Saving Money is Key to Surviving a Crisis
Integrating a Virtual Assistant
into your Broking Business
could be the one move that gets you through these tough times
Is venturing into the virtual world for you and your business daunting?
In the current economic climate, many managers & business owners have been forced to embrace employees working from home, long before they were prepared to “let go”. No doubt there was much scurrying to make this happen for businesses who were not already prepared. The hurdle for some is the inability to supervise in a traditional sense while having to trust that staff are still doing their jobs.
Now is the time to invest some thought into the prospect of engaging a qualified, experienced and insurance educated virtual administration specialist to take on the responsibilities that are easily completed remotely allowing your office staff to do their thing - “sales and service”.
POINTS TO CONSIDER
Productivity
How many times have you watched your staff spend too long chatting around the water cooler? How many times have you been distracted from your work in an open-plan office?
There is no attention sapping distractions for a VA working to strict blocks of time dedicated to a particular task, charging only for the time worked. As owners of their businesses, VAs are engaged and productive with their time as “time is money”.
Value for Money
Have you ever had an employee you didn’t feel was providing value for money?
VAs track their time using online apps and supply detailed reports with invoices. Whilst the hourly charge out rate is higher than that of an employee there are no additional costs for Super, Workers Compensation, Annual and Sick Leave. You also don’t have to provide office space and office equipment as VAs have a fully functioning office set up.
Supervision The inability to supervise would no doubt deter some managers from using a VA. As a business owner, it is in the VA’s interests to provide the very best service to you, the client, in a timely and accurate manner. No supervision required – simple as that.
Disconnection from the team
While a VA doesn’t need to be included in team meetings, it is certainly possible as exhibited by the enormous number of downloads of Zoom in recent weeks. Teams have very quickly established virtual ways to stay connected.
Maintaining Clear Communication
As VAs operate virtually, they need to exercise exceptional written and oral communication skills to ensure they fully understand instructions and complete task as required.
The VA and the client should know exactly where tasks are up to at any given time. This can be achieved by using a task management system like Asana that automates workflows and reduces errors, providing a “blow by blow” snapshot of a task’s progress.
Confidentiality & Privacy
A VA should have a Privacy Policy in place together with a Confidentiality Clause in their contract. A separate Confidentiality Agreement may further put your mind at ease. You should ensure that the VA has current Professional Indemnity insurance in place.
As a professional business owner, confidentiality is high on VA’s agenda as it goes hand in hand with providing the best service to the client.
Versatile & Flexible
Working with a wide variety of client’s in different industries ensures a VA is flexible and adept at learning on the run. Versatility is the key to success.
Local VA, Local Business Hours, Local Knowledge
While offshore VAs have their place in business, in a specialised field like insurance, the knowledge and experience provided by a local VA can be pivotal to the bottom line for your business. There are also no concerns about time zones or language barriers to negotiate.
Short-term Engagement
Have there been times your business has been left short-staffed due to leave or unforeseen circumstances? Do you need an extra pair of hands periodically but not all the time?
If you were to establish an ongoing working relationship with a VA, they could step in and pick up the slack when required be it a prolonged period of leave or a particularly busy time (June 30 comes to mind), eliminating the inevitable catch up such disruption can cause.
So, what are you waiting for?
Could this be a viable alternative to a permanent, in-house employee?
If you’re interested and you would like to know more, please feel free to give me a call on 0414 831 115 to further explore the advantages this opportunity could bring for you and your business.
