As our economy continues to show signs of improvement, many small businesses are looking for creative ways to grow their business and bring on new staff. Likely most SMBs will look to fill key positions while holding off on hiring less critical staff such as administrative assistants. While this may make sense for the bottom line of the business, in reality many professionals will spend valuable time doing administrative work and end up hindering their company’s success. Hiring a virtual assistant may be a clever and economical solution.
A number of virtual assistant services have popped up over recent years. Some of the most popular are TimeSVR, Ask Sunday, Fancy Hands and TaskRabbit. Some offer services that are more appropriate for personal use or are limited to specific urban areas, and many can be fairly pricey. Fancy Hands offers services for both individuals and businesses and with plans starting at 5 requests for $25 per month and increasing to discounted yearly plans, it is fairly reasonably priced. Fancy Hands TeamWork for businesses allows your staff to delegate administrative tasks via email, phone, or the web through the company’s website or through the site’s integration with Basecamps.
The virtual assistants can research projects, schedule appointments, coordinate meetings and make purchases on demand. Fancy Hands has negotiated relationships with vendors and service providers all over the country and can secure special discounts for clients. Once a task has been submitted, it is assigned to an appropriate assistant. Once the task is finished, a complete history of all of the work they do will be visible on the request page.
Knowing that having the services of a personal assitant may not be a benefit that many staff members may have had before, Fancy Hands has a page on their site with suggested tasks that they can perform for them. Engaging the services of a Virtual Assistant for your business can increase productivity and is a great perk for your team members.
For more information on solutions for running your businesses’ technology more efficiently, visit our website or contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 448-7100 x210.
