Virtual assistant trouble?

Let’s dive in…

You are not clear on what you WANT. 

A virtual assistant (VA) can do wonders for your business, but she or he can’t do everything.

Sometimes we say we need help but haven’t put much thought into the kind of help we need.

For example, someone might say: “I need an assistant to help grow my business.”

You need to figure out how you want them to help you do that.

Is it through product fulfillment, customer service, or creating landing pages?

The more upfront you are with your expectations, the more productive the relationship can be. 

 

You are not clear on what you NEED. 

You’re so close to your work that you can’t see the whole picture.

For instance, hiring a VA to create and manage your website content may not fix your low-traffic problem.

Upon closer review, it could be an SEO or functionality issue (something for your web developer to resolve) preventing people from finding or engaging with your site.

You thought you needed one thing when in reality, you needed something different.

You are not delegating work.

Eventually, your virtual assistant will be able to read your mind (sort of).

But only after and IF you ride out the “getting to know you” phase of the relationship.

Until then (and afterward to a degree), you’ll need to assign work for your VA to complete.

Imagine visiting a new restaurant, and the waiter asks “what you’d like to eat?” and you respond with, “oh, you don’t know?”

The waiter can’t read your mind, nor can your new virtual assistant.

You are not communicating (or not enough). 

The other side of delegation is communication. We mentioned being patient through the “getting to know you phase” with your VA. Your virtual assistant is not only new to you but your workflows, systems, company culture, and quirks. Communicating how all these areas function in your unique context is crucial to your VA’s success and sanity. So if you want your virtual assistant to complete tasks a certain way, use specific resources, or NOT do something, you’ll have to tell them (maybe more than once) until it sinks in.

We challenge you to take a breath and try again with your VA this week. Use this post as a conversation guide. Then come back and tell us if it helped!

-SHS