Get my free Virtual Assistant Jumpstart Kit!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nTip 4: Always cover the time and date when you’d like something done.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The fourth tip when it comes to managing your VA’s for success is to always give a time and date for when you would like the tasks that you are giving them to be returned to you. If you’ve ever had a really bad boss, you know that one of the biggest reasons why they’re a bad boss is because they’re bad at giving you timelines. They’re bad at helping you prioritize your work. And so this is where it’s really important for you as you give your virtual assistants more work, to be super clear on the time and date that you want that work done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Be specific all the way down to the time zone, because it’s more than likely that if you took my advice of hiring somebody from the Philippines, you’re going to be working out of a different time zone than that. So making sure that you’re super clear on this will save both of you guys, some headaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking that example of scheduling 300 Pinterest posts in Tailwind. The first task I gave 24 hours for my VA to try out the first five. From there, I gave her immediate feedback within 24 hours of how she did with those first five. And then I had her do the next 10 and the next. 12 hours. From there, I gave her feedback again and then gave her the task of the remainder of the post, the 285 or so remaining and I gave her until the end of the week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So in other words, I built up my deadlines as I was building her confidence in the task. This sense of momentum as your virtual assistants are working through tasks for you will allow them to feel like they are (a) doing a good job and (b) meeting your expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to asking for return work, I like to ask my virtual assistants for 9:00 AM my time. And the reason why is because it gives enough time for me to start my day so that when I’m ready to look at their work, I’m ready to pick it up right where they left off and have little lag time so that when I’m in off hours, they’re actually working and keeping my projects growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tip 5: Treat your VAs with respect. Check in with them on a regular basis – show you care.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The fifth tip when it comes to managing and training, your virtual assistants effectively is to make sure that you treat your virtual assistants with respect. Make sure that you show them that you care and that you are constantly checking in with them. Virtual assistants are people too. And the bottom line is they have feelings and they want to do good work for you as long as you position them in a way to do that. Good work for you. And so as such, you’ll want to make sure that you are regularly checking in with your virtual assistant. Loyalty pays in a measurable waysin fact, I have a team member that’s been with me for five plus years and the way that he started out with just for a couple hours every single week, but over time, I had more and more responsibilities to give him. And he actually had a ton of other clients on outbreak that he was giving way more time to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when I offered him the full time position to be our virtual assistant, he took it in a heartbeat. The reason why he said was because we gave him consistent work, had engaging and interesting work for him to do, and also were just really nice and easy to work with. So by setting clear expectations in place with your virtual assistants, you can hire some of the best virtual assistants in the marketplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are a ton of ways that you can show a virtual assistant that you care. You can give unexpected bonuses for really good work. You can suggest that they take a day off after they’ve worked overtime for you one week, or you can even just send a cordial holiday message when there are major holidays that come up. Whatever it is, just by taking the extra step in terms of showing that you actually are thinking of them and caring about them can go a long way in the long term retention of your virtual assistant team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tell me the comments and idea you might have to help show your virtual assistants that you care, or tell me something you’ve already done in the past that was received super positively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tip 6: Make it easy for them to write a daily recap.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The sixth tip when it comes to training and managing your virtual assistants really effectively is to make sure that you make it easy for them to log their daily progress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This can be as simple as creating a three column spreadsheet that has date, hours worked and a summary of the work. People sometimes mistrust not being able to necessarily see what their VA is doing all the time. And so what this spreadsheet does is it keeps a log of accountability for the virtual assistant to help you understand how they’re pacing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For my virtual assistants, it might look something like June 2nd, two hours worked, 10 articles queued in WordPress and SEO research completed for five new articles. This allows you to keep a running log of how your virtual assistants are pacing. And also for you to have an understanding of how your workflows are working out with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A ton of freelance management sites also have screen trackers for time logs, such as Upwork. In my opinion, I find this to be a nuisance because I would personally hate it if my boss was watching my screen every 15 minutes. And so instead, what I like to do is I hire two or three VA’s onto a team, and then I have them do similar tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And from there I can see which VA’s are better for different tasks and then specialize them in what they’re good at. By giving my virtual assistants the breathing room to try a bunch of different things out and see what they’re good at, I’m able to position them to be most effective for my particular projects while also allowing them to do the work that they do best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tip 7: Maintain your SOPs every quarter or after every major sprint.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The seventh tip when it comes to managing and training your virtual assistants, is to maintain your SOP every quarter or after every major sprint. What you’re going to want to do is you’re going to want to take a step back and look at how effective your instructions are after some time has gone on. And the reason why is because SOP has changed over time, things improve over time. Fully in your business. And so you want to make sure that everything is up to date. The easiest way to do this is to build a master document that details every single task that has ever been given to a virtual assistant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then from there just insert a table of contents so that it matches the major headers of tasks so that you are your new virtual assistance, if you ever have to bring somebody onto the team can quickly go to the instructions that are relevant to that. The SOP master document is so, so important for your business to run effectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It effectively removes you from all of these processes that you’re outlining for your virtual assistant. The reason why people love McDonald’s is because they know that when they go get a big Mac, they’re going to get a consistent quality, big Mac when they order that big Mac. And so the same thing goes with your SOP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If your SOP is super straightforward and down to the T in terms of accuracy, then you know that you will consistently get the same level of output, regardless of which virtual assistant you task onto that particular task. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least four times a year, at the end of every quarter, I asked my virtual assistants to leave comments and feedback for this master SOP document. This makes it so that I can take in their feedback and also improve our processes together. So that they are as helpful as possible in terms of a set of instructions for not only my current VA’s, but also my future. VA’s. This is how you evolve and grow your virtual assistant team over time. By having clear processes outlined, it becomes way easier to onboard new VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Big takeaways<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
There are two things that I want you to remember from this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- The first one is that whether or not your virtual assistants are successful nine times out of 10 it’s on you. Not them. <\/li>
- The second thing to remember is be easy to work with, fair, but stern with your expectations. People like to work for leaders that are clear in their communication and also empathetic and knowledgeable in what they’re doing. And so it’s no different when it comes to managing your virtual assistants, and that you want to make sure that expectations are clear and that accountability is clearly in place at all steps, regardless of what the task is, you’re giving your virtual assistant. Always ask yourself, am I setting up my virtual assistants up for success and how could I set them up for success even more?<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
If you liked this article, be sure to check out my YouTube channel<\/a> to get new videos every single week. I’ll help take you from zero to self-starter as you grow your business, get more customers, and hone your business acumen. Also, feel free to share this with anybody that you think might benefit from learning how to manage and train their virtual assistants.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThat’s it for this time though. In my next article, I’ll go over seven reasons as to why you need to hire a virtual assistant to grow your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n