr. Lee Davenport

Disruptions Are Catalysts: The 4 Laws for FOLLOW-UP with Dr. Lee Davenport

 Once you identify what you know you shouldn’t do, automate & delegate that process to another. Because the thing that you do the best at will inspire more leads to want to work with you. You don’t have time for a critical need, automate that. Because that’s what drives revenue typically!

Wendell Burris

Wendell Burris: Property Manager Scales To 3,000 Doors With Virtual Assistants!

 We hired our first virtual professional that assists with the role of answering the phone calls, text messages & emails, dispatching vendors, and calling residents to make sure their issues are getting taken care of!

Travis Thom

Leverage Consumer Behavior To Get More Listings

 You start doing things analog-style right? You might do it on your own … then I hit an a-ha moment that I needed an assistant because I’m now starting to do the $12 an hour or the $5 an hour tasks.

Tony Giordano

Ultimate Marketing: Video Mastery

 How often do you self-express? That’s how often you should shoot video. Everything is video content. You’d be surprised.

Sean Tagge

TURNKEY TALENT for Turnkey Investing + Property Mgmt.

 Whenever you are training a Virtual Assistant, turn on Zoom, click the record button, and just record the whole training session with them. Copy that video onto an excel spreadsheet with the whole training manual and with conversations of the issues. If an employee leaves and finds another one. They’ll just watch all the videos, and they get 90% of what we have set in the past!

Rock Thomas

BUILD A VIRTUAL MASTERMIND GROUP

 As humans, we all want to connect, but most of us have a little place where we can contribute back to other people. So if you’re building a business you’re on your own and you’re really good at what you do, start a mastermind group around that. Build your wealth that way.

Patrick Johnson

Quality Talent Acquisition: The Process & Systems for Predictable Results!

 Identify what you’re looking for and your culture, then start finding candidates, evaluate them and hire them. However, there is one big difference between trying to hire salespeople or healthcare workers, which is a big one right now. I want the best. It is not just I am evaluating them, but they’re evaluating me. That’s another thing that you have to consider.

Michael Maher

Michael Maher’s Referral Mastery System

 If you want a client from who you want more business, then go to the people who are most likely to help you, which is going to be the people who know your clients: people who know you. But here’s the other thing on that. There’s an inward rule: We’re not going to grow our database outside and we’re not going to take strangers and try to convert them to friends. We’re going to take our friends and have them introduce connect and refer us to their friends and this causes this huge mushroom effect of growing and growing from the inside out!

Marvin Mitchell

Marvin Mitchell: Making a 20x ROI with Virtual Assistants!

 I was just meeting with a client. It was actually a new prospect that just became a client. So this person was set by a virtual professional who has a 15-minute appointment set. We call that person, we would have never gotten in touch with that person had it not been for the virtual professional setting in a particular appointment just close that case about a half-hour ago right before the call. What that will pay me to give you an example on that $2 million. It’s going to pay me a revenue of about $43,000 and you think about that. I pay what it’s about $21,000 per year for a virtual assistant, we have 2. So basically, that one client just paid for both virtual assistants!

Knolly Williams

Houses Don’t Have To Be Seen To Be Sold – Virtual Real Estate Selling with Knolly Williams

 You know, when I was 23, I started my first business. It has home-based. I want to be wherever, like you know, Costa Rica and then to Hawaii for a month. And so, how can I do that without it affecting my income? So that was kind of my big why of how I started working with virtual assistants.

[Considering a Virtual Assistant?]

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ENVISIONING OF A NEW REALITY FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs & business owners with tools, strategies, and virtual employees – and when combined, businesses have a competitive edge and find growth while efficient systems and processes are put in place.

MyOutDesk proudly provides additional free business growth guides, books, and strategy calls.

See what we are about, and schedule a free consultation with us. We’ll take the time to learn more about your business and offer solutions to foster top talent and lower operational costs for your company.

 

Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide

 

Did You Know?  MyOutDesk’s origin story is set during the last global financial crisis of 2008. Yes, that’s right — our business started by scaling businesses with virtual assistants during a recession! Pioneers of virtual assistant services, our first client in 2008 went from five to seventeen VAs with a completely revamped organizational model in short order, and he told MyOutDesk, “Our virtual professionals have shaved $250,000 off our monthly overhead.”

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Trello & Virtual Assistants: The Best System for Efficient Admin Work!

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Since COVID, Jennifer’s business operations are now more efficient than ever — even with a downsized team. How? With Tello and a virtual assistant.

We grab a cup of virtual coffee with Jennifer Geddes as she talks about how she utilizes Trello and her MyOutDesk Virtual Assistant to gain leverage in her business. We ask Jennifer how she does it, and she takes us through her systems and processes she built with Trello to help create a system and process for her production and training. 

Now, she has these systems in place, and she is ready to scale her business!

How a Virtual Assistant Manages My Trello

Combined with a virtual assistant, I use the free version of Trello, so it doesn’t even cost us anything!

We have a couple of boards. Having a free system is awesome because I feel like I had so many different systems, and they’re all thirty dollars. well, it all adds up with Trello, just jump in!

I have one virtual assistant from MyOutDesk, as well as a marketing person. Wanda, who is my virtual assistant, is doing all the administrative tasks. She does the transaction coordination.

 

Upgrading the operational system

I had a team a year ago, a team of six agents. A year and a half ago, I had eight agents. Now I have one, so I’m really just trying to trim the fat and focus on the revenue and generating streams. And the highest and best use.

What I found with the agents on the team was that they were not the best use, and it also led me to hire my virtual assistant and really just finding someone who was going to be more productive, efficient, and effective to increase the bottom line.

This year has given me a chance to step back and really focus on what we’re doing in improved systems and processes.

What’s the system and process to cross that million-dollar threshold?

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Organizing 500 Tasks into Exact Workflows – Trello + Virtual Assistant 

What you’ve learned as you implemented this system and process for your business. Why did you decide on Trello? At what point did you decide you needed a system and a process to run the team? 

So, Trello was recommended through real estate b-school, which is the company that I use for coaching.

I spoke with quite a few individuals there who were using it, and it seemed like it made the most sense, so I tried it out myself and, through kind of playing around with it, I decided that it was going to achieve the things that we wanted to.

I had actually started out using Wunderlist, which is just an elementary kind of to-do list, and had built out some of these kinds of checklists there, which was like my step one of kind of like first grade then I graduated to middle school and so forth. I then integrated Trello definitely takes time to set up, and it’s an ever-evolving process because to me, what’s significant is to have every single step in here so that somebody can pick this up brand new.

A Transaction coordination virtual assistant can pick this up, and they can run with it! I have every step, but we also have how-to sheets and videos linked in a separate google drive.

So, as they’re going through each task, the individual could say, “okay, it says do x y z I don’t know how to do x y z, but they can go back and reference the video or the how-to sheet on how to actually do that step.”

It’s about creating the process and then creating the training that goes along with it that doesn’t involve me doing that and explaining.

Because it’s so time-consuming to have to explain those things over and over again. So, I’m big on recording videos, sharing my screen, talking through it while I’m doing it one time, then I don’t want to do it again.

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I love your mindset. Show us one of those examples? Can you share with us one of those examples in Trello? A task where you click on it, and then you pull up a video? How long is that video? What kind of detail did you share in that video?

We have our Trello how-to sheet. This is showing someone how to process a termination and then document names so for us. On Trello, we basically have every step on here like pre-offer, offer prep, under contract, after settlement. So now, if we go back to my Trello boards, and this is where I keep my template.

Under our templates, I have a pre-offer section, offer prep, under contract, and after settlement. So, the same as here, you could follow along and say, “okay. offer prep… where are the how-to sheets on offer prep?” If we go to the top here to ‘offer prep’ and ‘create a Trello card ‘… in KW Command, create a contact command through DocuSign. How to do that it’s through your CRM.

I’m just clarifying that those who aren’t KW people command are just a CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot or any other CRM.

You have to create what’s called “an opportunity” through KW Command so that KW knows what business we’re doing right now. These are pretty simple steps here. Most of them are self-explanatory. Command, save, mortgage pre-approval, CPE, ad, client, once buyer broker assigned CTE is what we use for financial and gold tracking. So once we have a buyer broker signed, we’re going to add that into CTE. If we go back here, I’ve got a “How to add to CTE,” so if the person doesn’t know how to do that, they open it up. 

It’s simple. Follow the steps. You can figure out more complicated things. We have videos on these. this, the pre-offer, is really just setting the stage. Then you get to offer prep a little bit more complicated. Creating the documents, and setting them up in DocuSign, so that they’re ready for me to then review before we send them to the client. Once we go under contract, we broke things up into Day One, which needs to be done right away. And then we get down to Day Two, and then we’ve reached Day 10, Day 16. So there’s a timeline. 

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Oh my gosh, there are 500 tasks, but as you can see, I’m scrolling through. There are many things here, but it’s all simple tasks that the person can complete in KW Command. 

KW wants to see stuff, so we have to submit these documents to them. Once we go under contract right check off above is meant for these labels that we use here. So when you see the labels on my big screen, you can see as we go through a transaction, you get less and less of the labels, so that’s really a way for us to track how many tasks are left. We have a KW command submission. Once that’s complete, that would be checked off here. So we check that off, and now that’s gone. So that’s what that’s talking about completing it up above. But it’s really again just every step that we go through in Trello, and add the due dates above.

We’ve got an area where all of our critical due dates, execution date, first deposit, reply to inspection, second deposit, title order, and mortgage settlement. So I don’t want my VA wasting time searching for this. It’s all right here. She sets it up one time, and she sets it up when she’s sending out the initial email to the seller’s side that’s telling them about the due dates.

Once tasks get input into the system, it gets set as reminders on her calendar and finished. We do a lot with email templates, so all email templates are sent out that the VA knows what to fill in. We’re also scheduling a lot of our templates now. So before it was okay, you need to go back into the file like every day. We’re scheduling out this buyer with five pending emails sent out three to four days before the deposit.

Essentially almost all of our emails are going out on day one, or at least they’re being set to be scheduled to go out day one.

 

How does the CRM, your email calendar, CTE commit to excellence? How do they all play with Trello in your world?

Wanda has this template saved in her Gmail. she pulls it up and schedules it to send when it’s due on the 10th. It takes about five minutes to input these into the calendar, and again it’s done on day one. The seller side knows the dates as well as when the mortgage commitment is due. This gets emailed to the lender a day before it’s due.

Now it’s on Wanda’s calendar the day it’s due, and then we actually have a reminder. So she’ll put the calendar reminder that the mortgage commitment is due on the 10th. there will be an email that gets sent to her on the 9th and an email that gets sent to her on the 7th, so all of our due dates, we have a one-day email reminder and a three-day email reminder; what I found is having a calendar alert those get missed you’re in the middle of a Zoom, and you click off of it, or whatever it is so I have the reminders in our google calendar set as actual email reminders, so that goes into her email box she doesn’t miss it she can see that it’s due and it stays there until it’s addressed.

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I love it! How do you manage what’s done versus what’s not done? How do you manage multiple people with deadlines?

 In Trello, there’s this chat feature here at the bottom. So we actually have a different template that is it’s on another board. It’ll take me too long to get over to it, but when another agent is involved, we have a pre-offer dash admin pre-offer dash agent, so it’s very clear who is responsible for what task so Wanda could see.

I found that when I had agents who weren’t following my pretty good process, not perfect, those were not the right people.

So I think that’s my simple answer, although it sounds pretty elementary. If you have a process that makes the agent’s lives easier and they’re not doing it, maybe we need to look at something else.

Another thing I did was if you, the agent, follow the process and do all the steps and don’t miss any of your due dates, and the virtual assistant will do more of the deal and do more tasks for you.

It’s like the more you follow your process, the more they do so. If you do x on time, the assistant will do y and z, you miss x, now you have to do y and z., so it was a favorable combination of positive-negative reinforcement to try to get the agents to do things.

I think it’s spending the time to do it the right way, and it’s having the right person too. So when Wanda started, we had probably 70 of it done. It would be, “okay, Wanda do these things all right? I’ll talk to you in two or three hours.” in two or three hours, we’d talk, and she’d say, “Jen, I don’t know how to do XYZ.”

“Did you look at the how-to sheet?”

“Yep, it’s blank.”

“Oh, okay, great, let’s walk through it together over zoom screen share.”

 And she would create the manual, take notes on it, and then complete it. So I think now having it all complete, it would be seamless to bring someone else in. 

People complain about the paperwork and transaction coordination. I mean, that is such a small portion of my business now, whereas, in the past, I’d say my admin spent probably 90% of the time on it.

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Now with my virtual assistant, I’d say Wanda is spending 25% of her time on it in a perfect world with booming business. she’ll spend well under 50 percent of her time doing transaction coordination, which means I’ll run 25 million through the business with someone doing 15 hours a week of transaction coordination. Before, if I had someone spending 40 hours a week on this, and now they’re spending 15 hours a week. What can I have them do in that other time that’s 25 extra hours a week?

For me, I enjoy selling and growing and evolving; this is just kind of a side effect that needs to be done, and it needs to be done correctly, so I don’t want to spend time on it

I want it to be a system that just flows and is super easy to go through, making a lot of sense.

 

What’s it been like working with MyOutDesk?

 MyOutDesk has been great. I have no complaints. Communication was excellent. I wanted to get started right away and was pretty demanding about that. And my request was met, which was great. I know you guys were in a significant backlog, but you could fit me in, which was really super important to me. I asked Wanda to find other resources within MyOutDesk periodically, and she does, but with her training and skillsets and all of that, I really have no complaints.

I have a client who just went under contract who complimented Wanda, “She’s been so great. How long has she worked with you?”

He’s been a long time client, and I ask for feedback.

“I’m so glad you found her. Is she in your office?” … and that’s what I was waiting for. I’m explain, “Our office is closed. She’s in the Philippines, actually.

“No kidding?”

So this is someone that’s been working with him. And he had no idea that she was in the Philippines, which to me is the goal.

My virtual assistant has been a lot more motivated and enthusiastic than anyone I’ve had in this role in a long time in person. She’s finding things to do when I get busy, and I’m not giving her something to do. I feel confident she’s working the whole time, which was not the case when someone was sitting in the office.

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Growing Your Business With An Administrative Virtual Assistant

As a business person, you’re already familiar with what an administrative assistant can support do for you and why it’s crucial to your business. Staying on top of administrative  functions is essential to your success.

You can be more effective if you’re not bogged down by paperwork, repetitive administrative tasks and troubleshooting bureaucratic red tape delays and issues. A administrative virtual assistant can take care of these tasks and ensure that sales paperwork and its administration run smoothly and your clients are receiving excellent customer support.

With a virtual coordinator, you can become more efficient & effective  – while your coordinator handles all the repetitive tasks involved with your business – like gathering documents and signatures, calling clients, and stakeholders, completing paperwork, following up on contracts & requirements, and putting together a broker file for each completed transaction.

Having a virtual professional tackle operations and administrative outcomes for you can go far beyond what a traditional assistant does, like answering phones and keeping your calendar. There are many more ways a virtual professional can help you administratively. Here are some concrete examples of my favorite things administrative virtual professionals do for our clients.

    • Virtual receptionist
    • Client care & relationship building
    • Screen calls & emails
      Loan processing
    • Administrative support
    • Accounting & bookkeeping
    • Lead management
    • Lead reporting
    • Recruitment
    • Agile project management
    • Performance reporting
    • Customer support

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In addition, MyOutDesk Virtual Assistants can also:

 

  • File & systematize information collected for client documentation
  • Input & sync data collected across multiple software systems
  • Perform third-party verification procedures for loan-level data
  • Coordinate personal & administrative tasks
  • Manage calendar & appointments
  • Coordinate travel arrangements
  • Complete orders & fulfillment
  • Solicit & nurture 5-star client reviews
  • Process client documents & follow-up accordingly for incomplete information
  • Assemble agent audit reports
  • Compile, format, and summarize information for documents and presentations
  • Coordinate website & account configuration necessary for loan processing
  • Team task management

 

…and so much more.

 

To start the process of getting your own Virtual Assistant, click here to schedule a call now! 

 

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ENVISIONING OF A NEW REALITY FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs & business owners with tools, strategies, and virtual employees – and when combined, businesses have a competitive edge and find growth while efficient systems and processes are put in place.

MyOutDesk proudly provides additional free business growth guides, books, and strategy calls.

See what we are about, and schedule a free consultation with us. We’ll take the time to learn more about your business and offer solutions to foster top talent and lower operational costs for your company.

 

Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide

 

Did You Know?  MyOutDesk’s origin story is set during the last global financial crisis of 2008. Yes, that’s right — our business started by scaling businesses with virtual assistants during a recession! Pioneers of virtual assistant services, our first client in 2008 went from five to seventeen VAs with a completely revamped organizational model in short order, and he told MyOutDesk, “Our virtual professionals have shaved $250,000 off our monthly overhead.”

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Guard Against The Chaos: How to create Bulletproof Systems & Processes for your business

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Focus on positive outcomes and continually take the next action of the most important thing. At MyOutDesk, we stress to our clients to continuously improving their operations for continued, optimal results!

If you can’t make that shift, you’ll quit growing – and your business will spend all its energy simply trying to replace churn. As people seek to maintain their livelihoods, it’s up to you to help produce what is needed by the community. You get paid to add value to our customers, clients, vendors, and the people in our communities. 

Instilling effective change to keep your business thriving must be adopted at all levels. Here’s how.

 

 

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Learn: Bulletproof Systems & Process (MOD Style)

  1. Document the process (Play-Pause-Do)
  2. Add it to a system (IT & project management)
  3. Create a training guide
  4. Create a presentation about the standard
  5. Creating change – Name it, Brand it, Wear it, Teach it, Institutionalize it, Reward it.  

 

In today’s global economy, many companies are leveraging talent between both physical and remote employees. To prepare — when your organization implements a new remote work culture or hires a MOD Virtual Professional, they will need to be onboarded and trained like any other employee. At the same time, the team will determine and adapt to best practices, technological tools, and procedures for training a strong blended team.

 

Document the process (Play-Pause-Do)

Try the Play, Pause, Do Method. This method requires that every standard operating procedure has a video attached alongside all written documentation. What is it exactly? It’s step-by-step, documentation that outlines each of your processes and what to do when things go awry.

This method is part of crafting your Virtual Playbook. You will be amazed at how efficiently you can bring all employees up to speed when you have a play-by-play, documented process.

Craft your own FREE Virtual Playbook, and schedule your ‘Grow Virtual’ Business Strategy Session now to learn more!

 

Add it to a system (IT & project management)

Use a task assignment & management platform.

There are many services to choose from to help organize tasks and projects. Choose from Slack, Microsoft Teams, Workplace from Facebook, Monday.com, Trello, Asana, and many more.

Here at MyOutDesk, the Monday.com platform has worked well to keep our team organized.

 

Create a training guide

A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out complex routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output, and uniformity of performance while reducing miscommunication and failure to comply with industry regulations.

With any new hire, it is important to have SOPs in place. SOPs ensure that tasks are completed in a uniform manner throughout the organization. Download MyOutDesk’s FREE SOP Guide & Sample here.

 

Create a presentation about the standard

Use visuals to articulate your messages. Videos and images can greatly improve communication among virtual teams. Visual learning is the most effective training tool. Invest your time right and create video documentation to get your employees up to speed in working uniformly!

Video conference calls are the new (virtual) conference rooms and allow team members to show body language, facial expressions, posture, and hand gestures—all important aspects of communication. A more in-person experience encourages all to have more open communication and build trust.

Best of all — all video meetings can be recorded & used in the future. (You can save your breath a bit. No need to keep repeating yourself!)

Creating Change

Name it, Brand it, Wear it, Teach it, Institutionalize it, Reward it.  

The Organizational Change Model is a great framework to bring change into effect and to breathe life into any idea, any concept, any organizational culture change, and procedural change.

Here is the framework we use at MyOutDesk.

Let’s turn your list of ideas into existence. Pass them through this Organizational Change Model framework:

  1. Name it
  2. Brand it
  3. Wear it
  4. Teach it
  5. Institutionalize it
  6. Reward/Recognize it

Understand and apply the framework: Read more.

 

Don’t do this alone, but with the MOD Family.

Free ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide + Strategy Consultation

 

 

Allow an adjustment period and repeat key messages regarding the change intentionally and consistently. By doing so, you will get everyone on the same page. Consistently train and repeat key messages, as well as regularly use effective frameworks like SOPs and Play-Pause-Do!

 

The Recession-Proof Business

 

Achieve low overhead & high profit for your business during a recession, it takes top & affordable talents from MyOutDesk Virtual Assistants.

MyOutDesk virtual assistant services provide you with the flexibility, scalability, and cost-savings to adapt quickly to today’s changing business & market conditions.

The recession will eventually pass, and so when we come out of this thing, you will be the winner. Here’s a guide for thinking through all the things that you can do right now. Think through all the things missing or needs updating in your business.

 

 

Envisioning of a New Reality for Your Business

Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs with tools, strategies, and virtual employees – and when combined, businesses have a competitive edge and find growth while efficient systems and processes are put in place.

MyOutDesk proudly provides additional free business growth guides, books, and strategy calls.

See what we are about, and schedule a free consultation with us. We’ll take the time to learn more about your business and offer solutions to foster top talent and lower operational costs for your company.

Grow Your Virtual Strategy Today!
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Did You Know?  MyOutDesk’s origin story is set during the last global financial crisis of 2008. Yes, that’s right — our business started by scaling businesses with virtual assistants during a recession! Our first client in 2008 went from five to seventeen VPs with a completely revamped organizational model in short order, and he told MyOutDesk, “Our virtual professionals have shaved $250,000 off our monthly overhead.” 

 

 

a set of falling dominues being stopped by myoutdesk virtual assistants

US Economic Recovery Tracker + Solutions for Your Business

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From our businesses to our homes & our groceries, Covid-19 has disrupted every aspect of our lives. While CNN Business is tracking America’s economic recovery, we examine the most important points.

 

It’s safe to say — your business will never be the same post-pandemic.

  • Office workers have shifted to working from home (See also: Remote Work Success)
  • Millions of other Americans have filed for unemployment  (See also: Labor Market Opportunities)
  • Essential workers in hospitals & grocery stores are hailed as everyday heroes

 

During the pandemic, Americans have tightened their spending and chosen to save more, as they grapple with a historically weak job market. (See also: Preparing for AFTER COVID-19)

 

It definitely got harder to sell your home during the pandemic. No open houses. Virtual closings. And many owners hesitated to put their homes on the market. (See also: Virtual Residential Real Estate Trends)

 

MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
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As of July 4th, the total hours worked in small businesses is down 52.61% since before the pandemic.

 

The unfamiliarity of what the future holds is the source of the roller-coaster of emotions. And, the best best way to ultimately overcome this recession is to ramp up on staying informed and mitigating risk.

One factor has remained the same — businesses and customers want speed & efficiency. And in today’s stay-at-home culture, experienced virtual assistants who are well-practiced in providing an effective remote operation are the key to business growth.

 

Solution: Why Virtual Assistants?

You are probably wondering, why hire a Virtual Assistant then? Why not just hire someone in-house? If cost was your immediate concern then a Virtual Assistant is exactly what you need. You save on office space, you don’t need to buy the equipment and if you work with a company like MyOutDesk, all HR concerns are handled for you. Beyond the monetary cost is lower, you will also have a larger pool of talent to choose from, thus guaranteeing that you find a perfect match for you and your business.

 

Dynamic business duo Olivia Cooley & Charles Pulliam share:

“Without virtual assistants (VAs), it limits us and we have more responsibilities in-house. A VA is significantly more affordable to the business pattern. We get more value for the price. This is essential and instrumental for our growth, not only now but long-term… 3 to 5 years out, we will continue to grow our number of VAs.”

 

Achieve more – the first step is getting the help you need to reach the next level in your business. Schedule your free ‘Grow Virtual’ Strategy Consultation’ to get started today!

 

It’s time to maximize your productivity:
Leverage virtual assistants!

‘Grow Virtual’ with MyOutDesk Today

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6 Stages to a 7 Figure Business, Part 6 – Leadership Success Factors

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MyOutDesk (MOD) has 10 years of market leadership, serving more than 5000 clients and placing over 4000 Virtual Professionals; MOD is the trusted Virtual Solutions Platform used by the most innovative companies.

We are the market leader and experts in providing blended growth solutions to small and medium businesses. By blended we mean engineering a blended org chart with part of your organization being in-house and part of your organization working virtually. We partner with customers based on mutually agreed ’Business Outcome Statements’ that measure and quantify the impact of the Virtual Professionals.

Utilizing Business Outcome Statements is a big reason our ‘Blended Org Chart’ model works with our customers. The other part of the ‘secret sauce’ is we flat-out hire the best people.
As you can see by the chart on the next page we do FBI Grade Background Checks, Employment and Education Checks, Market Force Style Indicator, and adhere to the 3Es of Employed, Experience, and Expertise. Only 2.2% who apply to MOD get endorsed to clients. Pretty awesome!

Over the last 10 years, we have successfully evolved our methodology and processes to focus on client success. Because our approach is blended, the first 90 days is critical to successfully integrating the Virtual Professional with your team. The three primary areas to focus on are:
Vision & Leadership. Your organization needs to provide executive sponsorship to the onboarding process and the long-term integration of the VP.

Onboarding Support. MOD provides a 90-day onboarding coach but also needs the availability of key staff, clear training, communication, and assimilation plan for your new Virtual Professional team member.
Systems & Processes. We believe if we help you tech enable your Virtual Professionals that this will increase the probability of success and business growth.

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6 Stages to a 7 Figure Business, Part 5 – Business Outcomes

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Defining Business Outcomes is unique to MOD and allows us to quantify the impact of Virtual Professional on your business.  With Business Outcomes, both sides understand what success means. Don’t hire a Virtual Professional without Business Outcomes.

We use 5 Business Outcomes that impact your business that is shown in the dials graphic of the next page. Grow Revenue. Reduce Costs. Increase Productivity. Improve Quality. Enhance Customer Experience.

When we discuss your Business Outcomes, we’ll choose an outcome like Revenue, then identify an ‘ Object of Control’ . If I am a solar company that might be the number of solar consultations I conduct. Next, we need to decide on the ’ Unit of Measure ’ which could be in the case of the solar consultation an actual number or a percentage year over years. We might choose a 50% increase in solar consultations as our ‘ Unit of Measure ’.

Then the last thing is the ‘ Contextual Clarifier ’ or how the VP is going to help move the needle. The ’Business Outcome Statement for the solar example would be Revenue Growth: 50% increase in Solar Consultation – 2 MOD ISAs doing prospecting and circle dialing.

Business Outcome Statement

Example: Revenue Growth – 50% Increase in Client Consultations – 2 MOD ISAs doing prospecting and circle dialing.

  • The object of Control (defines what is being measured)
  • Unit of Measurement (specific last years unit to this years unit)
  • Contextual Clarifier (describes the condition under which the measure is relevant)
group of social media marketers working together at a table

6 Stages to a 7 Figure Business, Part 4 – Social Media

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Your business/brand needs a presence on social media. For most business owners this can be a time/labor-intensive task. Utilizing a Virtual Professional to manage social media presence can be one of your business’s highest returns.

First set up your Virtual Professional with access; it’s important to give them an orientation on how you handle social media yourself. This will allow your Virtual Professional to gain some insight into your thought processes and he/she will be able to take this into account when carrying out tasks.

Virtual Professional Tasks:

  1. Researching and Drafting Content – Social media is a content-driven environment. People expect you to churn out value, even at 140 characters.
  2. Building & Managing your Network – Ask your Virtual Professional to follow / friend / connect with new people based on your business criteria.
  3. Keeping Your Social Media Profiles Up-To-Date – All social networks update their design on a regular basis. These changes can pass you by if you’re not looking out for them.

MyOutDesk Virtual Assistants successfully generate leads from Social Media for our clients EVERY SINGLE DAY. They stay on top of Social Media platforms and accounts, keeping track of each opportunity and ensuring that each inquiry is answered as quickly as possible. They provide leverage by focusing their time on Social Media constantly generating leads so their clients can close the deals.

The consumer’s process has shifted dramatically as Social Media has become a need and is so ingrained into our society that it has changed our lives, the way we communicate, and the way we run business. This is why Real Estate leads must be generated to adjust to this shift. The internet and Social Media have opened new doors for research and lead generation.

Millennials, or buyers under 30-something, now make up 66% of the market for first-time home buyers. The tide has shifted as 99% of buyers have moved online to research properties, before contacting a

REALTOR ®. This means to attract both buyers and sellers; you need to reach out and engage with them online. Social media is the ideal forum to do this in.

There are 2.34 billion social media users around the world and 81% of the U.S. population has at least one social media profile. While traditional marketing like email is still relevant, social media is essential for both reaching potential clients and building relationships with existing customers.

If you’re not already utilizing social media for your business, you need to catch up as the chances are that your competition is. A 2017 Statista survey of 5700 marketers revealed that nearly 70% are developing loyal followers of their brand via a strong social media presence.

While it’s easy to create a social media page for your business and even get some likes and followers, the work doesn’t stop there. Users are increasingly demanding customer support and quick responses through social media. According to Social Media Today, Facebook users commenting on a brand’s page expect a response within 24 hours, if the comment is based on a complaint, the expected response time drops to under an hour.

Keeping on top of the increasing demands and expectations of social media users can be difficult when you’re trying to maintain the day-to-day running of your business. A popular post can receive hundreds of questions and comments containing potential leads that you want to follow up.

Social media has become crucial for business and it’s now expected that companies should have a robust social media presence. While outsourcing the running of your social media accounts to a marketing agency or hiring in-house is an option, it’s also an expensive one. A virtual marketing professional can free up your time to concentrate on your business, and also free up your budget to create quality shareable content and targeted social media advertising.

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6 Stages to a 7 Figure Business, Part 3 – Marketing & Blended Teams

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Attracting and retaining top digital marketing talent for your team is a time-intensive process. However, it is one of the most important growth decisions you’ll make as a business owner. On the flip side of that, it will be the most expensive mistake you make if the process is rushed and you onboard bad hires. To reduce the cost and risk of growing your marketing team, consider a blended Virtual Professional team. Get a stellar marketing assistant now – take a moment to schedule your Double My Business Strategy Session today!

Virtual Professionals can help your existing marketing operations team.

  1. Content Marketing: Creation and sharing of value-added content are essential to winning over prospects or customers.
  2. Email/SMS Marketing: Marketing communication is all about making sure that your customers/clients remember you and the perfect way to do this is through email/SMS marketing.
  3. Website Update and Maintenance: Tasks include adding new images, videos, content; adding meta tags and descriptions; linking to other posts, etc.

We know how crucial marketing is for your Business. On top of the traditional methods like flyers, door hangers, etc., online marketing has become essential in every marketing strategy today. We know how much time and effort it takes to juggle all your social media platforms, emails, website, blogs, etc.

Marketing Virtual Assistants can handle all of these things for you! They can create posts for your social media platforms, establishing your expertise in your market, and ensure that there is always engagement for your audience. They can handle your email and drip campaigns, creating and setting up sends to ensure that you keep in constant touch with your database, updating them with the latest goings-on in your business. They can also do your blogging, be it writing out specified content that you curate or posting pieces you have created yourself. They can help create targeted ads for social media or even flyers for you to print out and send.

Do you have an open house or event that you need to spread the word about? Specific listings that you would like to highlight? Do you have topics related to the Real Estate industry that you are an expert on and would like to share that expertise, thus establishing your reputation as a reliable source? Your Virtual assistant can help you do all of that and more.

Marketing is a crucial yet time-consuming branch of your business. These days to make any impact, you need to ensure that all your campaigns are running steadily and that any and all leads coming in are being put in the proper funnels. Running a winning marketing branch needs dedication and consistency that you may not have the time for. As a business owner/entrepreneur, you are not simply a marketer. Having a Marketing Virtual Assistant may be what you need to establish a strong marketing arm for your business. Schedule your Double My Business Strategy Session today!

a business owner working on a smartphone with virtual icons phone message and email

6 Stages to a 7 Figure Business, Part 2 – Outbound Prospecting

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In Real Estate, Residential Services, Health & Wellness, and many other industries, Circle Prospecting entails making calls to people within a specific geographic area and asking them for an appointment for a consultation. It is one of the easiest methods of prospecting today. In addition, circle prospecting offers a unique niche market that you might not reach otherwise. Circle prospecting aims to grow your database and set appointments that you may later convert into revenue.

Do you need someone to focus on your circle prospecting and demographic building? A MyOutDesk Virtual Assistant can do that for you! Schedule your Double My Business Strategy Session Today to find out how.

Using the right-circle prospecting script is essential to getting those appointments set. In onboarding your ISA/Sales Development Representative (SDR), you should plan on 30-minute coaching and role-playing sessions each morning for the first 2 weeks. These sessions will enable your ISA/SDR to gain confidence in delivering the script and help with objection handling. ISA/SDRs typically are equipped with a script that enables you to target neighborhoods where you have had success, i.e., draw a circle around the area you just closed a deal.

Demographic Dialing works the same way as circle dialing, but you target using other attributes such as age, income, or gender.

For those looking to build an SDR team, virtual professionals integrated with multiple channels such as email, SMS, social media, and the phone are a winning strategy. Start with a repeatable cadence across multiple channels to nurture leads and give SDRs the actionable data they need to reach prospects in context. While your process can and should be optimized over time, a perfect sequence of automated emails will never replace real-time insights on buyer behavior that allow SDRs to create a meaningful relationship with their prospects.

An SDR’s secret weapon is its own time. As a result, an SDR can do what marketing automation can’t; namely, they can take the time to research prospects and then reach out with hyper-relevant messages.

An SDR also has the advantage of using channels that can’t be automated, such as phone calls and social media actions. However, we know it takes several touches to convert a lead, and strategies that use four or more channels are 300% more effective.

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