In my first conversation with one of our clients, the founder of an insurance agency based in Austin, Texas, he had one concern on his mind: He didn’t want to give up his existing processes. If he partnered with our agency to hire a virtual assistant, would he need to change how he did things?
This client was looking for someone to handle personalized renewal quoting. His team was accruing a serious backlog; current staff were already maxed out. They needed to plug someone else in who already had experience in this area — and fast. But he worried about how delegating work to a VA would affect their operations. He didn’t want someone to parachute in and start changing things that worked for his team.
That’s a common concern when hiring a virtual assistant. People wonder, Is outsourcing good or bad for an organization? Will it require us to change our workflow processes? Even if their processes are pretty informal, they don’t want new ones to be imposed from outside. It’s just how we’ve always done things, and it works for us, they think.
All that considered, fine-tuning your processes is a natural step in any business’s evolution. As you bring more people onto your team, nailing down solid processes becomes even more crucial. Often small businesses (and large ones, too), have no real processes in place. They’re flying by the seat of their pants. But the choice to make any changes is always yours.
Let’s explore how outsourcing business functions to a virtual assistant works. Then, we’ll look at how you can keep — or fine-tune — your processes as you bring a VA on board.
A VA becomes a member of your team.
Integrating a virtual assistant onto the team doesn’t need to change your processes. At IAB, the VAs we place with clients are their employees, so they can direct them in how to do the work. If you partner with us, you’re hiring another employee who just happens to be located in another country. You should treat them like any team member, because that’s what they are.
Understandably, the client in Austin didn’t want changes to be dictated from outside. They had a system, and it worked, he said—they just needed someone who could take the reins on renewal quoting.
I assured him that we don’t meddle in our clients’ operations. “When you hire a virtual assistant, you get to train them however you see fit,” I told him. At the same time, we’ll gladly share guidance on how to integrate a VA onto the team, I explained.
We found just the right person for his agency within a couple of weeks. This virtual assistant quickly learned the ropes as the team trained her in their renewal process. The client was pleased to see that outsourcing an employee didn’t mean changing how they operated. More recently, we placed a second VA with them as they’ve continued increasing their efficiency.
How can you onboard a VA while keeping your processes?
When onboarding new people, having a blueprint in place for how to perform their job duties will let them get up to speed quickly. Otherwise, you could waste a lot of time and still end up with unclear expectations and lost productivity. Take these steps to ensure consistency as you bring new people on board.
Create a roadmap to your processes.
Like many small business leaders, you might never have formalized your processes. It’s hard to train someone in using them if you haven’t clearly outlined them. As you scale, defining your processes in writing will help you train new people in using them again and again. Here’s how to do that — while simultaneously enhancing your processes.
- Write down the key steps to all major processes you use on a regular basis. List tasks that fall under each step. Talk with employees to make sure you got it right.
- Look for the time-wasters and bottlenecks — the redundancies or extra steps these processes involve. Can certain things be automated or simplified?
- Identify who handles each particular step. Can fewer people carry out some of the steps on the list, to streamline the workflow? Or is it more efficient to assign tasks to multiple people, to leverage their skill sets?
- Once you’ve taken a good look at your current processes, weed out anything that’s not working.
For example, outline your processes for nurturing new clients and managing customer relationships. Since many companies have neglected to take these steps, creating or refining effective processes will put you ahead of the crowd. It will also help you pinpoint which tasks to outsource to a virtual assistant.
Invite virtual assistants to team meetings.
Integrate your VA onto the team by including them in meetings. Through virtual meetings, they’ll gain a stronger sense of workflow processes and team norms. Hold one-on-one check-ins each week as well.
Teach your executive assistant how you work.
If you’ve hired an executive assistant, they need to learn your individual processes as a leader. As you build trust and rapport, they’ll come to understand how you think, communicate, and act. They can shadow you or read emails you’ve sent to get a sense of how you talk with clients, for instance.
Take time to reflect on your individual processes, especially if they’re just things that you habitually do. That way, you can explain them to your executive assistant.
What are some additional ways to strengthen your processes?
Take these steps to optimize your workflow processes further.
- To start, we recommend reorganizing roles into specific functions, like sales and renewals. Taking a siloed approach to role design will help everyone work more efficiently.
- Simple shortcuts can often speed up your processes quite a bit, too. For example, create email templates for common inquiries so you’re not always starting from scratch.
- Automating repetitive steps can also strengthen processes. In fact, 80% of employees report that automation lets them focus more attention on core activities, like building customer relationships. And 90% say it increases their productivity.
- Talk with department leaders to refine processes. They probably know more about the nuances of their processes than you do, since they carry them out on a daily basis. And they might have innovative ideas based on direct experience.
- Measure the results of any changes you make. Track how they affect conversions or renewals, for instance. Look at the same KPIs over a long period of time to accurately assess outcomes. This will let data drive your decision-making.
Having clearly outlined processes will help you easily bring new people onto the team. It will also help everyone maximize their productivity and highlight which tasks to outsource to a virtual assistant. Streamlined processes will impress your clients as well, radiating professionalism and resolving their pain points as quickly as possible. But any changes you make will stem from your own choices — no one else’s.
Want to discuss how outsourcing business functions to a virtual assistant could strengthen how you operate? Set up a call today. I’ll be happy to walk you through the specific skills our VAs can offer — and how to onboard a VA as a full member of your team. If you’re ready to make a hire, we’ll provide plenty of guidance every step of the way. But the choice of whether to follow our advice is always yours.