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

July 13, 2020/in Cannabis & Legal Marijuana, Financial Planning, Framework, Healthcare, Human Resources, Insurance, Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Mortgage, Property Management, Real Estate, Scale The Series, Technology, Vertical Markets /by Jeremy

Focus on positive outcomes and continually take the next action of the most important thing. At MyOutDesk, we stress to our clients on continuously improving your 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)

Document the process (Play-Pause-Do)
Add it to a system (IT & project management)
Create a training guide
Create a presentation about the standard
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 a 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 completely 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:

Name it
Brand it
Wear it
Teach it
Institutionalize it
Reward/Recognize it

Understand and apply the framework: Read more.

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

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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.”

US Economic Recovery Tracker + Solutions for Your Business

July 13, 2020/in Cannabis & Legal Marijuana, Financial Planning, Healthcare, Human Resources, Insurance, Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Mortgage, Property Management, Real Estate, Scale The Series, Technology, Vertical Markets /by Jeremy

From our businesses to our home & 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 cost
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide

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 is 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 them equipment and if you work with a company like MyOutDesk, all HR concerns are handled for you. Beyond the monetary cost being 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

March 11, 2020/in MOD Virtual Assistants, Scale The Series /by Abby

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 a blended growth solutions to small and medium business. 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 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% that 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 need 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.

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

March 4, 2020/in MOD Virtual Assistants, Scale The Series /by Markel Madrigal

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 are 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 chose 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 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.

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)

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

February 26, 2020/in MOD Virtual Assistants, Scale The Series /by Markel Madrigal

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 setup 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:

Researching and Drafting Content – Social media is a content-driven environment. People expect you to churn out value, even at 140 characters.
Building & Managing your Network – Ask your Virtual Professional to follow / friend / connect with new people based on your business criteria.
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 is 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 has 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.

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

February 19, 2020/in Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Scale The Series /by Abby

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.

Content Marketing:Creation and sharing of value-added content is essential to win over prospects or customers.
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.
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 an 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!

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

February 12, 2020/in Inside Sales, MOD Virtual Assistants, Scale The Series /by Abby

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. Circle prospecting offers a unique niche market that you might not reach otherwise. The goal of circle prospecting is to grow your database and set appointments that you may later covert 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, utilizing Virtual Professionals integrated with multiple channels such as email, SMS, social media, and phone is 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 their own time. An SDR can do what a 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.

6 Stages to a 7 Figure Business, Part 1 – Lead Response Times

February 5, 2020/in MOD Virtual Assistants, Scale The Series /by Abby

Respond faster! A fresh lead has your business top of mind, and is already a good ways down your sales funnel—take advantage and close the deal. The MIT/Kellog studying show that the contact rate is 100x more from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

75% of prospects do business with the company that contacts them first. However, the average response time to an online lead is 44 hours and 50% of online leads never get a response! Why is there such a large disparity? Overcome it when you schedule your Double My Business Strategy Session now!

It may well be that most Real Estate professionals do not have the time to focus on their lead response time. With all the responsibilities to fulfill within the business, lead response often falls to the bottom of the list when in fact it should be a priority.

Even if you can’t sustain the prompt response of 5 minutes or less, any improvement will improve sales.

Virtual Professionals can cost effectively manage your ‘800’ number, ‘Chat’ and online landing pages driving huge improvements to Qualification Rate and Contact Rate. Virtual Professionals also allow you respond during off business hours.

It’s important to follow-up diligently! If you can’t reach the lead within 5, 10, 30 minutes, etc., make sure you’re calling periodically to ensure contact. It’s amazing that 30% of leads are never contacted. Virtual Professional Inside Sales Agents (ISA) can ensure that leads are contacted and followed up per your organization’s standards. By making a few more attempts, you can experience an increase of 70%.

A study by the Harvard Business Review revealed that contact within an hour of inquiry, you have 7x more of a chance to have a productive conversation compared to reaching out after over an hour, and compared to someone who waits 24 hours to contact a lead, you’re 60 times more likely.

In real estate, 64% of buyers and 66% of sellers end up working with the agent they speak with first, according to the National Association of Realtors. Those who are first-to-the-draw have a tremendous advantage.

As an example, let us tell you about one of our clients Amy and her ISA Virtual Assistant Rex. Rex is in charge of calling leads as soon as they enter their system. His speed to lead is extremely important and this sense of urgency was instilled in him from his first day with Amy. Aside from being tasked to make at least 100 calls a day, he is also given new leads that he must reach out to within 5 minutes of their query. Rex set 199 appointments in his first year alone and out of those, Amy has closed 142 transactions. This is 7 million in trackable sales volume and over $200,000 in GCI!

Amy, like many business owners we work with, simply could not take everything on herself. She realized that her team needed someone who could focus on their speed to lead time. So she hired and trained a Virtual Professional who could pick up the slack so she and the rest of her team could focus on what they needed to accomplish.

Let us know if you want to get past this pain point and schedule your Double My Business Strategy Session today.