You are overworked and stressed. Your workload has grown tremendously and you now feel like you can’t devote the time you would like to your real estate clients. There is a solution. Hiring a virtual assistant allows you to focus on your clients rather than paperwork and mundane business tasks. You may be apprehensive about hiring one at first, but take the time to find out all the information you can. It may just be worth your while.
What a Virtual Assistant Can Do For You
A virtual assistant (VA) has a wide range of capabilities. They are able to do a number of administrative, marketing, and personal assistant tasks. If you are willing to work with them and teach them how you like to conduct business, they can be a very beneficial asset to your real estate team. Here is a list of just some of the tasks a VA could do:
- Lead Screening
- Edit Writing
- Manage Calendars
- Listing Research
- Data Entry
- Contract to Close Tasks
- Manage Social Media
- Respond to Emails
Many general virtual assistants already have the knowledge to do most of those tasks, and can easily be taught if not. Although, if you feel a specialized real estate virtual assistant would be a better fit for you, that is an option.
Specialized Real Estate Virtual Assistant
Specialized real estate virtual assistants have real estate experience. While they bring a level of valuable expertise to your team, they are also more expensive. There are three main types, and even though they often only do their specialized tasks, it is worth your time to consider if your team could benefit from hiring one.
Transaction Coordinator. Hiring a transaction coordinator will free up the time you spend managing your transactions and paperwork. Their purpose is to organize and manage your real estate transactions so that you can put more focus on closing sales.
Outbound Sales Assistant. These specialized virtual assistants focus on generating leads. They can do this in a number of different ways such as cold calling, contacting expired listings, or other various sources. They focus on building your clientele, so you can devote more time to helping them.
Inbound Sales Assistant. They specialize in catering to cold inbound leads that are finally ready to buy or sell. It can take a long time for a buyer or seller to decide to move forward in the real estate process. Inbound sales assistants focus on continuing to provide service to these individuals by using email drips and other marketing material.
What to Consider When Hiring a Virtual Assistant
It is important when hiring a virtual assistant that you have your business in order first. If you attempt to hire a VA, but don’t know exactly what tasks you want them to do, or don’t have a detailed list of instructions for each task, then you may not be quite ready to hire one yet. Confusion and uncertainty on your end only leads to confusion and uncertainty on theirs. Once you have done the preparation and are ready to hire a VA, you are faced with a couple of decisions.
Overseas or US based. Virtual assistant companies are either based in the United States or overseas. Overseas companies are often less expensive than US-based counterparts but are still able to offer quality work. Mytasker is an India based company that comes recommended by many due to its affordable hourly wages and high-quality work. US-based companies are often able to offer virtual assistants that have higher level use of English though. It is up to you to decide if the increase in price is worth the higher-level skill.
Freelance or Company Affiliated. Most general virtual assistants will either be freelance or company affiliated. Freelance virtual assistants create their own hourly rates. Therefore, hiring a freelancer could be an opportunity to save money. Fiverr is a site that allows you to search for and interview many freelance virtual assistants. While this can be a cheaper option, it often takes more time to find and vet a virtual assistant you are happy working with.
General or Specialized Real Estate Virtual Assistant. Deciding if a general or specialized real estate virtual assistant would be a more beneficial addition to your team is an important decision. Many general virtual assistants are able to learn tasks if you are willing to teach. So, if you believe you can easily teach someone a task you would like them to do, even if it is a specific real estate centered task, it may be worth teaching a general VA to do it. Evaluate everything you want the virtual assistant to do and decide if it is necessary to have real estate expertise.
Long Term or Project Based. You have the option of either hiring a virtual assistant long term or on a project to project basis. Which option will benefit you more is entirely based on your situation. If you are looking for some help to get you through the month without sacrificing customer service, then a project-based VA will be more beneficial. Although if that is an every month circumstance, then a long term VA would be a better investment. Evaluate your situation and be realistic about determining the level of assistance you are needing.
Are You Ready to Commit to a Virtual Assistant?
A VA frees up your time so you can commit it to revenue-generating tasks. They are an underused valuable resource in real estate. Virtual assistants can be extremely affordable for the work they do, and virtual assistant companies will often do the hourly tracking for you, taking another task off your plate. It is worth your time to consider how a VA could increase your productivity, and change the way you do business.
This article has been contributed by Madison Clifton from Transactly.