5 Reasons to Hire a Virtual Assistant
The virtual assistant industry in the UK has grown steadily in the last decade or so, a sure sign that businesses and sole traders are enjoying the flexible and versatile services that they offer. But why is this and what the reasons for hiring a virtual assistant for your business.
The UK economy is made up of thousands of freelancers, the self-employed and small businesses - in fact, at the start of 2020, there were just under 6 million small businesses in the UK. Many businesses are feeling the impact of lockdown and local restrictions, and yet, every day, thousands of new businesses will spring into life.
Running a business is a challenge. There are many plates to be keep spinning from compliances issue to admin jobs including keeping on top of the books. The stream of administration tasks is never ending and that means, they can soon spiral out of control. The handful of bank reconciliations soon turn into hundreds, the emails asking for quotes start to mount up and the phone calls that need returning becomes an even longer list.
The person who can help with all (or some of this) is a virtual assistant.
What is a virtual assistant?
A virtual assistant is someone you can hire to provide the admin support you need to effectively run your business. Many VAs work remotely, from their own office at home or another location. They come from a range of backgrounds, bringing a range of skills and experience that your business that you would otherwise miss out on.
Instead of employing someone, you outsource what you need completing on a regular basis. You might need a VA for an hour or two every day or an hour or two every week. At Prontus, we offer Power Hours where you prepay for a batch of hours which you can then use as and when you need our services.
We can manage your inbox, sorting through the work enquiries, sending quotes on your behalf and so on.
We can manage your phone too, fielding your landline or mobile calls during work hours too, taking messages and alerting you to urgent calls and issues.
We can also provide bookkeeping services, ideal for keeping your books in great order
Why outsource when you could employ someone?
The benefits of hiring a virtual assistant
There are many pros when it comes to outsourcing admin and bookkeeping including:
#1 Reduce costs
Hiring an admin assistant, either full or part time, will incur costs for your business. There’s the cost of recruitment as well as the cost of your time shortlisting and interviewing candidates. There’s also PAYE and pension payments. There are also a range of other employment laws that you’ll need to stay on the right side of including maternity pay, sick pay and, as many businesses will have become familiar with, such as redundancy pay.
With a VA, you have none of these costs. Other than an hourly rate, you won’t have anything more to pay as they will take care of their own tax, pension payments and the like.
Initially, when you look at our hourly rates, you might think they look expensive. But here’s what you need to consider: we can get so much done within an hour that you’ll find the hourly rate is more than affordable.
When it comes to managing inboxes and phone lines, we keep an accurate record of time spent on emails and calls. In other words, you get great value for money.
The other issue is one that many businesses have faced in recent months and that is when work slows or dries up, it leaves the issue of finding the money to pay employees. Unfortunately, this had led to reducing hours or in some cases, making people redundant. With our scalable service, you can peel it back when you need to but increase it when you need to.
#2 Focus on core business activities
On one hand, answering the phone and responding to email enquiries is a key part to your business - these are the activities that bring in the customers, after all. But, they can ‘get in the way’ of other core activities such as actually delivering the product or service your customers want.
Trades people will understand this probably most of all: as a plumber, you are trying to fit a new bathroom but your mobile never stops ringing as customers ask you for quotes on new work, need an urgent repair and more. Having a clear few hours to focus on the job in hand is key and with a virtual assistant managing your phone or email for a few hours a day allows you to focus on delivering the very best service to your customer.
A virtual assistant can also do much more for you too, such as sending out newsletters on your business’s behalf and other marketing activities. They can also help manage the recruitment process too.
#3 Scale business operations
Growing your business isn’t always the easiest thing to manage, it can go from zero to hero in no time. Attempting to manage all that on your own is a tall order. With a VA working alongside you, you can scale your business on a project by project basis. When you know what skills you need to grow your business even more, your VA can be part of recruiting or even headhunting the people you need.
#4 Improve customer service
Business reputation is incredibly important. Managing customer service is essential, both in-person and online. Responding quickly to enquiries, for example, builds on your reputation as being reliable and professional.
It not only takes time to manage this but thought to. You have to answer each and every query in a professional manner, not allowing your bad day or stressed state to get in the way.
The best possible customer service ties many elements together, and with a VA at the forefront of yours, your business reputation will remain excellent.
#5 Gives you thinking time
To grow a business, you need to focus on it and that means having time to think strategically about the coming weeks and months. With core tasks taken care of by a VA, you gain valuable time to do this. And with a bookkeeper also keeping business finances up-to-date, you’ll have the financial information at your fingertips too.
