There’s so much talk about virtual Business Support Specialists now, but even if you wanted to hire one, how do you know what work to give them? Well, we have come up with a list of ideas for you to consider.
Diary Management
Are you busy with a capital B? Struggling to remember what day it is and how many meetings you have booked or whether someone’s appraisal is due? Get your BSS to manage your diary. Missing appointments? They can ensure that all diary entries are up to date and inform you of such meetings ahead of time.
Meeting Scheduling
The leads are coming in and there’s business development to do or the clients need updating on project changes, whatever the reason is, you have meetings. Dealing with all this yourself can be a real headache and especially if they then want to reschedule the meeting or you need to book a room or refreshments if it isn’t online. So, let the BSS take the strain and deal with all the meeting scheduling for you. They will even remind you when to turn up and where.
CRM Management
Any good business needs a CRM system, a database of all your clients and potential clients. But it needs updating regularly to be useful, and when you get busy, which is the aim, then it becomes a task that often gets overlooked. This can cause you problems down the line. By outsourcing the management of your CRM you can ensure everything is up to date – and you can see what stage a client’s work is at if it is logged onto the CRM correctly, or simply click a button to get their contact details if you need to give them a call or chase up some leads, or perhaps get your BSS to chase them for you!
Personal Assistant
Like a more traditional PA role BSS’s may be virtual but we can do this too. All the work related tasks, plus things like booking the cattery for the beloved pet when you go on holiday, finding you a new cleaner, ordering flowers for your significant other, it’s all covered in the PA’s role. That is the beauty of it!
Inbox management
So many emails… you can’t even face looking at the inbox on a Monday, OR you are catching yourself constantly replying even at weekends just to keep up. And none of it is filed, you have missed a couple of new leads and frankly you’re starting to dread the ping of that email notification on your phone. Well stop, give your BSS access and clear instructions on what actions to take and remove that stress. You can formulate email templates together so you know replies will be on brand then you can stand back and just deal with the emails you HAVE to deal with.
Reception and call handling
Business Support Specialists can also offer a virtual reception or call handling service. You may want them to deal with every call that comes in and direct it accordingly or take messages, or you may wish for them to deal with calls to a certain department, like customer services. This can add an air of professionalism for a business that works remotely or that doesn’t have the budget or need for a full-time receptionist.
Credit control and chasing of invoice
Busy getting the new work in, busy doing the work and busy growing your business, but what happens when people don’t pay? It not only takes time to chase up payments, it takes up energy and can be quite stressful. If you have a good relationship with a client, you may feel reticent to chase them actively or may hope an email will suffice. But it is proven that debt is best chased by phone, not email and any issues that they might have can be dealt with as well. It is much easier to ignore an email than a call. At JSP Business Support we specialise in Credit Control and can chase up those payments with zero stress for you, improving your cash flow.
So, there you have it, 7 ways a BSS can help your business, so what are you waiting for?
At JSP Business Support we pride ourselves on providing a range of support services, so if you have any questions or would like any ongoing support please contact us here. www.jspbusinesssupport.co.uk
