As promised, here are the results of our Virtual Assistant survey that we put together last month

Wow!!! 55% of those surveyed are gun shy because they don’t think they can afford high level administrative and virtual assistance.

My guess is that those 55% of you have not thought about the following:

1. When working collaboratively with a Virtual Assistant, you avoid any and all employee related expenses, such as:

Taxes
Office space and equipment
Insurance
Retirement plans, pensions, etc
Personal and vacation days
Employee training and seminars

1. Think a Virtual Assistant hourly rate is high? If you have an employee, add up his/her hourly rate and *then* add in what you pay in #1 above. Still think a VA charges too much per hour?
2. How about the fact that most Professional Virtual Assistant’s spend years training in their career. Many have high level Executive Assistant experience, and have put long hours into supporting busy executives. They have dealt with almost every corporate situation and scenario imaginable and have worn many “hats”. Multi tasking and serving up excellent deliverables to sometimes more than one ultra demanding CEO or company president.
3. When working with a Virtual Assistant, you have the opportunity to professionally collaborate with a trusted entrepreneur, who has a vested interest in you and your business, and will only work time on task. You don’t have to tolerate employee downtime, or deal with any personality conflicts between employees.

36% of you don’t understand how you can effectively collaborate with a Virtual Assistant. You are the ones who can probably benefit the most from a collaborative virtual relationship! You will be amazed at how much your VA can do from the other side of the country…or world. Whether you are a Mac or PC user, there are so many web based applications that make collaboration a breeze. Google alone can fit the bill for some of the most common needs for working virtually.

An excellent Virtual Assistant should be able to serve in the role of educator and mentor, as well as assistant. He/she should be able to teach and coach their new client on how they can progressively raise the bar as time goes on, while increasing productivity.

It is comforting to know that only 9% of you are concerned with a trust factor. For those 9%, please know that you should do your due diligence before contracting a Virtual Assistant. Use your time on the phone with them wisely. Make the most of your consultation with them prior to making your decision. If possible, talk to some of their current clients. Heck, you can even Google them. Check out what organizations they belong to, their Twitter stream, or their Facebook page.

Have the results of our Virtual Assistant survey changed your mind about working with a VA? We would love to hear your stories!

Author bio: Taryn Merrick is a Professional Mac Virtual Assistant, Social Media Virtual Assistant and Eco Virtual Assistant. As Principal of Merrick Management And Media Services, she has over 20 years of administrative management experience. Taryn works to promote the Virtual Assistant industry and to make it stand out as a true profession of excellence. Her style is easy going, yet precise, with emphasis placed on exceeding customer expectations, client communication and satisfaction.

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