If you have a virtual assistant, these tweaks may just transform the way you work with your virtual assistant and have your relationship with them become even more successful.
Welcome to Savvy Sessions #7.
Today's topic is "7 Little Tweaks That Will Transform How You Use A Virtual Assistant".
Number one, one of the key things you need to do with a virtual assistant is have some kind of joint to-do list. That keeps all your tasks visible for you to keep an eye on or delegate, and for the virtual assistant to know what they are up to. And they can even write comments on any joint to-do list to update you where it's at. That also saves the time of you ringing to check in, "Hey where you are at with this?". You can see they're doing it, you can see the progress. And then both of you know where you're at.
The second one is to communicate and communicate loads. As much as possible. If you feel like you're over-communicating then it's probably about right. It's not going to work unless you communicate. Up the communication and just see how that pays off.
The third one, with things like passwords, even credit cards, you can share those with your virtual assistant through a password vault, like LastPass. It's a really good way. You don't even have to give your password to your virtual assistant, you just put it in LastPass and share it with your virtual assistant. And it's really handy for handing over credit card details as well. So if they need to book flights or purchase anything on your behalf, they don't actually have your card number but they can use it.
The next one, number four, is learning to delegate and delegate well. If you delegate, don't then go in and do that task on your own without your virtual assistant because you've seen that it needs to be done and think "Oh, I could just quickly do that". Actually give the details to your virtual assistant that you need to give for the task to be done and be done how you want it done. Making sure that it's really clear and concise. Also, give a deadline of when you expect it to be done by. Like, is the deadline movable, is it fixed, does it have to be done by then? Just giving the information that someone would need to set them up for success to actually do that task well.
Another thing, number five, is always provide feedback. Any feedback is always welcome to a virtual assistant so they know that they're on the right track. And it's better to say "Hey, that's not quite right, can you tweak it?" As opposed to just seeing something and going "Hhhmm, not sure about that". So, always give feedback. Positive and constructive.
You can't expect the virtual assistant to do a really good job if you're not giving them that feedback and giving them the opportunity to do better next time.
The next one, number six, is trust. Trust that they want to do a good job. Trust that they are capable of doing the job. Trust that they will and that they want to do the job. Lots of trust in handing over the information that they need, the passwords that they need. Just trust that they've got it under control, and have that conversation with them about how this is scary for you to be handing over control, to please just bear with you and help you along the way. Just building that relationship and trusting your virtual assistant can really go a long way to helping the relationship grow.
Tied in with that is our final one, to give them all the details. The more information you can give about a task means they don't have to come back to you with any questions about how to do it. Don't be shy to give as much detail as you can because then they are very crystal clear about your expectations, what you need, and how they can go about completing a task for you.
Delegating well is not just giving all the details but it's also actually showing someone how to do the task. Create a video in Loom that shows them and teaches them how to do that task so that they can actually see what they need to do and they can refer back to it later. Investing that time up front, giving them all the instructions, delegating really well will absolutely pay dividends down the track and actually have those tasks being completed correctly the first time and make it smooth sailing with your virtual assistant.
Thank you very much for watching. That was Savvy Sessions #7.
See you next time!
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