Have you ever wished you could clone yourself? Maybe you don't like yourself enough to make a mini-me, but most of us wish we could do more in less time.
More and more people are taking steps in that direction by turning to virtual assistants (VA) to offload administrative tasks so that they have more time to focus on moving their businesses forward.
One question executives often ask, silently or out loud, is whether they have enough work for a virtual assistant.
Typical executives spend 16 hours per week on admin work—most of which can be delegated to a VA.
Read More: 23 Signs You Need a Virtual Assistant
So, what can a virtual assistant do? Let's look at the long list of virtual assistant tasks you can outsource.
General Administration Tasks For Virtual Assistants
Just because technology has enabled executives to do their admin work doesn't mean they should. When you think of "virtual assistant tasks," these things probably come to mind. And for good reason. A general virtual assistant can do many executive administrative tasks, giving you more time for higher-value work.
Scheduling Meetings
This is a no-brainer. Scheduling a business meeting takes about 25 minutes, thanks to the "ping-pong" back-and-forth messages you send to find a time that works for everyone.
The time needed increases with the size of the group. Give a VA control of your calendar, and you get that time back.
Meeting Confirmations
Meeting confirmations are a powerful way to prevent no-shows and the wasted time they generate. Confirmations are essential for off-site in-person meetings, where you stand to lose a lot more time. A VA can eliminate no-shows from your life.
Travel Planning
Planning business travel can be exhausting. Finding the right flight, price, hotel, car, and meeting takes about 12 hours per trip. That's a massive chunk of time you can get back, and it is an ideal virtual assistant task.
Give your VA access to your loyalty programs and document your preferences for airlines, seating, cars, hotels, and meeting contacts, and your VA can plan everything for you. When travel goes wrong, if flights are delayed or canceled, your virtual assistant will fix it all in the background. Phew!
Expense Reports
Everyone loves expense reports, right? Wrong. Collecting receipts, scanning or copying them, sorting them by categories, etc., is tedious—easy peasy for a virtual assistant.
Professional Networking
80% of executives said networking is essential, and 49% say they don't have time to do it. A virtual assistant can make sure you stay up to date with critical contacts and make you aware of any changes in their professional and personal lives so you can communicate accordingly
Inbox Management
About 10% of your email is relevant to you, and you usually forward many messages to a more appropriate contact.
A virtual assistant can learn your communication priorities, delete SPAM, forward emails, and organize your inbox folders so everything is always in the right place. Once you turn to an assistant for email management, you'll wonder why you never did it sooner.
Answering the Phone
Just as with email, a virtual assistant can screen your phone calls to ensure only the right ones reach you. They can also clean up your voicemail inbox and follow up on calls that don't need your attention.
Data Entry
Structured data that goes in standard fields is another perfect virtual assistant task. Examples include:
- Real estate listings for agents
- Resumes and job postings for recruiters
- Contact information for sales leads
- CRM data entry projects
Sales & Marketing Support Tasks For Virtual Assistants
Salespeople only spend about 38% of their time selling. Much of the rest of their time is spent on administrative work, tasks that a virtual assistant can do for them. Many of these are tasks a virtual assistant can take off their plates.
Administrative Work
The same admin work virtual assistants can do for executives —scheduling meetings, planning travel, and filing expenses --can be done for salespeople.
Prospecting
Salespeople spend hours scouring LinkedIn and other contact databases for leads that meet their target audience criteria. Document those criteria, and a virtual assistant can do the searching and generate lists.
Email Campaigns
A VA can load those lists into your email marketing platform and launch outreach campaigns. No sweat.
Social Media and Blog Posting
A virtual assistant can manage your social media and blog calendars and schedule posts. They can also find relevant images, add hashtags, build and test links, and check off the SEO boxes.
Learn more about hiring a virtual sales assistant
Basic Graphic Design & Video Editing
When you need basic graphic design and basic video editing done, a VA can take your pre-made templates and update them as needed. They can also help you make sure your design branding is consistent.
Scheduling Calls
When a prospect reaches out via your website or email, a virtual assistant can spend the 25 minutes (or less!) it takes to schedule a meeting. Your prospects get a great experience, and your sales team can focus on the calls in progress.
Sales Follow Up
78% of buyers pick the first company that responds to them. Following up on inquiries is critical. A dedicated virtual assistant can be a vital asset here, making you get on the phone or the inbox first.
CRM Cleanup and Maintenance
A healthy CRM works wonders, clarifying your lead flow, qualification process, funnel status, and revenue forecasts. A robust CRM requires keeping the data consistent and up to date.
Set the rules, and a virtual assistant can enter the data, update contact information with the latest activities, and run reports.
Research
When you need a standard set of information about businesses, contacts, or markets, a virtual assistant can do that research for you.
You may have specific details you want to know about prospects before a sales call, for example, or you may want to stay on top of any news story about a client or a market. A VA can do the research and have the report ready for you.
Back Office Support Tasks For Virtual Assistants
Some 28% of back-office work consists of routine tasks. A virtual assistant takes on many of them to provide administrative support that frees up staff members' time for more valuable work.
Bookkeeping
40% of entrepreneurs say bookkeeping is the worst part of their business. A virtual assistant is not a CPA and won't be able to prepare your taxes. But a VA can enter bookkeeping data into applications like QuickBooks so that your financial records are always in order.
Invoicing
Timely invoicing is critical to cash flow. Business owners spend 20 hours a month chasing unpaid bills. A virtual assistant can send digital invoices and do the chasing of scofflaws for you.
Payment Processing
As with invoicing, a VA can process payments and enter the data into your bookkeeping platform.
Document Preparation
A lot of back-office tasks involve customizing templated documents for specific recipients. A virtual assistant can prepare invoices, proposals, contracts, NDAs, and more.
Purchasing
A virtual assistant can order standard office supplies and equipment and other scheduled, routine purchases for your business.
Personal Tasks For Virtual Assistants
A virtual assistant can also do many personal and family tasks for executives, making their lives easier and giving them more time for what matters most.
Shopping
Give a virtual assistant a shopping list and they can purchase anything that can be ordered online and delivered to your home or office.
Scheduling
Car maintenance, home improvement jobs, hair styling—a VA can schedule your appointments online or by phone.
Vacations
Vacation planning can be as tedious as planning a business trip. A virtual assistant can book it all based on you and your family's preferences—including meals out and activities.
Reminders of Important Dates
Need to remember someone's birthday or anniversary, or other important milestones for someone in your life? A virtual assistant will not forget and can even order appropriate gifts.
Read More: How Much Does a Virtual Assistant Cost?
What Virtual Assistants Don’t Do
Over time a virtual assistant will learn your business, and some may have skills that enable them to contribute beyond admin tasks. Some have developed expertise in digital marketing tools and social media tools, for example.
That said, virtual assistants are not ideal for specialized tasks that require expert training and deeper business experience.
Examples include:
- Advanced graphic design and video editing—a virtual assistant can upload a photo or graphic into a template but probably can’t design your annual report or edit an award-winning documentary.
- Web development—making edits to existing web pages is no problem, but coding is probably not in a virtual assistant’s skill set.
- Accounting—light bookkeeping, yes, but heavy accounting experience is unlikely.
- Personal Errands—Scheduling your doctor's appointment is one thing, but they won't be able to pick up your lunch for you.
Read More: What Virtual Assistant Skills and Qualities You Should Hire For
Virtual Assistant Task Processes
So, what can virtual assistants do for you? Well, that depends on your unique business needs and processes!
This list of tasks to give a virtual assistant is not exhaustive. A virtual assistant can do any job documented as a repeatable process and doesn't require subjectivity. The benefits of hiring a virtual assistant are endless.
Most businesses and executives have specific tasks unique to them that are easily converted into virtual assistant tasks.
To get the best VA for your needs, choose virtual assistant services that proactively work with you to offload more and more of your tasks.
Assistants You Don't Have to Manage
Prialto offers fully managed virtual assistants. Read our guide to learn more about how a Prialto assistant can take administrative tasks off your plate.