There is an old saying that 80% of your sales revenue come from 20% of your clients. Also, another, not so great statistic, is that 80% of the work in your business is done by 20% of your staff.
These statistics bring to light two of the main complaints of any business looking to add to their team—the cost and investment it takes to bring on a new permanent employee. When you factor in the hidden costs like training and employee benefits, it’s a hard pill to swallow, KNOWING that, give or take, 80% of your staff is not there giving their all, all the time. This rings true especially when you are busting your behind getting your life-long-dream, still in that crazy roller-coaster ride called the start-up phase, off the ground. Anyone who has ever started a business knows that you as the entrepreneur, is BUSY. You are most probably dividing your time between operations, marketing, financial management & HR – heck you may just as well be the tea lady!
The dilemma which presents itself is that you need sales to grow the business. Entrepreneurs are not necessarily great at selling. Or perhaps you are a hot shot salesperson, but don’t have the time or desire to nurture and grow the relationships with your newly landed clients. The great news is that a Virtual Assistant hire is a straightforward, simple way to add to your sales team, without having to worry about hidden costs. Virtual Assistants are paid for the hours they work, whether it is 3 hours or 8 hours per day. They will happily take over all the tasks that you don’t want to manage yourself.
A Sales VA can, to name a few, run with customer relationship management, customer support, prospecting, managing your sales funnel, managing leads through social media, and much more. The question you need to ask yourself is, what do I need my Virtual Sales Assistant to do to bring VALUE to my business? Once you have figured out this, you are ready to interview your selection of candidates and choose a Virtual Assistant with the exact required experience.
What Can You Outsource to a Virtual Sales Assistant?
At this stage you must be pondering the question – What exactly can I outsource to someone in this line of work? Surprisingly, there is a whole lot of work which you can hand over to a Sales VA. Think of a Virtual Sales Assistant as roughly a Marketing Assistant; they’re not only good at taking on tasks that you would rather not do, but they can add to yours as well as your existing sales team’s capacity in virtually (excuse the pun) anything that has to do with marketing and sales.
Let’s get a little more specific:
- Telemarketing: This is not something you may always enjoy doing, but it’s often a necessary part of doing business. You can easily hire a remote worker who not only really loves calling people all day but is also highly skilled at this! A virtual sales assistant can make outgoing calls to businesses on your behalf, as well as manage inbound calls. Calling software such as Dialpad, has made this easy. Gone are the days of having to onboard someone in a full-time capacity to sit in your office and make calls. This way, qualified leads can be passed on to yourself or your top salespeople to do what they do best – close new deals!
- CRM skills: The management of customer relationship software is usually key to adding to your sales funnel and creating a profitable and successful pipeline. This is something that you can outsource to an expert Virtual Sales Assistant. Give them the responsibility of making sure that every customer’s data entry is continuously updated with the latest information. You can also put your Sales VA in charge of following up with clients you haven’t heard from in a while or run email campaigns using your CRM software.
- Outsourcing marketing strategy: Has your marketing strategy been stuck in a rut & aimless? Business owners can not only outsource basic marketing tasks but also outsource strategic thought when it comes to running the sales team and streamlining the sales processes. The fresh mind of an ‘outsider’ may just well be what your marketing strategy requires to give it a creative boost.
- Sales assistant services: If your sales & marketing team needs an assistant who can grasp the basics of your most common sales & marketing tasks, a Virtual Sales Assistant can leverage their skills and experience to join your team nearly seamlessly. The VA can even serve in an executive assistant role for the Sales or Marketing Manager.
- Social Media Management: Your Sales VA can be put in charge of managing all your social media platforms. Think Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Now, more than ever, business owners have to think creatively when it comes to running a successful, profitable business. Making use of a qualified Virtual Assistant will unquestionably add great VALUE to your business sans the risk and hidden costs of permanent employees.