All jobs come with additional tasks that make the initial job more laborious. The real estate industry is filled with passionate agents who are motivated to sell and break records. They excel when dealing with customer interactions and can quickly switch between different clients on the fly. They don’t however enjoy being bogged down in the paperwork, to be fair, not too many people enjoy the backend tasks associated with sales, I sure don’t. That’s where a virtual assistant (VA) comes in.

What Is A Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant or VA is an assistant that works remotely. Think of them as a one-stop-shop, they don’t specialize in one area but instead have numerous skills that allow them to fill many positions. They can do tasks ranging from appointment setting, organizing calendars, updating listings, content creation and editing, and the list goes on. They focus on the backend tasks so you can focus on the front-facing tasks that you’re passionate about.

The Value Of A Properly Trained VA

A VA can bring value if they’re trained properly. As mentioned before, they can keep everything organized. This means never missing another appointment, never losing any documents, and more importantly, you get to stay on top of your game, going from one client to the next, seamlessly because the backend weight of your job is being lifted. On top of organizational skills, they can create content for you as well. Things like blog posts and graphics can also be handled by them. Having pictures on your listings that are edited to look as clean as possible will help entice people, as cleaner images draw more attention than pictures taken from a camera phone and directly uploaded onto your site.

Setting Proper Goals and Communication

In order to get the most out of your new remote staff, you need to be clear on what their goals and milestones are. Without clear and measurable markers, you won’t be able to measure how much value they’re bringing to your business. It also allows you to easily engage with your new VA. Keeping communication with your assistant is important for two reasons, to ensure they’re developing into the type of VA you want and to foster loyalty. This seems counterintuitive as you’re hiring a VA to eliminate the backend tasks not so you have to babysit someone. Communicating with your staff could be asking what your schedule looks like for the week to simple office socialization like how their weekend went, are they okay, topics like that.

Tools For Success

Having real estate marketing tools in place makes everyone’s’ lives easier. Your assistant can handle working on a CRM so you don’t have to, so giving them access to your specific CRM would give you even more time to go out and make more sales. Having a communication system that allows your VA to have a voice is also a great tool. It solves the communication problem and it also empowers your staff, giving them the ability to voice out their concerns. Organizational tools other than your calendars, such as Trello or Hootsuite gives your VA the opportunity to be more productive and it saves them time, allowing them to perform other tasks, which in turn means you have more time for sales.

With all that freed-up time, you’ll be able to ramp up your sales numbers. Of course, it will take time for everything to stabilize and become self-sustaining, but the end result is what you’re after. Don’t think of your VA as a sidekick, this isn’t a Batman and Robin situation, it’s more of a Marvel’s Avengers situation. You’re a team and you’ll get more done and perform at your best when working as a cohesive unit.