take before your new assistant learns the ropes of your business. Training someone takes time, time you might not always have. And while we guarantee that your new VA is quick on his/her toes, responsive and clever, there’s only so much he/she will be able to do without your guidance. While most services will tell you their VAs will be ready to go when hired, our experience has taught us that while hiring someone that fits your profile is key, the amount of time you invest in training your assistant during their first month is directly proportional to the quality of assistance and/or amount of help you’ll get in the future.
“But wait,” you might think, “I’m actually trying to save time by hiring a VA. Now you’re telling me I should take time off from running my business to train them?” That is a valid concern, but just like you have to invest money to make money, dedicating all the time you can to train your VA is key for them to become dependable, knowledgeable and independent sooner.
Among other things, your virtual assistant works to:
In order to do this, they need to know how you like things done, and in order to do so, you need to take the time to train and communicate. If you’re too busy to do that now, don’t give up on the idea of getting a VA. You can start delegating things that don’t require much training, such as making reservations or keeping your calendar updated. This will free up a lot of your time, so that then you can invest some of it in better trainings.
Last week, we celebrated Uassist.ME’s 7 year anniversary, and throughout this time, we have noticed and learned the patterns that make the relationships with our clients either succeed or fail. Clients that, during their first month, spend time at least 2 hours a week training their assistant last, on average, 7 times longer than those who don’t spend as much time training.
You’ve probably heard the saying “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. Well, the same happens with your assistant. The more you train them, the more you are teaching them to fish.
We have clients that tell us that without their assistant, they would go crazy. We love hearing this, because these are the people that are taking the most advantage of the virtual assistant experience. These are the clients that have invested the most time and dedication in helping their VA learn the ropes of their business.
So, whenever you hire an assistant, remote or in-house, remember to invest time in training them right from the start. You’ll thank us later.