5 ways to ensure the effective outsourcing of a Personal Assistant

Member Blog Feature : V-Assist by Jutta

The outsourcing of PAs in the form of reputable Virtual Assistance companies is becoming more common and a preferred way to have permanent help without employing someone to literally be in the office to do so. It actually makes a great deal of sense, but like anything else there is a right way to do it to maximise its efficacy. So, this article takes a look at 5 ways to ensure the effective outsourcing of a P.A …and here they are…

Understand the benefits – To maximise the use of any service, you need to understand why it is a good idea in the first place. Hiring a Virtual assistant has many benefits, but just a few of the most obvious ones are:

Avoiding Employment contracts – Employers today, in South Africa in particular, face many employment issues– Hiring a Virtual assistant means no employment contract is needed.
Reducing service costs – Because you pay only for your specific admin requirements as you need them, your cost savings can be enormous. Very reasonable admin fees are available – way lower than the cost of a professional P.A, even when only considering a normal monthly salary and not taking into account performance and year-end bonuses.
Rude surprises – Yes, human beings can only be human and so employers face all the problems and loss of productivity that arise from pregnancy, illness and the necessary holidays that people need to take. – A virtual office assistant, by the very nature of the service provided and the guarantees that are given, will not ever subject you to any of these necessary, but sometimes rude surprises.
There are numerous other benefits too, like avoiding overuse of internal resources, space saving, shared expenses with other businesses …and many more.

Share your vision and goals – Make the relationship with any outsourced contractor more effective by ensuring we understand the long term objectives of the business. The more involved we are, the more we can represent your business in its best light.
Clearly communicate your needs – You’ll be surprised how helpful and flexible Virtual Assistants are – they handle pretty much everything that is asked of them, in the same way as your in-house PA would do …but my business, V-Assist, go much further …even as far as offering ‘cold calling’ to assist in building your customer base!
Communicate and monitor the service at Executive level – The reasons for and the goals and objectives of hiring a Virtual assistant should be addressed at Executive level, so that all members of staff are on the same page with it. Executives should be as involved with outsourced services as they are with their permanent staff.
Choose the right virtual assistant! – As with any burgeoning industry, there are fly by nights and those with established credentials offering a great service. V-Assist are part of the VAASA (Virtual Assistants Association of South Africa), have an impressive track record and client list …and offer one of the most comprehensive services available anywhere.

I hope these 5 ways to ensure the effective outsourcing of a P.A have already assisted you – if so, contact us to learn more and start making your challenges ours!

V-Assist – Your perfect PA – just a click away!

For further information on Jutta and her Virtual Assistant business please visit our members page.