Assigning virtual assistant tasks to outsourced professionals is a no-brainer solution for many executives trying to reduce their to-dos.
However, it’s not always easy to identify the right tasks to designate. Several leaders might switch up roles and assign work beyond an assistant’s scope of duties (and for this, you might want to check out our article on the different types of virtual assistants). While others simply might not know where to start.
So in this article, we’re going to tackle ten tasks you can start delegating to outsourced virtual assistants. We’ll also touch upon how each task contributes to optimizing your business operations.
10 Virtual Assistant Tasks to Optimize Your Company’s Operations
Before we get started, it’s important to remember these are not the only tasks you can assign to an outsourced virtual assistant.
But we put this list together to give you an idea of what to expect from a virtual assistant and insights into the nature of their job. Like we mentioned before, their tasks are clerical — meaning at the core of their work is support.
All the tasks we’re about to tackle may sound small but when compounded can take away a huge chunk of time from your day.
With a qualified virtual assistant to provide you support, you won’t have to spend time doing any of these things. Instead, you get to focus on tasks that will lead your company in the direction of growth.
Answering queries on the website or social media pages
Chat support, email support, and technical support are common tasks you can — and would want to — assign to an outsourced virtual assistant.
In our blog post on chat and email support, we mentioned how companies that don’t prioritize customer support negatively impact their revenue. This is true for any type of business, but the effects are staggering particularly for B2C brands. Without virtual assistants trained to handle customer queries, you lose the chance to assist customers and keep them around.
So if you’re an executive, don’t take on the task of answering questions on your brand’s website or social media pages. Instead, delegate the work to professional virtual assistants so you can put all your efforts into expanding your company.
Scheduling meetings and appointments
Here’s every executive’s secret to staying on top of things — they have a VA who schedules all their meetings and reminds them about those beforehand.
This is one of the most common tasks you can assign to a virtual assistant, and perhaps even one of the most important. In fact, it’s so important it’s considered an in-demand type of virtual assistant work.
With the number of meetings you have daily, it can be difficult to plot them out on your own. And while it’s true you can buy an AI-powered device for the task, this technology is still prone to error and will have you reorganizing your calendar when new things come up.
The smartest decision you can make is not purchasing new smart devices. It’s hiring a professional VA you can ask to schedule new meetings once.
Building and organizing databases
Dealing with big data is a pain for any business — but it’s a necessary evil.
In the long run, you’ll benefit from a proper system that keeps track of data instead of letting it multiply. But here’s the catch. Organizing data can get in the way of the work you actually need to do.
So what do you do? You leave the job to a professional.
One of the tasks you can assign to an outsourced virtual assistant is building and organizing databases. After all, a data entry specialist is a type of virtual assistant.
This kind of professional is especially helpful for startups and companies that can’t automate data entry work. Whatever type of data your business has to keep track of — whether that’s potential leads or daily transactions — a virtual assistant is the person fit for the job.
Keeping tabs on the company’s finance-related concerns
Another type of virtual assistant can be a bookkeeper or someone you can entrust to send out invoices or remind and request clients to exact payment.
Your company’s finances are a sensitive matter. So it’s understandable why some business owners feel compelled to take matters into their own hands. But if you’re going to do your job as an executive while keeping a log of your company’s transactions, sending out invoices, and collecting payment, you’re going to spread yourself thin. In the process, you might even commit a ton of accounting errors accidentally.
This is why having trusted virtual assistants is necessary for all types of businesses.
But how do you determine whether you can trust someone for the position? One way to find VAs you can rely on for sensitive business matters like money is by going over their credentials. Does their experience qualify them for the position? Do they have people who can vouch for them?
Do a thorough background check of your potential VA. Alternatively, you can assign background checking to an outsourcing partner as they’re well-equipped to know what to look for in an excellent candidate.
Taking down minutes at meetings
No matter how important a meeting is, it’s always a good idea to have a record of what was discussed.
Taking down minutes is a typical task you can delegate to VAs. And it’s much easier today now that most meetings happen digitally. Because meetings are often recorded, your virtual assistant can refer to the recording in case they missed something.
Once they’ve gotten the gist of the discussion, they can summarize everything into a document and send it to you for future review.
Formatting company documents
This may sound like a small task, but it contributes to the overall branding and internal communication of your organization.
Plus, because you’re a business leader, you’re likely to be pressed for time 24/7. You need someone who can format company documents, convert them across file types, or transfer designs across software applications (e.g., from a Word document to a PowerPoint presentation).
Note that a virtual assistant isn’t in charge of conceptualizing the layout and design of your company’s documents. That’s the job of a brand manager. The task of a virtual assistant is to execute the design on all the company’s relevant documents.
Reviewing documents
Another task you can assign to a virtual assistant is to proofread company documents for typographical errors, grammar, or accuracy.
Similar to the previous task, this will help your company maintain a consistent style throughout its various forms of communication. But more than anything, polished and proofread documents are a good sign of your professionalism.
Uploading new content to the website or on social media
Uploading or scheduling new content on various platforms is a task business owners tend to forget easily, especially when there’s no internal marketing team to handle the job.
So what you can do is have it done by a virtual assistant, who can either manually upload posts or schedule them for you.
Making very simple edits on videos
Editing videos is a job suited for — you guessed it — video editors.
But what if the videos you have to edit are, say, five-second ads that can be done by putting two clips together? And what if your strategy requires churning out those ads only once a week? Perhaps hiring a video editing professional is overkill for that kind of work.
Instead, you can assign this to a VA. If the video editing work calls for simple trimming, cutting, and stitching of clips on an infrequent basis, an outsourced virtual assistant is the right person for the task.
Transcribing
Transcribing is a tough and time-consuming task.
Sure, you can use transcription software, but that resulting text may still be riddled with errors. A more efficient option would be to have a virtual assistant who can listen to the audio and then edit the text to ensure accuracy and maximum efficiency.
In Summary
The following are 10 virtual assistant tasks you can assign to outsourced professionals:
- Answering queries on the brand’s website or social media pages
- Scheduling meetings and appointments
- Building organized databases
- Keeping tabs on the company’s financial concerns
- Taking down minutes at meetings
- Formatting all company documents
- Reviewing documents
- Uploading new content to the website or social media pages
- Making simple video edits
- Transcribing
Need to get these tasks done ASAP? Try outsourcing virtual assistant services to a trusted company like NarraSoft.
For a free consultation or for any inquiries, send us an email at sales@narrasoft.com. Or you can message us on our contact form or chat below. We can’t wait to hear from you!