Five key skills of a great Virtual Assistant
A great Virtual Assistant (VA) is worth their weight in gold. It’s good to know there’s always someone you can rely on to help you out whenever you need them to.
A great VA will get on with the task at hand, do a good job and finish it on time, leaving you to concentrate on your core business. To give you a better idea of how they can help you, we take a look at five key skills of a great VA.
1) Administrative
A great VA will take care of all those administrative tasks that are normally so time consuming. They can manage your inbox to help you keep on top of your emails, quickly replying to simple requests, dealing with messages you don’t even need to see, and letting you know immediately if there’s anything that needs your urgent attention. They will manage your calendar to ensure you’re not overbooked and will also arrange meetings for you. They will organise your travel, booking tickets and hotels for you, so all you need to do is turn up. They will keep your spreadsheets up to date and maintain the data, so you’ve always got the information you need at your fingertips.
2) PowerPoint
‘Death by PowerPoint’ is something you must avoid at all costs when making a presentation. But creating effective and good-looking PowerPoints is time consuming, which is why a lot of our clients ask our VAs to create PowerPoint presentations and slides for them. Understanding how to create PowerPoints as well as how to make them look good and work effectively is therefore one of the key skills of a great VA.
3) Research
The internet enables us to find out a huge amount of information about so many things. If you’re looking for new suppliers or clients or are interested in new brands, online research can teach you so much about them. But the sheer amount of information out there means research can be a time-consuming process, and it will take a lot of time even if you don’t find yourself falling down a rabbit hole! A great VA will have the skills to help you with your research. Tell them what you need to know, and they’ll find out more and send you the results of their research in as much detail as you want.
4) Digital marketing
Your online presence is hugely important in terms of your website and your social media. However, keeping your website updated and maintaining a regular presence on social media is a time-consuming process. A great VA can help you with this, and many will help you write blogs, update your website information, and manage your social media accounts. The more frequently you post information about you or your brand, the more likely it is that when someone else’s VA is researching you, they’ll find all the information they need quickly and easily.
5) Bookkeeping
Keeping on top of your accounts and expenses is another time-consuming task that has to be done. A VA with bookkeeping skills can be a tremendous asset as they’ll not only take on the work so you don’t have to, they’ll also make sure it’s in the right shape to send on to your accountant. And the less work your accountant needs to do on your behalf, the less they can charge you for it!
A great VA’s skills aren’t necessarily confined to these five, and a VA’s skill set can be as individual as they are. blueumbrella VAs are always willing to consider upskilling themselves in order to take on new tasks you may need them to do - all you have to do is ask. Contact us to discuss what skills you’re looking for in a VA, and we’ll match you to someone who either already has those skills or is willing to learn.