The pandemic has thrown everyone for a loop.

Especially businesses.

Many industries are struggling to handle the influx of calls or having trouble finding a way to increase cold calls with their current infrastructure. Hiring a business development specialist or a full-time administrative assistant is costly, but hiring a virtual assistant will free up your team for more important tasks and scale your business while keeping your budget intact.

How Hiring a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business During COVID-19

The Role of a Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant (VA) is a person who works remotely and provides support services to a business. Typically, they are hired to take on administrative and receptionist duties, but many can also help with support tickets, perform administrative tasks, and update CRM systems.

Whatever your business needs, you will be able to find a qualified virtual assistant to help with your endeavors. 

How a Virtual Assistant Can Benefit Your Business During the Pandemic

The coronavirus has changed the way we function in society, but it has also turned businesses upside down. Those that depended on foot traffic for revenue have been hurt the most, and many others have had to completely change their business model and transform to function in the digital space.

A virtual assistant is a cost-efficient way to help with sales and marketing, business operations and development, admin tasks, and customer service.

Cost-Efficiency

Compared to hiring for a full-time position, a virtual assistant is more cost-efficient.

Hiring someone full-time means paying for an employee’s salary, time off, benefits, equipment, training, and access to paid software.

That’s a lot to take on during such uncertain times.

Since VAs work remotely and are never expected to go to an office (post-pandemic), this option saves many costs for a business. Most of the time, the VA will already have their own equipment (like headsets and laptops) to start their position, which means no additional cost for you.

If you’re thinking about hiring a VA, figure out if part-time work will be more cost-efficient. If your business line is getting calls around the clock, hiring an assistant full-time makes sense—but the worst thing you could do is hire someone to work a typical 9-5 workday without enough work in their queue. It is estimated that hiring a full-time VA instead of a full-time employee can improve operating costs by as much as 78%.

If you hire a virtual assistant who is already well-versed in admin duties and customer service, you won’t have to worry about training them, either. The only training they should need is learning the specific programs and processes of your business.

Improve Time Management

When companies are understaffed and employees are overloaded with work that is outside their responsibilities, many functions in your business can fall short.

Imagine if a hospital or doctor’s office didn’t increase their staff on hand during the pandemic—thousands of phone calls would go unanswered, offices would be extra chaotic, and doctors would be trying to handle the receptionist desk. Anyone who is not hired to answer phones and manage customer service tasks should not be required to do so.

It is okay to have double-dipping in smaller businesses, since it is often an “all hands on deck” atmosphere, but it should be limited. Encourage your staff to do what they were hired to do.

Salespeople should be making calls to bring in new businesses. Owners should be making sure all aspects of the company are running as smoothly as possible. Receptionists and assistants should be handling customer calls.

24/7 Customer Service 

It’s important customers are tended to whenever a problem arises, no matter the time of day. Not answering a call or a support chat can result in the loss of business.

When calls are only answered at your establishment for eight hours a day in your specific time zone, you could be missing out on a significant number of customer service issues.

Especially during the pandemic, customers and prospects are looking to order from and be associated with companies that value their time and money. The majority of the world is staying at home now, with odd working hours and limited free time. Many are making personal calls late at night and companies aren’t able to jump on the phone, so the shopper opts for chat support.

Offering 24/7 customer service will help attract customers and leave them satisfied with their experience.

Help With Scaling 

Depending on the situation, scaling a business during the pandemic can be difficult—but with the right infrastructure, plan, and new hires in place, it can be done. A virtual assistant on your team can assist your company in areas that are falling short and hindering your growth.

Too many calls going unanswered? No problem. Can’t get your CRM updated? There’s A Better Answer for that. Inconsistency with cold calls? A virtual assistant can do that, too.

When a virtual assistant handles the admin and customer service tasks, the rest of the company and leadership can focus on larger avenues that have better opportunities for growth. 

Consider Hiring a Virtual Assistant for Your Business

Devising a strategy to combat the setbacks of COVID-19 is necessary to keep operations running as smoothly as possible.

Companies need to accept the new “work from home” world we live in and hire positions to help them save time and money, grow their business, and improve operations. 

If you’re in the market to add a virtual assistant to your team, we rounded up the main qualities you should look for in one. There is A Better Answer.