When you have a business, the holiday season can be a make-or-break time for your sales and your stress levels. Here are a few ways a virtual assistant helps you enjoy a better holiday period.
Researching Trends and Markets
You grow sales by responding to market conditions and having the right product at the right time. Plan ahead for the holiday crunch by launching investigations into the trends brewing in your niche market.
Have your virtual assistant research and report on the following types of knowledge to support your holiday season strategy:
- Projected purchasing trends
- Potential shipping conflicts
- Supply-chain particulars
- Forecasts of holiday weather patterns
- Holiday traditions in new markets
- Income and tax rules in new markets
- Holiday strategies and products of competitors
Your virtual assistant is a great research partner, since they can respond quickly to your inquiries and questions. On-site staff may be too busy or distracted with other duties to perform thorough research. Your virtual assistant can act as a dedicated investigator when you need the facts and the forecasts right away, then shift back to other assistant tasks as needed.
Enhancing Customer Support
For some companies, holiday orders become overwhelming. Customers come out of the woodwork demanding your best work, while your loyal old customers want the same level of service they've always enjoyed from your firm in slower periods.
Your virtual assistant is a great buffer to handle extra phone traffic and provide caring customer service. If you have an important client who wants answers, but you're tied up with another big client at the same time, your virtual assistant can help smooth out your absence and relay important messages.
Having a live, caring person to deal with your big clients is important to maintain all of your business relationships over the holidays. The worst thing you can do for your business reputation is avoid taking calls from important customers. The clients may be as stressed out as you are, and your avoidance may be viewed as sketchiness or deceit.
Let your virtual assistant handle important holiday-related business calls when you're away from your desk. Your virtual assistant is a true blessing in that regard whether you're meeting with a new project coordinator or you're taking your own holiday time off to be with family. You know your clients are getting their answers from an actual person and not an impersonal recording.
Keeping Social Media A-Buzz
Your social media presence is a key selling tool during the holidays. Launch new products, sales, and discounts from your social media accounts throughout the holiday season for sustained sales throughout the period.
Task your virtual assistant with monitoring and/or creating your holiday-season social media campaigns. Your virtual assistant can track social media traffic, website conversions, click-through rates, most popular posts, and other data to help you respond appropriately to social media trends.
When you run special holiday promotions, hire your virtual assistant to remain live on all social media platforms to provide real-time feedback to posters and customers. Let your virtual assistant engage with your customers to make their online time with your company feel personal and meaningful.
Vigilant monitoring of your social media accounts pays off in several ways. First, your virtual assistant quickly deletes negative posts and blocks troublemakers from harming your image. Second, your virtual assistant reports trends back to you, so you can respond rapidly to social media fads and industry-related news.
Helping With Holiday Chill
As noted above, your virtual assistant can keep the business phone lines open even when you're not there to take calls during the holiday season. However, your personal life deserves a bit of attention during the season of cheer, too. Your virtual assistant can increase your personal relaxation levels throughout the season with additional helpful tasks.
Your virtual assistant can help you spend quality time with your loved ones during the holidays in a number of key ways. First, your virtual assistant helps you create and maintain a sane holiday schedule.
Your virtual assistant provides holiday cheer by performing the following tasks for you:
- Booking travel dates on planes, trains, and cruises
- Reserving rental vehicles and taxis
- Reserving vacation lodging
- Ordering clothes, food, and gifts for you and family
- Scheduling gift-wrapping services
- Scheduling maid service
- Hiring holiday decorators for home or business
- Making dinner reservations
- Purchasing event and performance tickets
Your stress levels don't go up when someone else is waiting on hold with the airlines or the car rental company. You're free to focus on more important business and family duties when you delegate personal and business holiday tasks to your trusted virtual assistant.
Lower your stress this holiday season by hiring a competent, friendly virtual assistant through Uassist.ME today. The hiring process is simple and quick, and you can choose from several virtual assistant plans to find the best solution to meet your company's holiday goals.