How to Work with a Virtual Assistant

How can my virtual assistant save me from waiting on hold?

You have an extremely busy life and every minute of your time is very valuable. That’s why you really don’t like to call companies like Verizon that will require you to wait on hold. Well, there’s good news, your virtual assistant can call Verizon and wait on hold for you.

Whether you need to check your statement from last month, change your plan because you’ll be traveling internationally for a few weeks, upgrade your plan or equipment, etc, there is no need for you to have to do it personally. Simply give your virtual assistant your Verizon phone number and pin and she could do everything for you. Not only will she save you the time from calling, but she’ll also relieve you of the stress of having to deal with customer service representatives.

Verizon wireless is just one of the many examples of the companies your virtual assistant can call for you. Your virtual assistant can call any organization, whether it is merely to find out information, to change a plan, order a subscription, etc. Rather than you having to wait on hold and deal with all of the customer service representatives, let your assistant handle those tasks for you.

How can I have my work phone ring on my virtual assistant's USA VOIP phone (in Israel)?

There are several phone companies that will allow you to have a toll-free work number (i.e. an 800 #, 888 #, or 877#), and they come with a number of beneficial features. Listed below are some of the most common features:

• Call Forwarding & Call Following: You can have your 800 # ring on your cell phone, your office phone, and your assistant's phone all simultaneously. Or, you can set up a schedule so that your 800 # will ring on these phone lines in a certain order.
• Multiple Extensions: One great feature of these toll-free phone companies is that they allow multiple extensions. Having multiple extensions on your line can give your company a much larger “appearance” than it really has. For example, you can have one extension for yourself, one extension for your virtual assistant, another extension for a co-worker, etc.
• Notifications of Voicemail: The voicemail notifications can come to your email inbox (as an MP3 file) or onto your phone, whichever you prefer.
• Multiple Phone Numbers: Most of the companies allow you to choose more than one phone number for the same account. This way, you can choose a toll-free number and a local number. Or, you can have two different toll-free numbers (for different products, for example), but they will both be part of your account.

A few such companies that provide services as described above are OneBox.com, RingCentral.com, EVoiceReceptionist.com, and Kall8.com.

In addition, what's great about these companies is they all have online accounts that are easy to manage and change, and your virtual assistant can take care of the management for you.

How can your virtual assistant help you network online?

Whether you’re already signed up on online networking sites or you want to get started, your virtual assistant can help you upload and maintain your profiles on these sites. How can your virtual assistant help you network?

• Make sure you have a profile set up on LinkedIn.com, Facebook.com, and SavortheSuccess.com. If you do not have a profile, have your virtual assistant set one up. Give your virtual assistant the necessary information or go back and fill in what’s missing later.
• Have your virtual assistant maintain your profile. She should make sure to edit your profile so that it is always up to date and displays the correct information. She should also invite contacts and look for postings relevant to your business.
• Have your virtual assistant download and read the How to Use Social Networking for Business document. She could share with you tips and tricks to becoming a successful social networker!

Social networking will help you maintain client loyalty, expand your client base, and strengthen business partnerships. Have your virtual assistant help you keep your profiles accurately updated and experience the rewards of social networking.

How can my virtual assistant schedule my appointments without looking in my emails?

Are you aware of how long it takes to schedule an appointment? On average, you have to send and receive 6 emails in order to get an appointment on the calendar. Wouldn't it be great to have someone else take care of all of these emails?

The good news is that you can have your virtual assistant take care of the scheduling for you, and she doesn't even have to go into your email inbox. Here's how:

First of all you should make sure your virtual assistant has an email account in your domain such as sally@yourdomain.com. Or, you can create a separate email just for appointments, such as: appointments@yourdomain.com.

Once your virtual assistant has access to a work email address, you can do two things to have her schedule your appointments:

• You can manually forward all appointment related emails in your inbox to your virtual assistant’s work email address. She can then access your calendar and schedule away.
• You can set up filters that will automatically send certain emails to your virtual assistant. If you have a Gmail account, to set up filters, go to “Settings”, click on the blue tab that says “Filters”, and then click on “Create a new filter.” This will allow you to choose key words will automatically filter those emails containing those words to the email address provided. For example, you can use words such as: dinner, lunch, meeting, phone call, etc.

However you decide to allow your virtual assistant to access your appointment related emails; she will be able to save you a great deal of time by handling all of your appointments for you.

How Can my Virtual Assistant Send Holiday Cards for Me?

As the holidays quickly approach and you realize that you have many clients whom you would like to send holiday cards to, you may feel overwhelmed. “If only my virtual assistant can do this for me” you may be thinking. Well, she can!

There are many online card stores that will allow your assistant to mail printed greeting cards to all of your clients.

• SendOutCards.com is a great service which allows you to send out cards to everyone on your contact list. All you have to do is choose your card, write your message, and press send. SendOutCards.com will print it, stuff it, and mail it for you. There are hundreds of templates to choose from, but if you are unsatisfied with the options you can design your own. In addition, SendOutCards.com has many cool features such as uploading your personal handwriting as the font and sending gifts such as cookies along with the card. They even has several plans to guarantee that something will fit your business needs.
• CardStore.com is another online card store, which allows you to pick a card and send it in print form anywhere in the USA for reasonable rates. CardStore.com allows you to customize the greeting and save your template to send to multiple people. In addition, they give discounts if you buy the same card in bulk.

With online card shopping, your assistant can send cards to your clients for all occasions.

How can my virtual assistant help me clear off all of the papers on my desk?

You may find your desk covered with mail and papers that you’d rather not deal with. You finally hired a virtual assistant to help you organize your life and your business but you feel stuck. Your virtual assistant is 6,000 miles away. How can she possibly help you organize your desk? It’s simple: Use eFax.com!

What is eFax.com?
eFax.com is an internet based faxing software that allows your virtual assistant to receive faxes directly into her email inbox as an email attachment. Rather than having to pay international rates every time you want to fax something to your assistant, your virtual assistant can set up a US fax number for free (to RECEIVE faxes only). To do so, she should go here: www.efax.com/en/efax/twa/signupFree?currency=USD.

How do I get my papers to her?
Simply open any mail (that comes in your actual mail box) that you don’t want to deal with and put it into your fax machine. Fax it to your virtual assistant's US eFax.com number. Once your virtual assistant gets the fax, she will handle the papers for you. Being able to fax all of these documents to your virtual assistant will help clear off your desk!

Can my virtual assistant fax out from her email as well?
With the free eFax.com service, your assistant can only receive faxes and cannot fax back. However, there are services such as RingCentral.com and Faxaway.com that allow you (or your virtual assistant) to be able to fax from email as well. These services are not free. However, they literally enable you to fax documents from your email account, without having to login to an internet web site.

Hopefully, with this tip, you'll enjoy being able to clear off your desk while your assistant handles your paperwork for you!

You can call her just as easily as you're able to call your spouse or your friends -- on her USA phone line! Our clients save their virtual assistants' phone numbers in their cell phones. When they're driving or on a walk, they can speak with their virtual assistants just as easily as they can call a friend!

Each of our American virtual assistants have her own USA phone line with unlimited calling to and from the United States. How is that possible? Through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_IP for more info.)

What is VoIP?
VoIP is a general term used to describe a system in which voice communications are delivered through the internet or other network systems. Through this technology, your virtual assistant can have a phone number with an area code anywhere in the United States and both make and receive calls with that number. There are many different providers unlimited calling plans.

Plus, VoIP technology is so clear that it sounds as if your assistant is in the room next to you!

How can someone who is 6,000 miles away from me access my computer?

If you have a software program that sits on your computer, your American virtual assistant can easily log into your computer and access these software programs.

One of the easiest ways to do so is by using LogMeIn.com:

• LogMeIn.com is a free software program that enables your American virtual assistant to login to your computer and access any of the software programs located there on the hard drive. It's free and easy to set up. By being able to access all of your files on your computer, your virtual assistant can work directly on your files, even while you are sleeping. As a result, you'll have more free time while your virtual assistant handles these tasks for you.

Another great way for you and your virtual assistant to share documents is by using one of the free "Web 2.0" software programs that enable you to share and access documents online, including:

• Google Docs: Google Docs (an online word processing software) and Google Spreadsheet (an online spreadsheet software program) enable you to share and edit documents with your virtual assistant. Both you and your virtual assistant can update the documents simultaneously. Or, you can each edit them at your leisure. What's great about Google Docs is that you no longer have to email back and forth different versions of the documents that you're working on. Google Docs will automatically keep the most recent version online.

Using these free software programs makes working with a virtual assistant who is 6,000 miles away as easy as working with an assistant who is working in the next cubicle over from you.

How can my virtual assistant schedule appointments for me?

This is probably one of the most common tasks requested of a virtual assistant. With the free technology available, it's easy for your assistant to do so. Here's how.

1. Share Your Calendar with Your Assistant: Whether you use Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook, you'll need to give your virtual assistant access to your calendar. You can do this by:

1. Sharing your calendar with them (for Google), or
2. Having your assistant use LogMeIn.com to access your calendar (for Outlook).

2. Have Your Clients Contact Your Virtual Assistant Directly: Your clients can call your assistant (on her American phone line) or e-mail her directly to set up appointments with you. To get this process going when you initially start working with a virtual assistant, you may just have to forward the emails about appointments to your assistant.

Having your assistant set appointments for you is easy and simple. It saves at least 5 - 10 minutes/appointment, which translates into time that you can use to work with clients!

How can your American virtual assistant, who is sitting in her home office in Israel, mail a letter for you in the US? It's simple -- she uses www.mailaletter.com.

How It Works
MailaLetter.com is based in New Jersey. So whatever file (Word document or PDF) that your assistant uploads to their site will be printed (in black and white or color) and sent anywhere in the USA or internationally. Pretty cool, huh?

Printing in Both Color and Black & White
Mailaletter.com will print in color or in black and white, depending on the doc that your virtual assistant uploads. The rates are the same for either.

You can even print both the letter and the envelope in color.

Mail a Letter Will Use Your Own Envelopes and Stationery
If you'd like Mail a Letter to use your own envelopes and your personalized stationery, they will do so at no additional cost.

Or, if you'd like them to print your logo in color on their envelopes, they will do so, too, at no additional cost.

Contact them at support@mailaletter.com to arrange it.

Rates

1. Domestic Mailings: The rates are $0.99 to print, stuff, and mail a one-page letter anywhere in the US. It's only $0.25 for each additional page.
2. International Mailings: The rates are $1.99 to print, stuff, and mail a one-page letter anywhere in the world. It's only $0.25 for each additional page.

Enjoy the freedom of knowing that all of your letters are being taken care of, and find yourself with more free time!