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15 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business
Virtual Barbara (C) Copyright (May 2013) All Rights Reserved
15 Ways a Virtual Assistant
Can Help Your Business

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15 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business
Virtual Barbara (C) Copyright (May 2013) All Rights Reserved
Welcome to the World of Virtual Assistants
In today’s world businesses are running at the speed of light. It’s a fast paced and constantly changing
society. That means that today’s business have to stay on their toes in order to remain ahead of the
competition.
Part of keeping that competitive edge is the utilization of virtual assistants. This E-book highlights some
of the ways you can utilize a Virtual Assistant (VA). There are surely more ways to utilize a VA, but I
have narrowed down a list of the Top 15 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business.
Many may not know the actual meaning of a Virtual Assistant (VA). A Virtual Assistant (typically
abbreviated to VA, also called a Virtual Office Assistant) is generally self-employed and
provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients remotely from
a home office. Because Virtual Assistants are independent contractors rather than employees, clients
are not responsible for any employee-related taxes, insurance or benefits, except in the context that those
indirect expenses are included in the VAs fees. Clients also avoid the logistical problem of providing
extra office space, equipment or supplies. Clients pay for 100% productive work, and can work with
Virtual Assistants, individually, or in multi-VA firms to meet their exact needs.
I hope you will enjoy this one of many E-books that I will construct by experience.
Virtual Barbara
Ephrata, PA 17522
717-271-8065
Email Barbara

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15 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business
Virtual Barbara (C) Copyright (May 2013) All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
Welcome to the World of Virtual Assistants...........................................................................................................2
Appointment Scheduling .........................................................................................................................................4
Blogging...................................................................................................................................................................4
Customer Support ....................................................................................................................................................4
Document Creation ..................................................................................................................................................5
Email Management ..................................................................................................................................................5
Email and Internet Marketing..................................................................................................................................6
Event Planning.........................................................................................................................................................6
Internet Research .....................................................................................................................................................6
Real Estate Assistance .............................................................................................................................................7
Social Media ............................................................................................................................................................7
Press Releases ..........................................................................................................................................................7
Proofreading.............................................................................................................................................................8
Database Management.............................................................................................................................................8
Website Maintenance...............................................................................................................................................8
Billing and Invoicing ...............................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................................................9

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15 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business
Virtual Barbara (C) Copyright (May 2013) All Rights Reserved
The big question most business owners and managers want to know is “how can a VA assist my business”? It’s
not an uncommon question. While VA’s have been around for years, many businesses are still unaware that
utilizing a VA can actually enhance their business. Here are some of the ways:
Appointment Scheduling
Do appointments need to be emailed or called for appointment
confirmations? Let your VA email or call to confirm.
Does your business run on appointments and scheduled time? Share a
calendar with your VA and they can manage your daily calendar and
schedule appointments for you.
Do you have clients that need information on a daily or weekly basis?
Have your VA maintain contact with them and supply information.
You have a business that needs customer support or quick phone
follow ups and don't have the time to return calls yourself. Message
your VA with the information and they can make the call.
Need extra support with personal things outside of the business that get
left behind, ask your VA to call for doctors and dentist appointments.
Blogging
A VA can help you set up a blog.
If you write your own blog posts, a VA can take the
pressure off of you by helping you with your blog posts.
Sometimes it's hard to come up with content, if you have
brainstorming sessions with her/him they can possibly
give you new ideas. That's what they are there for.
Customer Support
A VA can receive phone calls for you while you are out of town, in a
meeting, or away from the office.
A VA can help respond to routine requests through your online customer
support system, online chat, email, or by phone.
A VA can help you confirm upcoming appointments by phone or by email,
helping you maintain your schedule.

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15 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business
Virtual Barbara (C) Copyright (May 2013) All Rights Reserved
A VA can help you get appointments scheduled, or even make the contacts to reschedule any appointments
necessary.
A VA can help you send reminders to your clients, or to yourself for upcoming meetings or appointments. They
can send reminder cards through mail, email, or make a reminder phone call.
A VA can help you with routine follow-up correspondence, reminders and communications to clients.
A VA can assist you with contacting your clients for any missing information on forms or submissions.
Document Creation
Do you have PDF documents that need to be revised and
updated? Send the information to your VA and let them
handle the formatting for you.
A VA can help you create printable forms and documents
utilizing your company letterhead, styling and formatting.
Email Management
A VA can help you add emails to your Task List or Calendar to remind
you to complete specific items at a later time.
A VA can help you sort through and delete the dreadful SPAM,
freeing up more space in your inbox.
A VA can help ensure that you see the important emails prior to the
emails that do not require your immediate attention utilizing rules and
assignments.
A VA can help you organize your inbox utilizing Folders, making it
easier to find and sort through emails now and in the future.
A VA can create and send emails to your subscriber list so they can get all the latest updates and current
promotions offered by your company.
A VA can reply to emails with general questions about your company and only escalate the important emails to
you. If there are more than just you, then your VA can forward important emails to the correct people in your
company.
A VA can help you with email follow-up correspondence with customers or clients.
A VA can filter incoming mail types into different category folders for later review.
A VA can create and set up auto-responders for immediate response letting your customers know their email
was received and when they can expect a response from your company.

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15 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business
Virtual Barbara (C) Copyright (May 2013) All Rights Reserved
Email and Internet Marketing
Email newsletters take time, a VA can help you set up your
emailing lists within your campaign.
A VA can write your e-newsletter. Researching online, catchy
titles and great content is important to an attractive newsletter.
A VA can consistently get your e-news out each week.
Consistency is a vital key in email marketing.
When it comes to internet marketing, VA’s can assist in
getting your business the valuable exposure it needs. From placing ads and banners to handling linkbuilding and
reputation management today’s VA’s bring a high skillset to the table.
Event Planning
A VA can help you plan a variety of different occasions for
your business and personal use. Meetings, product
launches, charity events and more are all things that your
VA can coordinate.
A VA can be the main point of contact for any vendors,
service providers or entertainers for your next event. This
can help immensely when you need to focus on other tasks,
and still need things to go according to plans.
A VA can help deal with any crisis’ that may arise when
dealing with the hectic task of coordinating the many
parties involved with creating an event.
A VA can help you search for the best venues, rentals, vendors and more. So you don’t have to waste your time,
and add more to your hectic schedule.
A VA can help you negotiate contracts with venues, rental companies and vendors as most Event Coordinators
are experienced with pricing and planning.
Internet Research
A VA can help you research data on products you are thinking of
selling, purchasing, or even the competition’s products.
A VA can help you research networking events in your area, research
who is attending, and who the speakers are to help sort through the
events you should attend.
A VA can help you research prices and specifications on office
equipment, software, advertising, seminars & business tools.

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15 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business
Virtual Barbara (C) Copyright (May 2013) All Rights Reserved
A VA can help you research your competition, their marketing efforts, online presence and more.
A VA can help utilize the internet to provide you with pricing quotes for any of your business needs, and
personal needs.
Real Estate Assistance
You send VA new listings, changes to current listings, price reductions, etc. VA
enters them into MLS and your potential clients are e-mailed about updates.
You need a virtual tour of your properties a VA can arranges panoramic visual
tours of your homes for sale.
You'd like to show an attractive listing presentation to your potential clients and
a VA can create a PowerPoint presentation that you can show from your
computer and create a CD you can leave with your clients.
A VA can create Thank-You notes, birthday notes, Home Purchase Anniversary
cards and sends them on your behalf, so you can thank those who have referred
you clients and make sure your name stays at the top of their minds.
Social Media
A VA can work with you to help you establish all of your social
media accounts these may include Twitter, Facebook, Linked-in,
Google + and many more.
A VA can research, create and schedule social media posts and
status updates at the scheduled dates and times that you prefer.
Whether it’s once a week or twice a day, your virtual assistant
can handle all of your posts so that you don’t have to. This ends
up giving you more time to run your business.
Press Releases
A VA can help you write a press release to help you announce a new
service or product.
Are you speaking at an engagement, putting on a seminar or training?
Your VA can create a press release to share the information.
Is there a controversy surrounding your industry? Use this to your
advantage by displaying your expertise and sharing your opinion in a
press release. Your VA can help you put your thoughts into words.

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15 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business
Virtual Barbara (C) Copyright (May 2013) All Rights Reserved
Proofreading
A VA can help you by proofreading your letters being sent to
clients. Proofreading can really help support your credibility
when writing professional documents.
A VA can help you proofread your monthly newsletters and
email blasts that you send out to clients.
A VA can both print out your document and read it on the
computer screen, as people tend to read differently on screen
than on paper.
Database Management
Today’s businesses use databases in a variety of ways. They
often contain crucial information about company business as
well as the customers and clients they serve.
Maintaining these databases is an important part of business.
However these database updates often get swept to the side to
focus on other things. This is where having a VA can be
beneficial. VA’s can handle database updates for you so that
your database is always current.
Website Maintenance
Many virtual assistants have some web design skills. While most
are not web developers, VA’s tend to know enough to go in and
make changes to existing websites.
So they can do things like add videos and photos as well as change
content.

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15 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Your Business
Virtual Barbara (C) Copyright (May 2013) All Rights Reserved
Billing and Invoicing
VA’s can assist you with bookkeeping tasks. So when it comes to
billing your clients, following up on past due invoices and tracking
payments.
There’s no need to worry about finding time to bill your clients
because having a virtual assistant is an extension of you. A VA fills
in the gaps in your business processes. They can help keep your
billing systems running smoothly so that money keeps coming in.
Conclusion
Virtual assistants can do the work of any traditional
office assistant. Outside of the face-to-face contact
with your customers, VA’s are a vital part of today’s
businesses. They can muli-task and wear multiple
hats so that you don’t have to. The best part is that
today’s VA’s works with businesses worldwide. VA’s
can work across multiple time zones depending on
their location. You can work with one VA or have
multiple VA’s working for you.
VA’s today offer a wide variety of skills because of the nature of working in the virtual world. This can make
them a valuable asset to any business. If you find yourself being stretched thin then you may want to consider
utilizing a virtual assistant.