It is true that a good PA, whether employed in your office or Virtual PA services like the ones offered by https://www.mushroombiz.co.uk/homepage/services/virtual-pa/ can become like your right arm. They can take away many of the tasks that leave you tied to your desk or telephone and unable to get our and meet prospective customers and clients and to do what you do best in order to help your business grow.
There are a number of things that you should ask a prospective PA/VA and here are some ideas to help you choose.
- You should find out what they feel their core skills are so that you can match up what they can offer with the requirements of the role that you are looking for them to take up. Where possible you only want to be training someone in the specifics of your business sector and business software that you are using you don’t want to be teaching them basic tasks such as Microsoft applications and customer service skills.
- When you are looking at Virtual Assistants it is important that you find out where they are located and what time zone that they are in so that you can ensure that they match up with your requirements in terms of core hour working. You should also find out what there available hours are to ascertain whether they are going to be working for you a set number of hours each day or solid days being dedicated to your work.
- Find out their preferred methods to communicate is also essential to ensuring a good working relationship between and also to avoid any frustration should you not be able to get hold of them to discuss an urgent matter.
- Asking them how they prioritise their workload is a good way to work out how they handle pressure and whether they are going to be a self-starter who can work on their own initiative or whether you are going to have to prioritise their workload for them. It is also a good idea to give your VA an indication of when you need each piece of work to be completed by so that they can schedule their work and ensure that they are meeting the deadlines that you need. Communication is key.
There are many other questions that you may want to ask in relation to how they deal with difficult customers and specifics relating to your business sector. The answers to these questions will help you find the perfect VA for you and your business.
