Virtual personal assistance

GetFriday Acknowledged by Feedspot with the ‘Top 75 Virtual Assistant Blogs in 2018’ Award!

Are you looking for the best VA blogs because – You are a virtual assistant and need to be updated with the latest trends of the industry? Or, You are a business owner who wants to learn the intricacies, trends and updates of the Virtual Assistance industry and subsequently gain from it?     Well, whoever you are, with around a million blogs being launched worldwide per day; it can be overwhelming to find the top Virtual Assistant blogs in 2018. However, enlightening yourself with new resources to learn fresh ideas, strategies and methodologies are essential for both a career boom and productive business.   To assist you in attaining this objective, Feedspot, a popular forum which enlists the best websites on different genres, has released the best Virtual Assistant Blogs list of this year. Here, the good news is, GetFriday has received the prestigious Top 75 Virtual Assistant Blog Award by Feedspot. We have made it to this list for our experience of 12 years in this domain and successful service to more than 15000 clients so far. Just for your knowledge, we are a leading and reputed virtual assistant company providing company offering professional assistance to both businesses as well as personal requirements. From SMEs and entrepreneurs to individuals – we cater to every type of client with our professional services. How Feedspot filtered the best ones! Feedspot’s editorial team has conducted an extensive search to filter the best 75 from the top Virtual business blogs available. Google and social media platforms being primary sources for data collection, they have considered various factors for ranking the websites. Some of those include – Online reputation and search ranking in Google. Popularity and influence of the Virtual assistant blogs and websites on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms. Duration of the blog site being in the online domain (i.e. age). Quality of contents and consistency of posts. Traffic of the Virtual business blogs and website. Expert review and recommendations, etc. Besides experience and client base, GetFriday entered this top virtual assistant blog list by Feedspot after being qualified for all the above pointers. Not only has that, but our various blog posts coming live per month has also been a contribution to this achievement.     As an insignia, our virtual assistant blog for VA businesses can now use the Top 75 Virtual Assistant Blog batch on our official website proudly. A Glimpse at a few noteworthy statistics: Feedspot has also displayed certain important statistics about GetFriday while enlisting it among the top Virtual Assistant blogs in 2018. In Alexa rank, the virtual business website is currently standing at 1, 125, 563.   GetFriday presently enjoys the support of 753 followers on Twitter.   Facebook is also no behind with the company enjoying 695 fans there. Present and Future Times: With this motivation, we strive to frame the future strategies based on our existent features. Also, with our initial motive of ‘offering personal assistance along with a plethora of expertise’, we look forward to support the forthcoming dependability of the market on virtual assistance. Note: Apart from being among the top virtual assistant blogs in 2018, GetFriday has been featured in numerous other leading newspapers, magazines, best sellers and television channels of the world.   

GetFriday Acknowledged by Feedspot with the ‘Top 75 Virtual Assistant Blogs in 2018’ Award! Read More »

Are you looking for the best VA blogs because – You are a virtual assistant and need to be updated with the latest trends of the industry? Or, You are a business owner who wants to learn the intricacies, trends and updates of the Virtual Assistance industry and subsequently gain from it?     Well, whoever you are, with around a million blogs being launched worldwide per day; it can be overwhelming to find the top Virtual Assistant blogs in 2018. However, enlightening yourself with new resources to learn fresh ideas, strategies and methodologies are essential for both a career boom and productive business.   To assist you in attaining this objective, Feedspot, a popular forum which enlists the best websites on different genres, has released the best Virtual Assistant Blogs list of this year. Here, the good news is, GetFriday has received the prestigious Top 75 Virtual Assistant Blog Award by Feedspot. We have made it to this list for our experience of 12 years in this domain and successful service to more than 15000 clients so far. Just for your knowledge, we are a leading and reputed virtual assistant company providing company offering professional assistance to both businesses as well as personal requirements. From SMEs and entrepreneurs to individuals – we cater to every type of client with our professional services. How Feedspot filtered the best ones! Feedspot’s editorial team has conducted an extensive search to filter the best 75 from the top Virtual business blogs available. Google and social media platforms being primary sources for data collection, they have considered various factors for ranking the websites. Some of those include – Online reputation and search ranking in Google. Popularity and influence of the Virtual assistant blogs and websites on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms. Duration of the blog site being in the online domain (i.e. age). Quality of contents and consistency of posts. Traffic of the Virtual business blogs and website. Expert review and recommendations, etc. Besides experience and client base, GetFriday entered this top virtual assistant blog list by Feedspot after being qualified for all the above pointers. Not only has that, but our various blog posts coming live per month has also been a contribution to this achievement.     As an insignia, our virtual assistant blog for VA businesses can now use the Top 75 Virtual Assistant Blog batch on our official website proudly. A Glimpse at a few noteworthy statistics: Feedspot has also displayed certain important statistics about GetFriday while enlisting it among the top Virtual Assistant blogs in 2018. In Alexa rank, the virtual business website is currently standing at 1, 125, 563.   GetFriday presently enjoys the support of 753 followers on Twitter.   Facebook is also no behind with the company enjoying 695 fans there. Present and Future Times: With this motivation, we strive to frame the future strategies based on our existent features. Also, with our initial motive of ‘offering personal assistance along with a plethora of expertise’, we look forward to support the forthcoming dependability of the market on virtual assistance. Note: Apart from being among the top virtual assistant blogs in 2018, GetFriday has been featured in numerous other leading newspapers, magazines, best sellers and television channels of the world.   

5 Virtual Assistance Trends Indicating a Brighter 2018!

According to Tractica predictions, active customers of Virtual Assistance services will elevate from 390 million back in 2015 to 1.8 billion by 2021’s closure, worldwide. That’s a rapid growth for sure! Having quite a happening time in 2017, the industry is now ready to embrace the latest 2018 Virtual Assistance trends that are expected to benefit businesses largely in earning profitable returns. However, before that… Let’s look back! In present day, smart strategy along with time management have become the 2 most important aspects of success in every field. However, considering the ever-mounting work business owners are burdened with, multitasking is practically difficult along with efficient management. This brought to light the concept of these personal or virtual assistants. Exceptionally skilled and experienced, such professionals, probably sitting miles away, can handle their client’s requirements proficiently. Coming to this year again, let’s take a glimpse of the predicted latest trends of Virtual Assistance industry.    2018 Virtual Assistance trends: 1. A rise in competition 2018 is expecting to see an increase in small scale online businesses as more and more individuals are taking their career initiative as entrepreneurs. This rise in competition calls for more management proficiency on the part of business owners to streamline their work processes. Therefore, to stand out in this trending initiative, hiring Virtual Assistance services for your business is presently on high demand. It can also be assumed that the trend would continue till the end of the year.   2. The trend of cost-cutting strategies Businesses like yours would continue to frame strategies for cutting down costs while enhancing productivity. Virtual assistance services would be profitable here as business owners need not pay any benefit to such employees. Moreover, they also don’t have to bear expenses like travel cost, internet bandwidth, rent, etc.    As estimated, opting for VA services can be a savings of around 40% in business expenses. With this benefit, 2018 would see businesses turning more to virtual assistance companies for getting a value for money. 3. The blogging trend The online world is presently experiencing a thriving blogging trend which has engrossed almost all industries globally. The reason being, blogs have proved to be one of the most influential content marketing tools which can give a significant boost to any company, if appropriately strategized. Hiring a VA service would help a business in many ways including frequent postings of blogs, keeping the WordPress updated, updating plugins, etc.     Hence, considering the necessity of blogging for businesses, outsourcing this task to professional virtual assistants would be a profitable choice. 4. Supporting flexible working concept One of the crucial 2018 Virtual Assistance trends is the rise in flexible working concept. With increasing work pressure, long hours on laptops and strenuous daily commute taking a toll on people’s health; flexible working has emerged as a more convenient choice, giving profitable outcomes to businesses. Therefore, companies are looking forward to hiring more such personal assistance services to increase their team, ensure more productivity while reducing employee drop rate.        5. Engage of senior or retired workers  Most senior people desire to do less demanding tasks post their retirement to support their inadequate pensions. As the industry is employing them as virtual workers, more business organizations are hiring those retired people. Their years of experience and excellence would be additional perks for businesses.     Hence, as these latest trends of Virtual Assistance industry clearly indicate, there are numerous perks of hiring Virtual Assistants for businesses in 2018. It would be an investment towards productivity. Have something to say or share? Why not drop your comments below?   

5 Virtual Assistance Trends Indicating a Brighter 2018! Read More »

According to Tractica predictions, active customers of Virtual Assistance services will elevate from 390 million back in 2015 to 1.8 billion by 2021’s closure, worldwide. That’s a rapid growth for sure! Having quite a happening time in 2017, the industry is now ready to embrace the latest 2018 Virtual Assistance trends that are expected to benefit businesses largely in earning profitable returns. However, before that… Let’s look back! In present day, smart strategy along with time management have become the 2 most important aspects of success in every field. However, considering the ever-mounting work business owners are burdened with, multitasking is practically difficult along with efficient management. This brought to light the concept of these personal or virtual assistants. Exceptionally skilled and experienced, such professionals, probably sitting miles away, can handle their client’s requirements proficiently. Coming to this year again, let’s take a glimpse of the predicted latest trends of Virtual Assistance industry.    2018 Virtual Assistance trends: 1. A rise in competition 2018 is expecting to see an increase in small scale online businesses as more and more individuals are taking their career initiative as entrepreneurs. This rise in competition calls for more management proficiency on the part of business owners to streamline their work processes. Therefore, to stand out in this trending initiative, hiring Virtual Assistance services for your business is presently on high demand. It can also be assumed that the trend would continue till the end of the year.   2. The trend of cost-cutting strategies Businesses like yours would continue to frame strategies for cutting down costs while enhancing productivity. Virtual assistance services would be profitable here as business owners need not pay any benefit to such employees. Moreover, they also don’t have to bear expenses like travel cost, internet bandwidth, rent, etc.    As estimated, opting for VA services can be a savings of around 40% in business expenses. With this benefit, 2018 would see businesses turning more to virtual assistance companies for getting a value for money. 3. The blogging trend The online world is presently experiencing a thriving blogging trend which has engrossed almost all industries globally. The reason being, blogs have proved to be one of the most influential content marketing tools which can give a significant boost to any company, if appropriately strategized. Hiring a VA service would help a business in many ways including frequent postings of blogs, keeping the WordPress updated, updating plugins, etc.     Hence, considering the necessity of blogging for businesses, outsourcing this task to professional virtual assistants would be a profitable choice. 4. Supporting flexible working concept One of the crucial 2018 Virtual Assistance trends is the rise in flexible working concept. With increasing work pressure, long hours on laptops and strenuous daily commute taking a toll on people’s health; flexible working has emerged as a more convenient choice, giving profitable outcomes to businesses. Therefore, companies are looking forward to hiring more such personal assistance services to increase their team, ensure more productivity while reducing employee drop rate.        5. Engage of senior or retired workers  Most senior people desire to do less demanding tasks post their retirement to support their inadequate pensions. As the industry is employing them as virtual workers, more business organizations are hiring those retired people. Their years of experience and excellence would be additional perks for businesses.     Hence, as these latest trends of Virtual Assistance industry clearly indicate, there are numerous perks of hiring Virtual Assistants for businesses in 2018. It would be an investment towards productivity. Have something to say or share? Why not drop your comments below?   

Perks of hiring a Virtual Assistant

Time management and smart work is the key to success, but can we really focus on all our duties without hampering its quality or missing out on small tasks? Businessmen or a commoner, we all require a helping hand at some point in time. It is common to be forgetful and make mistakes once in a while, but even minor errors at work or forgetting small occasions back at home can result in disastrous outcomes. We do think about hiring an assistant to take care of the flimsy tasks but that involves doing market research for eligible candidates, interviewing them and shelling out big bucks in the form of their pay checks. The process itself sounds terrifying. So what can one do in the modern world? The answer is, Virtual Assistants. Uniquely equipped professionals who are at your disposal working round the clock to get your job done, no matter what it is. It could be travel bookings or getting the perfect gift for your wife or keeping a track of your expenditure. They might not be able to laugh at your jokes like a personal assistant, but your duties are their first priority. In this blog post, we will give you major perks of hiring a virtual assistant. Gift yourself the luxury of time :- Amid tight schedules and long working hours, we ache for a break from the routine and wish to do something to relax or relieve ourselves from stress. Even though we do hire someone to do our duties, we constantly need to supervise them or sit on their backs to get the job done and most likely end up with horrid results. But with a virtual assistant, there is no supervision required, as there are professionals working on your tasks and their superiors to make sure its done right. All you need to do is, sit back and relax. 2. Cost effective round the clock service:- Hiring an assistant is a strenuous task and burns a whole in your pockets. Not only do you end up with bad service, but sometimes they are not present even when you need them the most. Whereas, a VA is both cost effective and available at all times. The prices to hire a virtual assistant are low as 7$ an hour and the quality of service is beyond imagination. So even when the world is sleeping, your VA is always there for you.   3. Limitless Tasks:- Imagine hiring an assistant who never says ‘No’ to a task, Imagine an employee who is an all rounder and delivers quality service, Imagine if you could hire both at economical wages. With a VA, all your imaginations could come true. As long as it is not illegal or unethical, a Virtual Assistant is capable of preforming any given tasks, unlike assistants who have ‘Limitation’. 4. Hire and Fire at your convenience:- Unlike any other form of employment, you can hire or fire a VA at any given point. You pay only when you have a task on hand and hire by the hour. The best part about hiring a virtual assistant is that you could take on a trial before hiring them on a regular basis and hire them only if you liked their services. 5. On time at all times, No false commitments:- Even after repeated follow ups on simple tasks, all you hear from your employees or assistants are words like ‘In some time’ or ‘Sorry’. They commit to deadlines they cannot keep up to and you end up paying the price. But with a VA, the time promised is the time delivered. So never again will you fall back on your work, as your Virtual Assistant will make sure it’s done.    6. Office space or tools not required! :- A Virtual Assistant does not require any workspace, working tools or any stationary; they come well equipped and perform their duties without expecting anything from you. For millions, having a VA is a dream come true, apart from their working cost, there is no other form of investments required. 7. No employee benefits:- Providing your employees with health benefits, provident funds, bonus and insurances means spending big bucks. Few employees are worth the effort but most of them just end up becoming dead investment. But, with a VA, you pay only for the services and not a penny more. The services are top notch and they do not require any incentives as a sign of appreciation, sounds like a perfect employee. So, when you think about it, hiring a VA is like getting yourself a team of knowledgeable, trained and highly experienced employees at the price of one and the fact that you would never have to worry about your job getting done. You could pick you very own virtual assistant at GetFriday, Brickwork India, Acelerar and many more.

Perks of hiring a Virtual Assistant Read More »

Time management and smart work is the key to success, but can we really focus on all our duties without hampering its quality or missing out on small tasks? Businessmen or a commoner, we all require a helping hand at some point in time. It is common to be forgetful and make mistakes once in a while, but even minor errors at work or forgetting small occasions back at home can result in disastrous outcomes. We do think about hiring an assistant to take care of the flimsy tasks but that involves doing market research for eligible candidates, interviewing them and shelling out big bucks in the form of their pay checks. The process itself sounds terrifying. So what can one do in the modern world? The answer is, Virtual Assistants. Uniquely equipped professionals who are at your disposal working round the clock to get your job done, no matter what it is. It could be travel bookings or getting the perfect gift for your wife or keeping a track of your expenditure. They might not be able to laugh at your jokes like a personal assistant, but your duties are their first priority. In this blog post, we will give you major perks of hiring a virtual assistant. Gift yourself the luxury of time :- Amid tight schedules and long working hours, we ache for a break from the routine and wish to do something to relax or relieve ourselves from stress. Even though we do hire someone to do our duties, we constantly need to supervise them or sit on their backs to get the job done and most likely end up with horrid results. But with a virtual assistant, there is no supervision required, as there are professionals working on your tasks and their superiors to make sure its done right. All you need to do is, sit back and relax. 2. Cost effective round the clock service:- Hiring an assistant is a strenuous task and burns a whole in your pockets. Not only do you end up with bad service, but sometimes they are not present even when you need them the most. Whereas, a VA is both cost effective and available at all times. The prices to hire a virtual assistant are low as 7$ an hour and the quality of service is beyond imagination. So even when the world is sleeping, your VA is always there for you.   3. Limitless Tasks:- Imagine hiring an assistant who never says ‘No’ to a task, Imagine an employee who is an all rounder and delivers quality service, Imagine if you could hire both at economical wages. With a VA, all your imaginations could come true. As long as it is not illegal or unethical, a Virtual Assistant is capable of preforming any given tasks, unlike assistants who have ‘Limitation’. 4. Hire and Fire at your convenience:- Unlike any other form of employment, you can hire or fire a VA at any given point. You pay only when you have a task on hand and hire by the hour. The best part about hiring a virtual assistant is that you could take on a trial before hiring them on a regular basis and hire them only if you liked their services. 5. On time at all times, No false commitments:- Even after repeated follow ups on simple tasks, all you hear from your employees or assistants are words like ‘In some time’ or ‘Sorry’. They commit to deadlines they cannot keep up to and you end up paying the price. But with a VA, the time promised is the time delivered. So never again will you fall back on your work, as your Virtual Assistant will make sure it’s done.    6. Office space or tools not required! :- A Virtual Assistant does not require any workspace, working tools or any stationary; they come well equipped and perform their duties without expecting anything from you. For millions, having a VA is a dream come true, apart from their working cost, there is no other form of investments required. 7. No employee benefits:- Providing your employees with health benefits, provident funds, bonus and insurances means spending big bucks. Few employees are worth the effort but most of them just end up becoming dead investment. But, with a VA, you pay only for the services and not a penny more. The services are top notch and they do not require any incentives as a sign of appreciation, sounds like a perfect employee. So, when you think about it, hiring a VA is like getting yourself a team of knowledgeable, trained and highly experienced employees at the price of one and the fact that you would never have to worry about your job getting done. You could pick you very own virtual assistant at GetFriday, Brickwork India, Acelerar and many more.

Tasks out of the Ordinary

There are many demands which have come to GetFriday over the years. But some tasks have left an indubitable mark on the organizations and the assistants who service them. Here are some more tasks as a continuation of our previous blog on interesting tasks. Story 3 One of our long-standing clients had a very interesting request. He wanted one of our GetFriday associates to take tuition for his kid. Mathematics was the subject in which, the client asked us for help. Our associates did not have any hesitation and took up the task as any normal task. They taught him algebraic equations and helped him with his homework. On the whole, we are able free-up some time for the client from his schedule, which otherwise would have been used to give lessons to his kid. This way GetFriday was able to bring comfort to a stressed father. The client was happy with the results and the kid started performing well in his studies.   Story 4 One of the regular clients at GetFriday had a peculiar request for us. He wanted us to teach his son – the Indian national anthem and the meaning of it. So one of our associates took it upon herself to teach anthem to the child. Just after two sessions on Skype, the child was able to recite the national anthem. With his continuous singing of the anthem, he was able to teach the anthem to his kid brother as well. In addition, he was able to generate enough enthusiasm for making his mother sing the anthem with both of them. The main idea behind the exercise was to showcase the child’s anthem singing to his grandparents, who lived in the UK. When they paid a visit, this time around – the child was able to recite the anthem with ease to surprise his grandparents. This development delighted the client and he was full of praise for our associate who undertook this task. Even if you have such tasks and are hesitant to approach a VA, you would never know unless you make an approach. At virtual assistant services company like GetFriday, every task is given equal weightage compared to other regular tasks. There may be starting trouble with tasks of such nature because they come without prior experience. You can log on to GetFriday’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/GetFriday) for more such stories.

Tasks out of the Ordinary Read More »

There are many demands which have come to GetFriday over the years. But some tasks have left an indubitable mark on the organizations and the assistants who service them. Here are some more tasks as a continuation of our previous blog on interesting tasks. Story 3 One of our long-standing clients had a very interesting request. He wanted one of our GetFriday associates to take tuition for his kid. Mathematics was the subject in which, the client asked us for help. Our associates did not have any hesitation and took up the task as any normal task. They taught him algebraic equations and helped him with his homework. On the whole, we are able free-up some time for the client from his schedule, which otherwise would have been used to give lessons to his kid. This way GetFriday was able to bring comfort to a stressed father. The client was happy with the results and the kid started performing well in his studies.   Story 4 One of the regular clients at GetFriday had a peculiar request for us. He wanted us to teach his son – the Indian national anthem and the meaning of it. So one of our associates took it upon herself to teach anthem to the child. Just after two sessions on Skype, the child was able to recite the national anthem. With his continuous singing of the anthem, he was able to teach the anthem to his kid brother as well. In addition, he was able to generate enough enthusiasm for making his mother sing the anthem with both of them. The main idea behind the exercise was to showcase the child’s anthem singing to his grandparents, who lived in the UK. When they paid a visit, this time around – the child was able to recite the anthem with ease to surprise his grandparents. This development delighted the client and he was full of praise for our associate who undertook this task. Even if you have such tasks and are hesitant to approach a VA, you would never know unless you make an approach. At virtual assistant services company like GetFriday, every task is given equal weightage compared to other regular tasks. There may be starting trouble with tasks of such nature because they come without prior experience. You can log on to GetFriday’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/GetFriday) for more such stories.

Interesting Tasks @ GetFriday

Every day a number of tasks are executed by virtual assistants. Most of the tasks which are taken up by the assistants are routine and mundane. But at times there come requests from clients to do tasks that are out of the ordinary. These tasks stretch the boundary of the normal and can be termed as “Special” tasks. This article tries to explore some of the tasks that came into GetFriday and was executed with full zest by the employees. Task 1 Expressing through Post Cards One of our client’s former teacher was based in France. The client residing in the UK wanted someone to write postcards for his teacher who was interested in Indian culture. This task seemed interesting and virtual assistants at GetFriday took up the task. They started sending postcards from Indian to France, once every 2 weeks. The teacher was very pleased with the fact that she was receiving postcards from India on a regular basis and that too on behalf of her former student. The client was also delighted that he could do his bit to bring a cheer on to his teacher’s face. GetFriday, the virtual assistant services company has experience with over 14,000 clients over a decade of its existence. If you have a task similar to the one mentioned above, you can right way forward it to assistants at GetFriday. Task 2   Healing from Far A client at GetFriday based in America wanted someone to send medicines to an elder relative in Bangalore. We at GetFriday were asked if this task was at all possible from our side, to which we replied in the affirmative. Our virtual assistants here at Bangalore procured the medicine and sent it to the client’s relative on a regular basis. The client was happy about the fact he was able to help his elder relative with medication. The relative was praising the client all along for having done so. Even if you have such tasks that are out of the ordinary, virtual assistant companies such as GetFriday will be happy to accommodate such tasks if you are willing to come forward. There are many such tasks that have come through the doors of GetFriday. We are willing to take such interesting tasks and you can follow us on social media https://www.facebook.com/GetFriday for updates on such interesting tasks.

Interesting Tasks @ GetFriday Read More »

Every day a number of tasks are executed by virtual assistants. Most of the tasks which are taken up by the assistants are routine and mundane. But at times there come requests from clients to do tasks that are out of the ordinary. These tasks stretch the boundary of the normal and can be termed as “Special” tasks. This article tries to explore some of the tasks that came into GetFriday and was executed with full zest by the employees. Task 1 Expressing through Post Cards One of our client’s former teacher was based in France. The client residing in the UK wanted someone to write postcards for his teacher who was interested in Indian culture. This task seemed interesting and virtual assistants at GetFriday took up the task. They started sending postcards from Indian to France, once every 2 weeks. The teacher was very pleased with the fact that she was receiving postcards from India on a regular basis and that too on behalf of her former student. The client was also delighted that he could do his bit to bring a cheer on to his teacher’s face. GetFriday, the virtual assistant services company has experience with over 14,000 clients over a decade of its existence. If you have a task similar to the one mentioned above, you can right way forward it to assistants at GetFriday. Task 2   Healing from Far A client at GetFriday based in America wanted someone to send medicines to an elder relative in Bangalore. We at GetFriday were asked if this task was at all possible from our side, to which we replied in the affirmative. Our virtual assistants here at Bangalore procured the medicine and sent it to the client’s relative on a regular basis. The client was happy about the fact he was able to help his elder relative with medication. The relative was praising the client all along for having done so. Even if you have such tasks that are out of the ordinary, virtual assistant companies such as GetFriday will be happy to accommodate such tasks if you are willing to come forward. There are many such tasks that have come through the doors of GetFriday. We are willing to take such interesting tasks and you can follow us on social media https://www.facebook.com/GetFriday for updates on such interesting tasks.

8 Soft Skills to look for in a Virtual Assistant

Now that you have made up your mind towards hiring a virtual assistant, the next thing on your list is what to look for in an assistant that will make your life easier. This needs to be done with some consideration on your part on the kind of VA that will suit your business needs. You need to have a keen eye when looking at soft skills of your virtual employee. Soft skills are those character traits and interpersonal skills that a person comes with. Character traits tend to be ingrained unlike occupational or hard skills, which are learned and honed over time. This write-up looks at what specific soft skills you need to look at when selecting an assistant: Great Attention to Detail: A great assistant should be meticulous at all things. The attention to detail should be part and parcel of a normal day. They need to proud of the fact that they look into those details, which others tend to ignore. By approaching each of their tasks with meticulousness and urgency an assistant helps the manager or executive to achieve the often quoted work-life balance. They ensure that the errands are completed before the deadline and great care is taken on fast delivery of the tasks.       Presence of Mind: Despite all things being spoken about being attentive on the job, many assistants tend to miss the most obvious things. A good employee is known to fill in the gaps and demonstrate initiative. Even when incomplete ideas are given out by the executive or manager, an ever-present assistant is able to bring completeness to the ideas, keeping the executive informed and in approval all along the way. Great Listening Skills:  Listening leads to learning. While most people tend to ignore this fact on the course of life in general, a great assistant assimilates information quickly and boldly ask a question to fill in the gaps in understanding. By intently listening, a good assistant is able to understand the direction the boss is taking and the reason behind every strategy. This kind of work ethic will be able to bring an excellent working relationship to fruition. Relationship Builder: One of the quality traits of an assistant is being able to build rapport with people whether in person or on phone. Irrespective of the number of people he meets, he needs to have a knack for breaking the ice and able to forge relationships. This kind of personality would not only click anywhere but would be an asset to the manager or executive. Communication Skills: One of the key skills an assistant must possess is communication skills. There is nothing more valuable in business and in corporate circles than understanding and being understood. In a situation, when there is no face-to-face time between the client and the assistant, it is necessary to have appreciable communication skills to streamline your work. At times when the instructions are vague and ambiguous, it is the assistant who has to take the upper hand and straighten out the correspondence. Time Management Skills: A good assistant needs to do two things at the same time. Not only does he needs to be able to manage his own schedule, he also needs to prioritize his boss’s assignments and events. The employee carefully plans and organizes the boss’s schedule to ensure the executive is spending more time on long-term planning and goal setting. Project Management Skills: It is generally a known fact that the assistant helps the manager or the executive see the big picture. This big-picture thinking can come to life if the assistant helps him/ her in the endeavor. With each and every project coming with moving parts, it is necessary that the assistant is able to help the boss in being able to help with the moving parts. A great assistant is able to make the job easier by tackling things like comparing expenses on financial statements, analyzing client trends or even simply highlighting a budget. These things help in a huge way in growing the partnership between the executive and administrative assistant. Technology Skills: When looking for VA it would be a good judgment on your part to look for someone who is technologically well oriented. It can be as simple as MS office and as complex the latest CRM software. A good assistant would easily be able to assimilate the latest in technology with a little amount of training. This kind of ability in an administrative assistant would make it an ideal for to be taken in as your assistant. The article talks about the kind of skills a great assistant needs to possess for them to be hired by a first-timer, someone who is hiring a VA for the first time.

8 Soft Skills to look for in a Virtual Assistant Read More »

Now that you have made up your mind towards hiring a virtual assistant, the next thing on your list is what to look for in an assistant that will make your life easier. This needs to be done with some consideration on your part on the kind of VA that will suit your business needs. You need to have a keen eye when looking at soft skills of your virtual employee. Soft skills are those character traits and interpersonal skills that a person comes with. Character traits tend to be ingrained unlike occupational or hard skills, which are learned and honed over time. This write-up looks at what specific soft skills you need to look at when selecting an assistant: Great Attention to Detail: A great assistant should be meticulous at all things. The attention to detail should be part and parcel of a normal day. They need to proud of the fact that they look into those details, which others tend to ignore. By approaching each of their tasks with meticulousness and urgency an assistant helps the manager or executive to achieve the often quoted work-life balance. They ensure that the errands are completed before the deadline and great care is taken on fast delivery of the tasks.       Presence of Mind: Despite all things being spoken about being attentive on the job, many assistants tend to miss the most obvious things. A good employee is known to fill in the gaps and demonstrate initiative. Even when incomplete ideas are given out by the executive or manager, an ever-present assistant is able to bring completeness to the ideas, keeping the executive informed and in approval all along the way. Great Listening Skills:  Listening leads to learning. While most people tend to ignore this fact on the course of life in general, a great assistant assimilates information quickly and boldly ask a question to fill in the gaps in understanding. By intently listening, a good assistant is able to understand the direction the boss is taking and the reason behind every strategy. This kind of work ethic will be able to bring an excellent working relationship to fruition. Relationship Builder: One of the quality traits of an assistant is being able to build rapport with people whether in person or on phone. Irrespective of the number of people he meets, he needs to have a knack for breaking the ice and able to forge relationships. This kind of personality would not only click anywhere but would be an asset to the manager or executive. Communication Skills: One of the key skills an assistant must possess is communication skills. There is nothing more valuable in business and in corporate circles than understanding and being understood. In a situation, when there is no face-to-face time between the client and the assistant, it is necessary to have appreciable communication skills to streamline your work. At times when the instructions are vague and ambiguous, it is the assistant who has to take the upper hand and straighten out the correspondence. Time Management Skills: A good assistant needs to do two things at the same time. Not only does he needs to be able to manage his own schedule, he also needs to prioritize his boss’s assignments and events. The employee carefully plans and organizes the boss’s schedule to ensure the executive is spending more time on long-term planning and goal setting. Project Management Skills: It is generally a known fact that the assistant helps the manager or the executive see the big picture. This big-picture thinking can come to life if the assistant helps him/ her in the endeavor. With each and every project coming with moving parts, it is necessary that the assistant is able to help the boss in being able to help with the moving parts. A great assistant is able to make the job easier by tackling things like comparing expenses on financial statements, analyzing client trends or even simply highlighting a budget. These things help in a huge way in growing the partnership between the executive and administrative assistant. Technology Skills: When looking for VA it would be a good judgment on your part to look for someone who is technologically well oriented. It can be as simple as MS office and as complex the latest CRM software. A good assistant would easily be able to assimilate the latest in technology with a little amount of training. This kind of ability in an administrative assistant would make it an ideal for to be taken in as your assistant. The article talks about the kind of skills a great assistant needs to possess for them to be hired by a first-timer, someone who is hiring a VA for the first time.

Hiring a VA from an Agency versus an Independent Freelancer

      When assigning your workload to a virtual employee, it is always a choice between hiring someone from an agency or an independent freelance worker. There are different kinds of virtual assistance service providers out there, and even many independents (freelancers). This article is meant to help you narrow down your search. In this article we shall try to weigh the pros and cons of an assistant from an agency versus an independent freelancer. Commitment – It is generally seen that employees from agencies are more committed to their clients as they are answerable to their companies. While freelancers are not much committed as they manage it themselves and is not liable to anyone. Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) – Companies are generally seen working safe when it is confidential data of clients. All companies mostly sign a NDA with the clients to keep the work confidential between the client and the company. While, when it comes to the independents, no such arrangements or assurances are made. Cost Versus Quality – It can be disputed that agencies come off as expensive when it comes to pricing. However, if you compare to independents, the kind of quality which an agency delivers is quite high.    Scalability – If you want to execute a larger than the usual project and need more hands to complete, a company can provide you with all the necessary help with extra hands. Likewise, if your business starts growing real quick and your requirement for human resources shoots up, a company will be more than willing to suffice your staff requirements. In the case of freelancers there is not enough scope for scalability and you would not be able to go beyond a single individual’s capacity. Even if you want to expand beyond the present capacity, you would have to start your recruitment process from the start. Experts in Varied Areas – In a company, you would find many experts supporting a varied number of skill-sets like accounting, digital marketing, and website development. But among independents it is difficult to find a single person who is an expert in different domains. Replacing an assistant – In case your regular one is not keeping well or has gone for a vacation, companies’ generally have enough hands for a replacement. In case of a freelancer, if such a situation arises, you would have to strive extra hard yourself to bridge the gap to finish the work. Or you would have to ask your assistant to train someone to function as a backup. Even in a situation, where your virtual assistant quits the company to join elsewhere, companies would quickly find a replacement and seamless transition would be in place. In case of a independent, such a situation would set you back to square one and you would have to start again at finding a new assistant. Urgent Tasks – Suppose you need to get something done immediately, companies like GetFriday would get it done. While in the case of a freelancer you would have to hold back and wait till the person is available during your time. In case he/she is filled with any other work, he/she may not take it up immediately also.   Trial Period – Most agencies that are into personal assistance give some kind of trial period for the client. This ensures that the client gets to judge the services, without committing any capital upfront. This is kind of a set-up is unheard of, when it comes to independents. Feedback Giving – When your task is not completed as per your guidelines, you can always escalate within the company to a manager and you would find your concerns addressed. In an independent’s case, you would have to give the negative feedback directly to the assistant. Recently outsourcing to a freelancer has become a trend since the prices are low, but in real scenarios majority of the clients are dissatisfied with the freelancer’s efforts and get the same work redone by the agencies. We later realize that outsourcing to an individual had been an unnecessary expense. With the major points mentioned above, hope you would agree that outsourcing to an agency/company is more advantageous than going with an independent.  GetFriday (earlier YMII or YourManInIndia) is a service that was featured and used in the NYTimes best-selling productivity and lifestyle design book ‘The 4-Hour-Workweek’ by Timothy Ferris. Sign up now!

Hiring a VA from an Agency versus an Independent Freelancer Read More »

      When assigning your workload to a virtual employee, it is always a choice between hiring someone from an agency or an independent freelance worker. There are different kinds of virtual assistance service providers out there, and even many independents (freelancers). This article is meant to help you narrow down your search. In this article we shall try to weigh the pros and cons of an assistant from an agency versus an independent freelancer. Commitment – It is generally seen that employees from agencies are more committed to their clients as they are answerable to their companies. While freelancers are not much committed as they manage it themselves and is not liable to anyone. Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) – Companies are generally seen working safe when it is confidential data of clients. All companies mostly sign a NDA with the clients to keep the work confidential between the client and the company. While, when it comes to the independents, no such arrangements or assurances are made. Cost Versus Quality – It can be disputed that agencies come off as expensive when it comes to pricing. However, if you compare to independents, the kind of quality which an agency delivers is quite high.    Scalability – If you want to execute a larger than the usual project and need more hands to complete, a company can provide you with all the necessary help with extra hands. Likewise, if your business starts growing real quick and your requirement for human resources shoots up, a company will be more than willing to suffice your staff requirements. In the case of freelancers there is not enough scope for scalability and you would not be able to go beyond a single individual’s capacity. Even if you want to expand beyond the present capacity, you would have to start your recruitment process from the start. Experts in Varied Areas – In a company, you would find many experts supporting a varied number of skill-sets like accounting, digital marketing, and website development. But among independents it is difficult to find a single person who is an expert in different domains. Replacing an assistant – In case your regular one is not keeping well or has gone for a vacation, companies’ generally have enough hands for a replacement. In case of a freelancer, if such a situation arises, you would have to strive extra hard yourself to bridge the gap to finish the work. Or you would have to ask your assistant to train someone to function as a backup. Even in a situation, where your virtual assistant quits the company to join elsewhere, companies would quickly find a replacement and seamless transition would be in place. In case of a independent, such a situation would set you back to square one and you would have to start again at finding a new assistant. Urgent Tasks – Suppose you need to get something done immediately, companies like GetFriday would get it done. While in the case of a freelancer you would have to hold back and wait till the person is available during your time. In case he/she is filled with any other work, he/she may not take it up immediately also.   Trial Period – Most agencies that are into personal assistance give some kind of trial period for the client. This ensures that the client gets to judge the services, without committing any capital upfront. This is kind of a set-up is unheard of, when it comes to independents. Feedback Giving – When your task is not completed as per your guidelines, you can always escalate within the company to a manager and you would find your concerns addressed. In an independent’s case, you would have to give the negative feedback directly to the assistant. Recently outsourcing to a freelancer has become a trend since the prices are low, but in real scenarios majority of the clients are dissatisfied with the freelancer’s efforts and get the same work redone by the agencies. We later realize that outsourcing to an individual had been an unnecessary expense. With the major points mentioned above, hope you would agree that outsourcing to an agency/company is more advantageous than going with an independent.  GetFriday (earlier YMII or YourManInIndia) is a service that was featured and used in the NYTimes best-selling productivity and lifestyle design book ‘The 4-Hour-Workweek’ by Timothy Ferris. Sign up now!

How to Retain Customers in E-commerce

Online retailers are always looking at increasing their revenues; one of the best ways of doing it is to get repeat customers. Several studies say it costs between 4 and 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. As an E-commerce owner, are you aware that repeat customers are responsible for generating 40% of a store’s revenue? It might sound hard but is actually easy to accomplish. It is a tried and tested way to improve your sales, even if you are new to this business or are a seasoned ecommerce player anyone can take heed to these actionable tips, which are on offer in this article. Exclusive discounts for loyal customers Everyone likes to be treated special, in line with this thought, offer your customers exclusive access to the site for special discounts. You can give this exclusive access, 1 or 2 days before the discounts become available to the general public. This will truly mean a genuine advantage for being a loyal customer. You can also do this discount special by making available a special promo code for a limited time that will give special 20-30% discounts. This kind of exclusive discounts is one of the most popular loyalty perks for customers. Send emails reminding of abandoned cart Convey through emails to customers about items left behind in carts by customers. You can send visually appealing email (showing the product) to the customer, to show them exactly what they considered purchasing while browsing through the site last time around. A recent survey showed that email marketing helped 29% abandoned carts to be recovered. Suggest Products One of the most powerful ways of making a customer do a repurchase is to nudge them to buy a product. You could also remind them about something additional they need to purchase in going with their previous purchase. For example, if a customer has bought a pencil, remind them to buy a pencil sharpener. Offer Personalized products If you have demographic data about the customer, you can make a personalized offer to the customer based on his/her likeness. Suppose if you are targeting a customer who is 21 years old, you can send him back-to-college offer for clothing, backpacks, school supplies etc. A recent study suggested that personalized offers help increase click-through rates by an average of 14% and improves conversion rates by an average of 10%. “We miss you” emails One of the ways of re-targeting, follow-up email can be at the bargain hunter. There is no better way to stay on top of the mind than with a coupon. Knowing this, you can send an email stating that we have noticed you have not been coming to the website anymore, with the addition of a coupon. Starbucks is famous for sending such ‘we miss you’ emails to its customers. Show Social Proof People respond positively to social proof. In the sense, if you show people a pair of shoes, bought over by a 10,000 people they are likely to react positively. This is a fact and there are real psychological factors at play here. You can do this by tracking purchase data (or Facebook likes) for specific products or soliciting actual customers’ reviews and displaying it on the website and in the emails to many of your customers. This is one of the ways of finding repeat customers. Launch a Loyalty Program There needs to be financial incentive for the customer for having made the first purchase. In addition, there needs to be avenues for saving money on subsequent purchases. According to a study, 54% buy more from companies when they are rewarded for purchases. In another survey, it was found that loyalty programs help increase market share by 20%. Nordstrom is one such company that has benefitted tremendously from its loyalty program. They encourage customers to sign-up to receive special benefits, which include reward points that can be redeemed for products as well as early access to sales. Direct Mail still helps This kind of approach helps in earning repeat customers. If you have the physical address of the customer, you can send exclusive sales, discounts and special offers by snail mail. It is to be noted that a direct mail is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to the customer for their loyalty, so there should not be an overemphasis on pushing sales. The trick is to keep the sales part subtle. Overall it is always a good idea to target the existing customers. It is the proverbial ‘low hanging fruit’ that a company must exploit in order to succeed in increasing sales. Also, if your e-commerce firm is finding it cumbersome to handle all the tasks to run the company in a smooth manner. You can assign your errands to GetFriday. At GetFriday we take care of major tasks associated with e-commerce domain such as inventory management, order processing, order tracking and customer support.  

How to Retain Customers in E-commerce Read More »

Online retailers are always looking at increasing their revenues; one of the best ways of doing it is to get repeat customers. Several studies say it costs between 4 and 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. As an E-commerce owner, are you aware that repeat customers are responsible for generating 40% of a store’s revenue? It might sound hard but is actually easy to accomplish. It is a tried and tested way to improve your sales, even if you are new to this business or are a seasoned ecommerce player anyone can take heed to these actionable tips, which are on offer in this article. Exclusive discounts for loyal customers Everyone likes to be treated special, in line with this thought, offer your customers exclusive access to the site for special discounts. You can give this exclusive access, 1 or 2 days before the discounts become available to the general public. This will truly mean a genuine advantage for being a loyal customer. You can also do this discount special by making available a special promo code for a limited time that will give special 20-30% discounts. This kind of exclusive discounts is one of the most popular loyalty perks for customers. Send emails reminding of abandoned cart Convey through emails to customers about items left behind in carts by customers. You can send visually appealing email (showing the product) to the customer, to show them exactly what they considered purchasing while browsing through the site last time around. A recent survey showed that email marketing helped 29% abandoned carts to be recovered. Suggest Products One of the most powerful ways of making a customer do a repurchase is to nudge them to buy a product. You could also remind them about something additional they need to purchase in going with their previous purchase. For example, if a customer has bought a pencil, remind them to buy a pencil sharpener. Offer Personalized products If you have demographic data about the customer, you can make a personalized offer to the customer based on his/her likeness. Suppose if you are targeting a customer who is 21 years old, you can send him back-to-college offer for clothing, backpacks, school supplies etc. A recent study suggested that personalized offers help increase click-through rates by an average of 14% and improves conversion rates by an average of 10%. “We miss you” emails One of the ways of re-targeting, follow-up email can be at the bargain hunter. There is no better way to stay on top of the mind than with a coupon. Knowing this, you can send an email stating that we have noticed you have not been coming to the website anymore, with the addition of a coupon. Starbucks is famous for sending such ‘we miss you’ emails to its customers. Show Social Proof People respond positively to social proof. In the sense, if you show people a pair of shoes, bought over by a 10,000 people they are likely to react positively. This is a fact and there are real psychological factors at play here. You can do this by tracking purchase data (or Facebook likes) for specific products or soliciting actual customers’ reviews and displaying it on the website and in the emails to many of your customers. This is one of the ways of finding repeat customers. Launch a Loyalty Program There needs to be financial incentive for the customer for having made the first purchase. In addition, there needs to be avenues for saving money on subsequent purchases. According to a study, 54% buy more from companies when they are rewarded for purchases. In another survey, it was found that loyalty programs help increase market share by 20%. Nordstrom is one such company that has benefitted tremendously from its loyalty program. They encourage customers to sign-up to receive special benefits, which include reward points that can be redeemed for products as well as early access to sales. Direct Mail still helps This kind of approach helps in earning repeat customers. If you have the physical address of the customer, you can send exclusive sales, discounts and special offers by snail mail. It is to be noted that a direct mail is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to the customer for their loyalty, so there should not be an overemphasis on pushing sales. The trick is to keep the sales part subtle. Overall it is always a good idea to target the existing customers. It is the proverbial ‘low hanging fruit’ that a company must exploit in order to succeed in increasing sales. Also, if your e-commerce firm is finding it cumbersome to handle all the tasks to run the company in a smooth manner. You can assign your errands to GetFriday. At GetFriday we take care of major tasks associated with e-commerce domain such as inventory management, order processing, order tracking and customer support.  

Sell Better With GetFriday

If you have just taken your business online or are planning to do so, you will know that it is easy to “get started” and with minimum overhead costs, you can make your business as small or large as possible. However, one of the biggest disadvantages of running your e-commerce store on platforms such as Amazon or eBay is working with tedious, never-ending processes that, unfortunately, cannot be automated. When you begin selling on e-commerce platforms, you will slowly begin to realize that there is a wide spectrum of work that will require plenty of your time. Each process, though simple, will require human control and like mentioned earlier, cannot be automated. Soon enough, you’ll find yourself spending more time on broken links and listings than actually focusing on growing your business. You definitely don’t want to be doing this when your focus should ideally be on boosting sales. This is where online virtual assistants should be hired. These virtual aces can handle mundane processes for you, while you continue to ace the e-commerce domain with growing sales. But How Do I Know What To Outsource?   If there are tasks that do not fall under your core skill set or if you find certain processes eating through most of your day, you know it is not worth your time, especially when you have more important functions to handle. You can always divvy up administrative, repetitive tasks to the virtual assistants. This will leave you with significant time to deal with strategizing and building your business.   Working with online, personal virtual assistants come with multiple benefits. For starters, they will save you a lot of money because your costs of having to deal with keeping employees in-house, renting office space, training them etc., don’t exist. Why bother incurring such considerable costs when your entire business can be carried out online?  Virtual assistants, as the name suggests, work “virtually” and can handle tasks that range from managing general to specialized work depending on your requirement. If you have listed your business on Amazon or eBay, they can handle time-consuming aspects such as vendor management, customer support and product listings, to name a few processes. If you’ve been shouldering all the responsibility so far, here are some of the ways Virtual Assistance firms like GetFriday, can help you sell better and help you make most of your day. Product Listing & Product Description Writing  One of the most tedious tasks on an e-commerce platform involves uploading pictures, building category pages, optimizing content and updating and uploading the product listings. If you’ve ever faced a dip in the sales, chances are, it is a problem with one of your listings. Listings should always be monitored for reviews, images, and description if you still want to remain competitive. To have someone manage that aspect of the business, will give you more time to develop marketing strategies and handle other core functions of the business.   Along with managing product listings, another aspect of the business that can be governed by a professional virtual assistant, is product description writing. You may find that on some days, your creative juices don’t flow or you don’t have the knack to develop an effective sales pitch through brief content. In such a scenario, leave it to the experts! Virtual Assistance firms like GetFriday, have professional in-house copywriters who can handle this aspect of your business with no trouble at all. After all, the better the sales pitch in the product description, the better the returns in the long run. A good copywriter could just make all the difference!  24/7 Customer Support  Responding to the e-mails of customers is a Herculean task and can take up half your time while you’re at work. Responding to queries, tracking order statuses, gathering feedback and filtering requests are processes that don’t necessarily need to be done by you as head of the company. You don’t even need to hire people to sit in office to tackle this. This is something that can most definitely be handled virtually (and better!) by online, personal virtual assistants. Getting tangled with customer support can be a frustrating aspect of business that needs to be dealt with diligently. The fine art of communication needs to be done regardless of the size of your business and if you don’t someone who can handle all these processes and more, chances are, you’ll get sucked into this black hole and you’ll have to eventually handle it all by yourself. The opportunity cost? Developing and actually working on growing your business!  Order & Vendor Management  Your Virtual Assistant can not only manage your inventory, but he/she can also help you keep your virtual shelves stocked. No matter the size of your business, having a virtual assistant to manage inventory levels or simply working with your suppliers, sending invoices, or just getting your stock to the warehouse or anywhere else it needs to be, can be a boon for your business. These time-consuming tasks are essential and having a virtual assistant on board could also mean that he/she could help plan ahead for stock, help with pricing, conduct competitive analyses and produce up-to-date reports on fast and slow-moving inventory. All this and more can be handled by a virtual assistant and can help make crucial business processes function seamlessly.  Marketing To Acquire New Customers   The fact is, running an online store can be demanding. Having too many hats to wear could get the better of you. Having a Virtual Assistant can help you retain that A-game while you delegate all inevitable and routine processes. With the right skill sets, your virtual assistant could even handle crucial marketing functions. Website performance optimization, Search optimization, online promotions and Amazon Buy Box Strategy are some of the many aspects that GetFriday Virtual Assistants are adept at handling.  These are some of the tasks that you are probably already doing, but virtual assistants can handle better. The end result? They could help bring in bigger sales for you.    Other Support   Other support services such as Merchandising support, returns/exchanges, formatting images, checking for broken links, writing press-releases, updating meaningful content for products and product information collection are some of the other administrative tasks your personal assistant could take up for you while you focus on more crucial

Sell Better With GetFriday Read More »

If you have just taken your business online or are planning to do so, you will know that it is easy to “get started” and with minimum overhead costs, you can make your business as small or large as possible. However, one of the biggest disadvantages of running your e-commerce store on platforms such as Amazon or eBay is working with tedious, never-ending processes that, unfortunately, cannot be automated. When you begin selling on e-commerce platforms, you will slowly begin to realize that there is a wide spectrum of work that will require plenty of your time. Each process, though simple, will require human control and like mentioned earlier, cannot be automated. Soon enough, you’ll find yourself spending more time on broken links and listings than actually focusing on growing your business. You definitely don’t want to be doing this when your focus should ideally be on boosting sales. This is where online virtual assistants should be hired. These virtual aces can handle mundane processes for you, while you continue to ace the e-commerce domain with growing sales. But How Do I Know What To Outsource?   If there are tasks that do not fall under your core skill set or if you find certain processes eating through most of your day, you know it is not worth your time, especially when you have more important functions to handle. You can always divvy up administrative, repetitive tasks to the virtual assistants. This will leave you with significant time to deal with strategizing and building your business.   Working with online, personal virtual assistants come with multiple benefits. For starters, they will save you a lot of money because your costs of having to deal with keeping employees in-house, renting office space, training them etc., don’t exist. Why bother incurring such considerable costs when your entire business can be carried out online?  Virtual assistants, as the name suggests, work “virtually” and can handle tasks that range from managing general to specialized work depending on your requirement. If you have listed your business on Amazon or eBay, they can handle time-consuming aspects such as vendor management, customer support and product listings, to name a few processes. If you’ve been shouldering all the responsibility so far, here are some of the ways Virtual Assistance firms like GetFriday, can help you sell better and help you make most of your day. Product Listing & Product Description Writing  One of the most tedious tasks on an e-commerce platform involves uploading pictures, building category pages, optimizing content and updating and uploading the product listings. If you’ve ever faced a dip in the sales, chances are, it is a problem with one of your listings. Listings should always be monitored for reviews, images, and description if you still want to remain competitive. To have someone manage that aspect of the business, will give you more time to develop marketing strategies and handle other core functions of the business.   Along with managing product listings, another aspect of the business that can be governed by a professional virtual assistant, is product description writing. You may find that on some days, your creative juices don’t flow or you don’t have the knack to develop an effective sales pitch through brief content. In such a scenario, leave it to the experts! Virtual Assistance firms like GetFriday, have professional in-house copywriters who can handle this aspect of your business with no trouble at all. After all, the better the sales pitch in the product description, the better the returns in the long run. A good copywriter could just make all the difference!  24/7 Customer Support  Responding to the e-mails of customers is a Herculean task and can take up half your time while you’re at work. Responding to queries, tracking order statuses, gathering feedback and filtering requests are processes that don’t necessarily need to be done by you as head of the company. You don’t even need to hire people to sit in office to tackle this. This is something that can most definitely be handled virtually (and better!) by online, personal virtual assistants. Getting tangled with customer support can be a frustrating aspect of business that needs to be dealt with diligently. The fine art of communication needs to be done regardless of the size of your business and if you don’t someone who can handle all these processes and more, chances are, you’ll get sucked into this black hole and you’ll have to eventually handle it all by yourself. The opportunity cost? Developing and actually working on growing your business!  Order & Vendor Management  Your Virtual Assistant can not only manage your inventory, but he/she can also help you keep your virtual shelves stocked. No matter the size of your business, having a virtual assistant to manage inventory levels or simply working with your suppliers, sending invoices, or just getting your stock to the warehouse or anywhere else it needs to be, can be a boon for your business. These time-consuming tasks are essential and having a virtual assistant on board could also mean that he/she could help plan ahead for stock, help with pricing, conduct competitive analyses and produce up-to-date reports on fast and slow-moving inventory. All this and more can be handled by a virtual assistant and can help make crucial business processes function seamlessly.  Marketing To Acquire New Customers   The fact is, running an online store can be demanding. Having too many hats to wear could get the better of you. Having a Virtual Assistant can help you retain that A-game while you delegate all inevitable and routine processes. With the right skill sets, your virtual assistant could even handle crucial marketing functions. Website performance optimization, Search optimization, online promotions and Amazon Buy Box Strategy are some of the many aspects that GetFriday Virtual Assistants are adept at handling.  These are some of the tasks that you are probably already doing, but virtual assistants can handle better. The end result? They could help bring in bigger sales for you.    Other Support   Other support services such as Merchandising support, returns/exchanges, formatting images, checking for broken links, writing press-releases, updating meaningful content for products and product information collection are some of the other administrative tasks your personal assistant could take up for you while you focus on more crucial