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business owner on a video call with their myoutdesk virtual assistant

Explained: What does a Virtual Assistant do?

Administrative, Inside Sales, Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Recruitment

Everything you need to know about how to use virtual assistants for your business

Considering a VA for your business? — This page has everything you need to help you make an informed decision.

Hiring a VA marks the beginning of a new and exciting time for you, your current employees, and the company. Employing a VA means that your company is making an investment in the team and looking to achieve the next level of excellence and performance.

In This Article, We’ll Cover . . .

What is a virtual assistant?
Why you need a virtual assistant
Why virtual assistants are important
Where to find virtual assistants
How much does hiring a virtual assistant cost?
Best virtual assistant companies
What tasks can virtual assistants do for you?
Is it safe? Can a virtual assistant be a security risk?
Most popular virtual assistant roles
Managing your virtual assistant
Where to find & where to hire virtual assistants

What Is A VA? What Is A VP?

VA’s provide assistance in prospecting, calling, marketing, administrative, and customer service functions to their clients from a remote, home office and typically from a different country.
VP’s (virtual assistant professionals) are career-oriented virtual assistants with proven industry and educational experience.

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Why You Need VAs

VA services have existed since the 1980s. The biggest US corporations have been using VA services for decades–it’s a huge factor to their growth model.

Caption: US corporations with integrated blended business models.

“We really needed good candidates to interview and MyOutDesk has provided that. We’ve been really happy with MyOutDesk’s resources!”

~ Jonathan McGowan, JVM Lending

[Considering a Virtual Assistant?]

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Why VAs Are Important?

VAs are mentioned as an integral part of the 2007 bestselling book The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. Ferriss needed virtual assistants as a business growth tool to check his email, pay his bills, and run parts of his company.

Yes, small & medium businesses are increasingly incorporating VA business models.

» (See also) AllTheLeads: Why You Should Hire a VA

In fact, in 2021, the top competitors of the 10 most profitable industries ALL use virtual assistants.

Here’s how the 10 most profitable industries are leveraging virtual assistant services, like MyOutDesk, to ensure scalability and higher profits.

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Where To Find VAs

Differences & Similarities – How to compare the 4 Types of Virtual Assistant Services Companies

How To Choose & Decide The Right Virtual Assistant Services Company Or Provider

Where to Find: Fundamentally, there are four types of VA companies that cater to different sets of needs.

Database Of Freelancers

This VA company displays virtual assistant profiles for mainly part-time gigs. Prices vary per assistant.

Pros: Great for one-time, off-hand projects

Cons: Skills & experience typically not vetted by provider

Project-Based Freelancers

This VA company attracts both virtual assistants & clients to their site, and charges a service fee.

Pros: Great for a one-time seasonal project

Cons: Skills & experience typically not vetted by provider

Low-Cost Full-Time Provider

This VA company provides full-time assistants, generally specializing in a few specific roles or industries.

Pros: An affordable alternative to a traditional employee

Cons: Limited to a few roles and responsibilities, and lower value tasks.

Strategic Outsourcing Partner

MyOutDesk consults & caters to each client’s needs and addresses growth opportunities through outsourcing business processes — with specific expertise serving multiple industries. They provide services, starting from just one VA, for up to an entire enterprise workforce.

On the client side, the VA company provides a thorough talent-matching process, background checks, full-time client support, business process optimization tools, and business strategy consultations.

On the VA side, the company offers company perks such as professional development, health benefits, and holidays.

Pros: As affordable as all other VA services. Greatest quality of professional skill sets in a competitive talent pool. A powerful model for businesses looking to scale up. Hybridized physical-virtual (blended) organizational strategy allows local employees to focus on higher value tasks.

Cons: Not ideal for one-time projects.

As not all virtual assistant providers are created equal, businesses need to consider and choose the provider would best serve their needs.

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How Much Does A VA Cost?

The price of virtual assistants can rage from $3 per hour to $50 per hour. However the quality of these assistants greatly vary!

Will a $3/hr VA meet your expectations? Cheaper providers typically do not have FBI-grade background checks & legal backing like MyOutDesk.

Does a $50/hr assistant necessarily mean they’re the best? No. Higher wages mainly reflect the average living costs of where the assistant lives.

The ideal provider can will with you on a comprehensive solution — finding the most qualified candidates for the lowest rates & stringent safety checks.

MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs with experienced virtual assistant professionals. To book an interview with those in MyOutDesk’s competitive talent pool, click here.

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Best VA Companies

We’ve scoured through the internet to find all the reviews for the best virtual assistant companies. MyOutDesk is consistently named one of the best virtual assistant companies out there.

Where To Find & Where To Hire Virtual Assistants

MyOutDesk is named as the TOP virtual assistant company by:

TechRadar: Best Virtual Assistant Services of 2022
Time Doctor: Top 30 Virtual Assistant Companies of 2021
Hubspot: 30 Virtual Assistant Companies & Services to Make Your Job Easier
Hooquest: Best Virtual Assistant Companies in 2020

Full-time employees are expensive. In addition to salaries, you also end up paying a hefty sum every month for benefits, office space & equipment, worker’s compensation, and even retirement. It adds up fast & erodes profitability.

MyOutDesk Virtual Assistants are a cost-effective alternative to full-time staff that save you money, and let you keep your business nimble. Add or reduce staffing on-demand as you grow to meet today’s needs without the overhead.

	MyOutDesk	COMPETITION
Market Force Personality Profile	Yes	No
Over 5,000 clients served	Yes	No
VA Benefits & Medical	Yes	No
Legal Entity in USA & PH	Yes	No
Stable Internet + Backup Systems	Yes	No
Secure PCI Compliant Payments	Yes	No
VA Time-Tracking Software	Yes	No
FBI Grade Background Check	Yes	No
Dual Candidate Vetting	Yes	No

[Ready for a Virtual Assistant?]

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What Tasks Can VA Do For You?

Most Popular VA Roles:

Administrative Assistant
Executive Assistant / Personal Assistant
Marketing Assistant
Transaction Coordinator
Virtual Receptionist
Customer Service
Telemarketing / Inside Sales
Help Desk & Support
Recruiting Assistant
Loan Processor
Real Estate ISA

Where Virtual Assistants Are Most Popular, By Industry

Real Estate

“Our top reps have been able to focus more on developing relationships & creating new business with clients — rather than task-work like simply handling claims. MyOutDesk allows us to scale more quickly & be more profitable at the same time!”

— Mark Schwaiger
Managing Partner at Infinity HR

Full MyOutDesk Interview: Link

Mortgage & Lending

“As a loan officer, I want to foster relationships, and I use my Virtual Assistant to help me acquire the relationship…He set up 51 one-on-one meetings with agents in the first quarter I had him!”

— Ryan Yardley, RyanYardley.com

Full MyOutDesk Interview: Link

Healthcare

“Our virtual assistant is basically our entire recruiting department – and he’s been able to drive us from two hires a week to just over four hires a week in the last 12 months. He’s a very skilled individual who understands the health care market, very technically savvy, and he’s been very effective.”

— Robert Massie, Owner & President
Brightstar Fairfax

Full MyOutDesk Interview: Link

IT & Technology

“I’m not going to be able to make $250,000 a year if I’m spending half my time doing $10 an hour work. That’s why we’re such big fans of virtual assistants and automation.”

— Dale Warner
CEO, Realvolve

Full MyOutDesk Interview: Link

Insurance

“As a Fortune 500 company, controlling the title market in SoCal and being Top 5% in the country, we highly recommend the local expertise with a unique touch that MyOutDesk offers. If we want to go onwards and upwards, definitely the option to consider.”

— Joseph Galante, Ticor Title

Marketing Agency

“Publishing, web development and site maintenance; there’s a lot of those tasks they do very good and have done for us.” – Cliff Stoltzfoos, founder and CEO of LifeX Marketing

Human Resources & PEO

“Anybody who’s gone to business school in the last 20 years has had 1 commandment hammered into them: if it’s not your core business, outsource it.”

— Pat Cleary, President & CEO
National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO)

Full MyOutDesk Interview: Link

Property Management

“MyOutDesk has really revolutionized our business. We’d generate rental leads, hand them off to our agents, and have those agents reach out. We needed a better way to use the time these agents were spending to get these leads ready to go out on tour. I can’t tell you how many hours you’ve saved for our agents.”

Boots Levinson, Principal, Rent Philly

Financial Planning

“Because of one 15-minute appointment set by a MOD Virtual Professional…that one, landed client just paid for both virtual assistants for the rest of the year. My virtual assistant made me $43,000 in commissions less than half an hour ago, so if you’re still on the fence about hiring one, my advice is: just do it. The ROI on our virtual assistants is amazing – it’s definitely going to finish the year over 20x.”

— Marvin Mitchell, Compass Retirement Solutions

Full MyOutDesk Interview: Link

Cannabis & Legal Marijuana

“Why didn’t we do this two years earlier? MyOutDesk helped with least 8 candidates & seamless interviews. If you’re thinking about it, just go for it. We paid off in a month.”

— Tony Trinh, Fresh Mint
Full MyOutDesk Interview: Link

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What Tasks Can A Virtual Assistant Do?

VA’s provide you with the flexibility, scalability, and cost-savings to adapt quickly to today’s changing business & market conditions. Here are a million tasks and roles that virtual assistants can do for you.

General Administration

Having a VP 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

Marketing

There are many things a virtual marketing assistant can do for you to supercharge your company’s scalability. Focus your talented marketing professionals on the above sales tools and also on ideal client targets. If you know who buys from you and why your marketing virtual professional can really help drive your message out to the marketplace.

Online marketing, listings & social media
Virtual showings & open houses
Webinars & speaking events
Marketing automation
Brand work
Design coordination
Collateral development
Repurposing content
Audio, video & multimedia
PR & paid advertising

Prospecting Assistant

A sales prospecting assistant can take over your prospecting and expand your lead generation efforts. Our inside sales virtual assistants will help you generate more leads, qualify them and allow you to focus on selling and generating commissions. In addition to warm & cold calling, our virtual assistants can assist you with lead screening & pre-qualification, lead nurturing, prospect & client follow-up calls & more!

Telemarketing & inside sales
Smart plans
Appointments
Warm & cold calling
Prospect & client follow-up
Lead nurturing
Recruiting assistant
MLS

Loan Processor

MyOutDesk loan processor virtual assistants can to manage all the paperwork and deadlines involved in your mortgage & lending transactions – including every step of the process, from contract to close, and everything in between!

Gather documentation
Cloud e-agreements management
Lender follow-ups
Documentation review
Internal reporting
Manage mortgage or lending pipeline
Communications liaison

Transaction Coordinator

A Transaction Coordinator Virtual Assistant manages all the paperwork and deadlines involved in a contract transaction. They’re trained in every step of the selling process and tasked with monitoring progress from the time the seller accepts an offer through the steps involved in the close of escrow.

Become more effective by using a virtual professional transaction coordinator to handle the repetitive tasks involved with closing a transaction – such as gathering documentation & signatures, calling clients, completing paperwork, following up on contract terms & requirements, and ultimately creating a broker file for the completed transaction.

Manage signatures & documentation
Manage paperwork processing & deadlines
Coordinate inspections
Respond to contract terms
Compliance coordination
Communications liaison

Service & Support

MyOutDesk virtual assistants provide the leverage you need to meet your customer service & support demand at a fraction of the cost of hiring full-time staff. Customer service outsourcing lets you work smarter, not harder, and help you invest your time in dollar-productive activities that matter.

Manage trouble tickets
Manage escalation calls
Run reports
Manage calendars
Update CRM
Customer training & education
Issue resolution

. . . and the list goes on! With a business strategy in place that leverages virtual talent, there are a million ways that virtual professionals at MyOutDesk will transform your business during a recession.

[Ready for a Virtual Assistant?]

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Is it safe? Can a VA be a security risk?

Businesses who choose a reliable VA service provider with thorough qualification procedures ensures high-quality virtual talent. MyOutDesk has a strong reputation for providing virtual administrative assistants, built on:

A stringent talent matching process that uses detailed work experience profiling.
A comprehensive candidate vetting process unmatched by any other outsourcing provider.
FBI-grade background checks.
DISC personality matching to ensure the most experienced, educated, and skilled virtual assistant services possible.

An unparalleled distinction of MyOutDesk among many virtual assistant providers is its high standard of service to its clients and virtual assistants. The company provides uninterrupted support services for client businesses and virtual assistants with dedicated trainers and solutions managers. VAs receive competitive benefits and medical at MyOutDesk, upholding high work morale. Hiring a highly qualified, full-time virtual assistant from MyOutDesk is safe as well as cost-effective — costing up to 70% less than hiring a full-time in-house employee.

“Our top reps have been able to focus more on developing relationships & creating new business with clients — rather than task-work like simply handling claims. MyOutDesk allows us to scale more quickly & be more profitable at the same time!”

— Mark Schwaiger
Managing Partner at Infinity HR

Full MyOutDesk Interview: Link

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Managing VAs

Typically, when you hire a virtual assistant, you have to provide these kinds of productivity tracking systems yourself. MyOutDesk understands the importance of having these systems in place, so we created one for our clients.

MyTimeIn
Remote Team Productivity Tracker

Manage your virtual assistant’s (or assistants’) department, teams, service accounts, schedule & PTO, and payroll.

Real-Time Visibility
Work History
Scheduling & Timesheets

Also to help foster the most effective remote work culture for your business, we’ve made a guide to help your team thrive under a remote transition.

Effectively Manage Your Remote Teams with:

Increase Productivity + Managing Virtual Assistants [Find Out More]

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Where to Find & Where to Hire VAs

MyOutDesk is a California based company founded in 2008. We’ve been steadily growing and gaining large and small business clients daily, especially those seeking a high quality virtual assistant. We’re an intelligent, successful voice in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and the Virtual Assistant community.

With 40+ years of combined experience, our principals have been involved with hiring and managing personnel and running businesses ranging in size from $14 million per year corporations to proprietor-type businesses producing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Simply stated, no job is too big or too small for us. Unlike many outsourcing companies that will only work for businesses that place hundreds of employees at a time, we treat one order just like one hundred. We believe that while the order may be small, hiring a virtual assistant will allow you to grow your company. We fully expect to grow with you as partners in your success.

	MyOutDesk	COMPETITION
Market Force Personality Profile	Yes	No
Over 5,000 clients served	Yes	No
VA Benefits & Medical	Yes	No
Legal Entity in USA & PH	Yes	No
Stable Internet + Backup Systems	Yes	No
Secure PCI Compliant Payments	Yes	No
VA Time-Tracking Software	Yes	No
FBI Grade Background Check	Yes	No
Dual Candidate Vetting	Yes	No

Our Business Is Built On Experience

1. Cost-Effective Staffing Solution
An alliance with MyOutDesk will deliver high quality ancillary services you need while giving you the freedom to focus on your core business.

2. Highest Quality Virtual Assistants
You can contract for services that you need without the long standing costs like benefits, retirement, office space, management staff, etc.

3. Best-Of-Breed Technologies
MyOutDesk hires virtual assistant candidates that have some college education or college degrees; many times those degrees are similar to Harvard or Yale education. Our staff also has a broad range of skills, having worked for other United States companies like Dell Computers and IBM.

4. Over A Decade Of Experience
Operating leverage is a measure that compares fixed costs to variable costs. Outsourcing changes the balance of this ratio by offering a move from variable to fixed cost and also by making variable costs more predictable, thus improving profits.

5. You’ve Always Got A Single-Point Of Contact
Our virtual assistants receive ongoing trainings to keep up with current business practices.

6. We Value Your Information Security
You can manage contracts in a way that you can’t manage in-house projects. We can also manage virtual assistants by utilizing operational best practice that would be too difficult or time consuming to develop in-house.

We Match You With The Best Candidates

All of our virtual assistants are required to complete a rigorous 160 hours of special training, learning our secrets of success prior to employment. We also require our hired Virtual Assistants to attend five hours of additional training every month to help keep them “above the curve” with new technologies and processes. English is a common language in the Philippines, so all of our virtual assistants speak English clearly and professionally. We invest a great deal of time and money into developing our VAs and it shows in the quality of work they perform for you.

Many Virtual Assistants you find on the internet operate out of their homes. We feel this is a poor environment for both quality and accountability. At MyOutDesk, our virtual assistants work out of their home offices that provide them with the infrastructure to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively. They provide their own most up to date hardware and software and have experienced management on hand to assist them in their duties.

Working out of an office helps to create a team environment and allows for better accountability and security; your work will never leave our offices and be taken home by a Virtual Assistant.

Each employee is trained on task tracking and metrics reporting. If a virtual assistant cannot handle such simple tasks correctly before they begin, we don’t want them, and neither would you. Be careful with companies that claim task-tracking software. Why? If they need such software, they are likely hiring under-skilled, inefficient people. We know from extensive experience the importance of finding and employing only best people.

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Getting Started With MyOutDesk

TALENTED LABOR WITHOUT DISTANCE LIMITATIONS

For almost any function that can be done remotely and doesn’t require physical space, virtual assistants for recruitment, marketing, & administrative jobs are cost-effective and allow us the adequate focus & time for our functions.

MyOutDesk Virtual assistants are known to exceed expectations in providing excellent customer service and seamless administrative operations.

We will save you up to 70% on employment costs with experienced virtual assistants, precisely matched for your strategic needs. To book an interview with those in our talent pool, click here.

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

August 17, 2020/by Jeremy

travis thom founder and facebook marketing strategist at evelvated rem

Hitting Double Productivity: Marketing agency organizational strategies

Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Webinars

Save over $90k per year. With any growing marketing agency, more clients means balancing more nuanced tasks and roles. When marketers take on too many assignments, their creativity can take a dip. Often, marketing agencies opt to use freelancers to complete minuscule tasks on the agency’s behalf on an ad-hoc basis.

From building psychographic campaigns, buyer personas, and building a deeper understanding of online consumer psychology, Travis Thom designs larger-than-life marketing campaigns that generate demand and sparked desire with over 15 years of international experience — as CEO of Elevated Real Estate Marketing.

How to prevent burnout + double productivity in marketing agencies

Today, we interview Travis on how he’s managed to double his agency’s performance (even without a physical office space).

When your company is doing well, tasks keep growing as more clients come in. Then, the nuances can start burning your team out unless you pivot.

“You know, there’s other people who have much more well-rounded people with skill sets that we can hire for a fraction of the cost … and get more done, but also they’re going to do it a lot better.”

Travis is talking about virtual assistants. Even with the many tools and software for marketers, even the shiniest automation software needs a human factor — especially when it comes to graphic design, email campaigns, and drips.

Virtual assistants are best for making sure that you don’t miss out on steps in your process.

As the owner and decision-maker of a marketing agency — you need dedicated time to nurture deals and close sales yourself. To prevent burnout, Travis delegates each account to his talented MyOutDesk virtual assistants.

Most of the background details — such as requests from clients, email campaigns, nitty-gritty detailed items — are what you can delegate to virtual assistants.

Lowering operating costs for marketing agencies

Since 2004, Travis’ marketing agency has operated in remote teams (saving $40,000 each year in real estate costs) and delegated his marketing operations to full-time virtual assistants — who work for a fraction of the cost of a traditional employee (saving $50,000 per year per individual).

Understanding who you want to hire first and make sure they have the right skill sets

They can shadow you — so they can see how you’re currently doing it and optimize the process WITH them in place

A marketing agency can have virtual assistants fulfill these roles:

marketing coordinator
graphics designer
traffic coordinator
digital campaign manager
content creator & coordinator

Remote Work: How productive marketing teams in marketing agencies look

This marketing team has been operating remotely for over 16 years — Travis has learned that productive teams have multiple ways to communicate, meet on a variety of touchpoints, and emphasize accountability.

When emails, calls, and texts can get buried — a project management tool can make it easier for remote teams in marketing agencies to follow tasks and find exactly where progress lies are and what still needs to be done.

Don’t box yourself! Outsourcing opens up your world to the talent that’s more affordable and probably more fit with your needed skill sets, saving you tens of thousands from additional office space, and other significant expenses related to in-house hires.

“Outsourcing makes the hustle better — because you’re not burdened with many/growing expenses that you’ll need to figure out how to cover and hit profit”

ENVISIONING OF A NEW REALITY FOR YOUR MARKETING BUSINESS

Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs & marketing agencies 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! 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 big thank you to Travis Thom for this insightful interview!

Contact Travis & Learn more about his marketing agency:

August 17, 2020/by Jeremy

frustrated business owner with email marketing

Is Your Email Marketing Failing? Here’s How To Fix It!

Marketing, Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants

Email marketing is one of the most powerful and cost-efficient tools for generating & nurturing leads. Its non-obtrusive nature and immense flexibility give you a lot of room to find creative ways to market to your clients. You shouldn’t underestimate the possibilities that can be created with a strong email marketing strategy.

Email marketing requires attention and consistency. Leverage a MyOutDesk Marketing Virtual Assistant to implement your strategies for email and all your marketing responsibilities. Schedule your ‘Grow Virtual’ Strategy Session to find out how.

MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free strategy consultation & downloads

If your email marketing is not as effective as you might hope, there are a few factors that might be holding you back.

1. You aren’t doing it.– Surprisingly, there are a huge number of entrepreneurs who do not utilize email marketing in their business. Email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter. According to studies, email beats social media by 40 xs for customer acquisition.

2. You aren’t personalizing it. – Automated emails are convenient ad easy. There is nothing wrong with writing blanket-type emails that may generally appeal to a large portion of your niche. You do not have to write an individual email to your contact list, however, little touches of “personalization” are important as well. For example, using their names is a great touch. “Hey Greg!” is still better than a non-descript greeting. Many email platforms allow you to customize greetings and can be programmed to pull names from a list. Aside from that, use words or terms that are related to your niche, this tells your leads that you really know what you are talking about and are here to help them.

3. You aren’t responding quickly enough. – Speed to leads applies to emails too. Over 88% of prospective customers expect a response within an hour, but this is rarely accomplished. You should respond to inquiries within the day of receiving them AT LEAST., the sooner the better.

4. You aren’t mobile-friendly. – Mobile accounts for up to 77% of email opens! When creating your emails, make sure that they are mobile-friendly as well. People are constantly on their phones and you want to be sure that your email has readability across different devices. Testing your emails before sending them out so you can make adjustments is a great way to ensure that you are.

5. Your content isn’t dynamic. – Nobody wants to hear the same things over and over again nor do they want to feel that all you are doing is selling to them. Mix up your content by talking about different aspects of human life that relate to your services. Find different ways to touch on your audience’s personal interests and perspectives.

6. You aren’t testing your content. – A/B or split testing is a highly effective tool when you are trying to figure out your market. Testing the efficacy of different kinds of content can greatly help your marketing strategy. Every audience is different. You must test to know what works. A/B tests can improve conversion rates by 49%.

Email marketing can indeed be a powerful avenue you can use to grow your business, but sometimes it takes the kind of time and attention that you just do not have. A MyOutDesk Virtual assistant can be instrumental in ensuring that your marketing campaigns are effective.

Schedule a ‘Grow Virtual’ Strategy Session so we can help you make the most out of your email marketing!

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

August 6, 2020/by Jeremy

Achieve the Dream – Scaling as a Franchisee | With Brian Beers

Administrative, Franchise, Inside Sales, Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Webinars

MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free strategy consultation & downloads

Brian Beers and his family currently own and operate 12 Midas® franchises in the Philadelphia area. He shares what talent means for his franchise businesses and his journey to getting the leverage that he needs.

“We used outsource companies in the past and have some varying experiences. I really like about [MyOutDesk] is all the work that you guys do upfront to find the right virtual assistant — ensuring that we’re getting a high-quality, well-vetted candidate because the biggest challenge or a roadblock is TRUST.”

How to scale profits with a franchise business

Brian’s family has been in the business of owning franchises for a long time. With a virtual assistant, they doubled their business in the last 3-4 years, and in the next couple of years they’re looking to double again. His virtual assistant, Ann, handles tasks independently. Brian compliments her achievements in our interview.

The virtual assistant directly works with his managers to get things done. These tasks are now completely off his radar, and Brian shares his “great experience for his franchise locations!“

“We got to try to multiply our efforts, and that’s really where the virtual assistant comes into play. They take away the everyday tasks, so that I could focus on higher-value outcomes and continue to work towards these larger goals.”

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 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.”

ENVISIONING OF A NEW REALITY FOR YOUR FRANCHISE BUSINESS

Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs & franchise 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.

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

August 6, 2020/by Jeremy

Beat Low Housing Inventory With These 8 Strategies

Administrative, Inside Sales, Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Real Estate

We’re facing a historically low housing inventory in 2020. Fluctuating mortgage rates have forced many to stay put in their homes and forgo upgrades and downgrades. While we have seen a bit of improvement as of late, trends say that if current market conditions persist, we may see further dips in inventory.

Do you want to ride the ups and downs of the Real Estate market unscathed? You need to be able to focus on your business and have the best support in place to do that. Book your ‘Grow Virtual’ Business Strategy Session and find out how a MyOutDesk Virtual Assistant can give you the leverage to thrive and not just survive.

MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free strategy consultation & downloads

Here are eight foolproof tactics you can apply that will not only help you find more homes in markets affected by low inventory but will help you generate more listings as well.

1. Know the Price Points of ALL new construction in your area

The majority of new construction housing will never even land on your MLS. If you are in a low housing inventory market, this makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE. Find out all the information you can about new construction neighborhoods and build relationships with developers. You will not only have alternative options for your buyers, but you stand a high chance of getting recommendations and referrals from developers as well. Your knowledge of your local community will help establish trustworthiness.

2. Tap your Sphere of Influence

Both Personal and Professional. Don’t be afraid to use your personal network to find new business. Send out a personal message or meet up with them to ask if they know anyone looking to sell their home. Don’t forget to contact your old clients as well, and you never know what you may stumble upon.

3. Post a Wanted Ad

There will most likely be people around your community who want to sell but haven’t listed yet or are waiting on one thing or another. You can attract a potential seller with “Seller Wanted Ads.” You can use flyers or take out an ad in a local newspaper or even use targeted social media ads for this. If you have a serious buyer, describe specific features of a home they are looking for, why they want to move into a specific neighborhood, and a general deadline. You might even get a chance to list the property!

4. Zillow’s “Make Me Move”

Make Me Move by Zillow is a feature where first-time listers name the price that would make them sell their home. You can do specific searches and find “Make Me Move” listings in the area your buyer is interested in. While some prices might be a bit too high, it is an option you can show your buyer, and the fact that someone made an effort and named their price is a positive sign.

5. Pre-foreclosures

As banks are putting foreclosures into motion, it is important to know that most of these homes are near equity. Current homeowners aren’t aware of this, but the banks are, which is why they are being targeted first. Find these properties and reach out to homeowners and let them know that they can sell their homes, you help both your buyer and give the potential seller hope.

6. The Best Time for Expired Listings

Right now is the best time to prospect Expired listings because the market has recovered. While these listings may have been priced too high in the past, their prices may be perfectly acceptable now. Try going for really old expired listings as well!

7. Find Unrepresented Sellers (FSBO)

Seeking out FSBO can be another great resource. Think about it. They are already actively selling their homes, in a low inventory market, finding FSBO and connecting them with your buyers may just be the ticket.

8. Create your dream team

We’ve given you solid tips to overcome your low inventory market. Now, implementing them is another story. Set up a team that can take these tips and runs with them! MyOutDesk Virtual Assistants are ready to be part of that team and can give you the leverage you need to be successful in a low inventory market! Start building your dream team right now! Book your ‘Grow Virtual’ Strategy Session and add a MyOutDesk virtual assistant to your business today!

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

August 6, 2020/by Jeremy

Top Social Media Platforms & How to Best Leverage Them

Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants

Social networks are one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, with a projected annual growth of 25% over the next 5 years. Social media marketing increases your brand’s awareness. 63% of buyers who search for houses online are more likely to use ones with an informative social media presence. Not just brand awareness, social media also has the power to increase customer loyalty. 71% of consumers who received a quick response on social media would recommend the service to others too.
Read more

August 6, 2020/by Jeremy

a man looking over a virtual chart of graphs at his desk

No More Distractions: Scaling Your Business & Growing Profitability

Administrative, Cannabis & Legal Marijuana, e-Commerce, Financial Planning, Franchise, Healthcare, Human Resources, Inside Sales, Insurance, Marketing, Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Mortgage, Podcast, Property Management, Real Estate, Recruitment, Technology

It can be a real challenge to perform at an optimum level in our increasingly distracted world. If you’re a person who really wants to be the best version of yourself, this podcast is for you.

Mark Struczewski is a productivity expert and online trainer that helps people be productive in a distracting world. He is also the host of The Mark Struczewski Podcast.

THE MARK STRUCZEWSKI PODCAST

Scaling Your Business and Growing Profitability – Daniel Ramsey

Podcast Link

MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free strategy consultation & downloads

In this episode, Daniel and Mark discuss the 3 stages of entrepreneurial growth, leveraging, 96% versus 4% versus 0.04%, the downfall of tribal knowledge, and control freaks.

Daniel Ramsey is the founder and CEO of MyOutDesk, the highest-rated virtual assistant company in the marketplace with over 800 verified 5-star reviews, and over 15 years of experience, serving more than 7500 clients across industries. Back in 2008, he was inspired by his own time-management struggles to find a better way to help agents leverage their time & energy, and created MyOutDesk to provide a trusted, reliable solution to the office administration, marketing & prospecting tasks that every agent has – but most lack the time to focus on. In 15 years with MyOutDesk, Daniel has helped thousands of clients scale their businesses and grow profitability.

Visit Mark at https://www.markstruczewski.com/.

Grow Your Virtual Strategy Today!
Access the ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide
& Schedule a free consultation

August 3, 2020/by Jeremy

Brian Icenhower with portrait president and ceo at icenhower coaching and consulting with daniel ramsey ceo myoutdesk

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

Administrative, Inside Sales, Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Property Management, Real Estate, Webinars

Brian Icenhower of Icenhower Coaching & Consulting with Daniel Ramsey

Brian Icenhower is the founder of Icenhower Coaching & Consulting (ICC) and an owner of many of the largest and highest-producing real estate companies in the United States. Brian has been coaching and training real estate agents for more than 25 years. ICC is one of the largest real estate coaching companies with more than five hundred clients that include 31 of the Real Trends Top 500 list.

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

Today we talk about how virtual assistant services produce TOP real estate teams. Real estate agents who are tapping into admin, marketing, and ISA virtual assistant services are the biggest gainers in market share.

MyOutDesk helps to onboard virtual assistants with quick and easy service. It only takes 3 steps.

1) Sign up.

2) Thorough Interviews To Find Your Perfect VA.

3) Virtual Assistants are ready to work for you!

COMPOUND LEVERAGE

If you understand compound interest, then you can apply that same principle to leverage. Once you delegate a task and create a process and a procedure, you are able to recover your time. And get this, since you have now developed a repeatable process that someone else can handle … you get that time back for the rest of your career! That’s compound leverage! Training means stepping back and expecting a decline before you bust through the plateau and grow.

MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free strategy consultation & downloads

How to keep your virtual assistant (VA) busy

You don’t need to do this directly—when you integrate them into your business, they become part of the business and tasks will come in naturally. Have systems in place for your VA success.

The Grow Virtual Guide helps give you a deep understanding of how to align many important facets of your business within your growth strategy.

Visit The Real Estate Trainer to learn more about real estate success & virtual assistants.

Grow Your Virtual Strategy Today!
Access the ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide
& Schedule a free consultation

August 3, 2020/by Jeremy

If you don’t have an assistant then you are one: Managing Growth & Culture

Accelerator, Administrative, Inside Sales, Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Podcast

Manage Smarter is the podcast for today’s managers and emerging leaders. Each episode is a frank, fast-paced, and sometimes humorous discussion of the challenges facing managers from the front lines to the C‑Suite. We address the metrics, strategies, and solutions needed to improve team performance, company culture, and overall productivity.

Manage Smarter 132:

Managing Growth and Culture with Virtual Assistants

Daniel Ramsey is the founder and CEO of MyOutDesk, the highest-rated virtual assistant company in the marketplace with over 800 verified 5‑star reviews, and over 15 years of experience, serving more than 7500 clients across industries. He is also the author of the bestselling book, Scaling Your Business with MOD Virtual Professionals.

Daniel is going to share a Grow Virtual Guide to help businesses and executives how to effectively transition to a fully remote or blended organizational model, how to reinvent the value we provide in this changing market, and how to grow virtual all while reducing operational costs.

Manage Smarter listeners can get a FREE copy of this Grow Virtual Guide by texting MOD to 31996

In this episode, Audrey, Lee, and Daniel discuss:

How to expand in the current sales climate and sell more
How using virtual assistants can free up valuable time and reduce operational costs
Tips for creating a strong culture among remote workers
Processes he uses to enforce accountability, engagement, work quality, and oversight among global remote teams

“If you don’t have an assistant then you are one.”

– Daniel Ramsey

Connect with Daniel Ramsey:

Website: https://www.myoutdesk.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-outdesk
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/myoutdesk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyOutDesk.LLC/

Connect with the hosts of Manage Smarter:

Website: ManageSmarter.com
Twitter: @ManageSmartPod
LinkedIn: Audrey Strong
LinkedIn: C. Lee Smith

Connect with SalesFuel:

Website: http://salesfuel.com
Twitter: @SalesFuel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salesfuel/

August 3, 2020/by Jeremy

Getting GHOSTED by clients because of this one thing…

Accelerator, Cannabis & Legal Marijuana, e-Commerce, Financial Planning, Franchise, Healthcare, Human Resources, Insurance, Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Mortgage, Property Management, Real Estate, Technology

Are your hot leads suddenly not responding anymore? When you seem to be hitting it off, this is probably why, all of a sudden, you’re getting ghosted.

Earlier today, a sales guy shared with me this extremely common incident:

“I had a great call, but now they’ve ghosted me. I don’t know what happened. We had some great conversations, and it felt good. I liked them, and they seemed to like me … BUT I can’t get them back on the phone!”

MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free strategy consultation & downloads

Building Rapport Requires COMPETENCY & SINCERITY

Here’s the thing. Foundational in the sales process, building rapport is akin to building trust. You can build rapport either by showing your competency or your sincerity.

Showing your competency means that “I know what I’m doing, and I can help you.”
Showing your sincerity means that “I actually care about you and your success.”

These are the two ways to establish trust and ultimately grow your rapport.

Building rapport is only the first step. Your rapport alone is NOT going to get leads to call you back.

Salespeople getting ‘ghosted’ are missing: CREATING VALUE

Building trust and rapport is only going to get leads to have the conversation with you & listen to what you have to say – but they aren’t going to call you back unless you create value.

How do I get them to actually be in a client relationship with me?

Adding value is the quality that all salespeople struggle with. It takes the intention to uniquely engage each lead. The questions you should be asking yourself with every call are:

How can I add value to somebody’s life?
What expertise and qualities can I contribute to somebody’s business? to my clients?

In every industry, whether your role is an insurance broker, a real estate agent, a mortgage person, a construction person, you must answer you are continually adding value in every interaction … and that’s how you get them to call you back.

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

If you’re struggling to get people to call you back, you need to implore your customers and ask for feedback. The best sales professionals will ask the:

How’s your progress going today?
Do you feel like I’m helping you?
Do you feel like I’m adding value to your business?

If they respond along the lines of …

“I want you in my world moving forward … Would you support me?”
“This has really changed my thinking”
“I appreciate the great ideas you’ve taught me”

… That’s when you know that you’ve added value.

Salespeople have to overcome this hurdle and break down the difference between building rapport and adding value. Once you distinguish yourself with these concepts you’ll get your customers to call you back.

Maximize Value & 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.

Grow Your Virtual Strategy Today!
Access more business guides & Schedule a free consultation

July 24, 2020/by Daniel Ramsey

dr lee davenport top real estate influencer business educator

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

Administrative, Inside Sales, Marketing, MOD Virtual Assistants, Property Management, Real Estate, Webinars

Recognized by Inman News and numerous real estate organizations as one of the top 25 U.S. real estate coaches, Dr. Lee Davenport is a nationally-respected real estate educator, celebrated author, and blogger (with features in Inman News, Realtor Magazine, and Huffington Post to name a few). She trains real estate agents and brokerages on how to work smarter with technology.

MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment costs
Claim a free strategy consultation & downloads

MyOutDesk Founder & CEO Daniel Ramsey sits with Dr. Lee Davenport for a special interview. A short backstory –– During the recession in 2007-2008, Dr. Lee went against the flow and chose Facebook as her main mode of social media marketing, instead of the popular site Myspace at the time. This move boosted her business so much that she had to build a team later in the year just to keep up with demand and sales.

Disruptions Are Catalysts

Daniel & Dr. Lee discuss how to take the mentality of disruptions and turn them into catalysts, bringing things back full circle. At times, buyers will not want to keep paying for your service. What you provide to them might be threatened & interrupted, while customers attempt to build DIYs to replace the service. This concept is not sustainable — and eventually, buyers will realize again that they need someone who has expertise.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has people with no choice but to adapt to virtual work and use more video.

4 Laws of Follow-up

Universal and evergreen rules for any business at any industry

#1 – Offer Items of Value

Having something to give. It can be a link, a download, an article, as long as its an item of value in every piece of communication. You can have only one item of value — but you can keep repurposing it!

Pull snippets & excerpts, small chunks that make people know that you are an expert. It’s truly an item of value when people take your material and say, “Tell me more!”

#2 – Automate What You Can

You don’t have to go crazy and keep repurposing the materials from the #1 rule manually. Automate texts, website posts, video content to provide, emails, and social posts. Remember, relationships can’t be automated, so the initial steps to nurturing can be automated before the sale.

If you are not automating, then you’re being inefficient. If you’re working solo and you’re not automating, then you’re more than likely to let things slip through the cracks.

#3 – Give away & Remove Your Inefficiencies

If it’s a poor use of your time, get rid of it and give it away. Don’t be afraid to invest time in training. Think how much time you can save by removing inefficient work.

Tune in to Daniel & Dr.Lee to explain more about this important rule!

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

#4 – Be A Time Block Blocker!

Block time to save yourself time. Guard your precious time against interruptions that keep you from focusing, and be ruthless about it! This will keep doing what you’re best at, so you can produce the best dollar-productive results. So, if you’re a salesperson, just use your time to sell! The rest of the work can be managed by those who are good at those tasks! (Virtual assistants are key!)

Learn with Dr. Lee: Real Estate Coaching and Consulting

Contact her at @learnwithdrlee (all socials) or visit http://www.learnwithdrlee.com/

Catalyze a New Reality for Your Business

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

Grow Your Virtual Strategy Today!
Access more business guides & Schedule a free consultation

July 24, 2020/by Jeremy

Time is Finite: Claiming yours back | Shop Talk Podcast

MOD Virtual Assistants, Podcast, Webinars

Shop Talk aims to make real estate agents better at their jobs by featuring unique topics and interviews with professionals working in the real estate industry.

Episode 47

Podcast Link

Grow Your Virtual Strategy Today!
Access more business guides & Schedule a free consultation

Time becomes the biggest challenge, right? It’s not infinite, it’s finite. And at some point you have enough money that you want to buy some of it back.

Daniel Ramsey

The CE Shop, the team behind the best real estate coursework, hosts MyOutDesk CEO, Daniel Ramsey. Many agents get into real estate so that they can make their own working schedules and build a self-sustaining business. As Daniel Ramsey learned early in his career, achieving that dream is easier said than done.

In an effort to help real estate professionals upgrade their workflow, he created MyOutDesk, a full-service virtual assistant service that can take care of the little stuff so you can focus on doing business the way only you can.

For a free guide about thriving in a remote environment, text “MOD” to 31996.

Claim Your Time Back: New Reality for Your Business

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

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

July 24, 2020/by Jeremy