Executive Administration: Spend your time on the tasks that drive your business forward

Do you find your time is eaten up by laborious, repetitive and time-consuming tasks?
Are you drowning in a sea of admin and as a result missing the valuable time you need to concentrate on your business and the tasks that grow your revenue?

When you’re spending so much time bogged down in lower value tasks, you’re inevitably taken away from strategic side of your business and can start to lose sight of the ‘big picture’; you risk neglecting existing contacts and missing out on potential sales leads. A survey conducted by the UK Federation of Small Businesses in 2016 found that the average small business owner spends only around 8 hours and 50 minutes per month working on new business development. Putting it in context, that’s only around one quarter of the 33 hours per month they spend on administrative tasks! But it doesn’t have to be this way…

What could you achieve if you spent more time on core business activities and
less time on administrative tasks?

Emails are often cited as one of the biggest time wasters for businesses. How many times has your inbox pretty much taken on a life of it’s own? A survey for The Alternative Boards Business Pulse Survey in 2016 showed that 33% of entrepreneurs found managing emails to be the biggest strain on their business. So it’s no wonder that on top of everything else you need to juggle, inevitably emails stack up, some get left unanswered or you forget to follow up and opportunities get missed.

There are numerous hacks and apps out there designed to increase your productivity and help you to conquer your inbox once and for all. One of the best tools is ‘Follow up then’: it works by placing a follow-up cue in the bcc field of any email; it’ll then remind you to follow up in (say) 4 days, or whatever you set it to. And it does this without the recipient ever knowing the cue was there! It also has the functionality to remind you about boarding passes before a flight, or meeting notes before a meeting. All in all, once you’re using it efficiently, it can work to cut your to-do list.

So how can you go about reclaiming your productivity?

By delegating your executive administrative tasks to an experienced and skilled Virtual Assistant (VA) you can add hours to your workday. Virtual Assistants are professional and capable administrative specialists. They can set to work managing your diary, screening and prioritising your emails, scheduling and confirming appointments, undertaking research, creating spreadsheets and databases… the list goes on. A Virtual Assistant will in no time prove themselves to be invaluable, a trusted partner who, by taking on a portion of your workload, will free you up to do the tasks that you and only you can do.

It’s often surprising the breadth of executive administration duties that a Virtual Assistant can undertake. Tasks include, but are in no way limited to:

Diary management
Schedule and confirm your appointments
Re-confirm your upcoming meetings, to check facilities, and to ensure everyone
arrives on time

Email management
Screen your email and respond on your behalf
Create filters and rules to organise your emails
Set up email campaigns (send mass emails)
Create email newsletters
Follow up with clients and customers by sending thank you and other reminder emails

Office administration tasks
Make calls on your behalf
Data entry
Minute taking from online meetings
Perform miscellaneous research
Preparation of presentations in PowerPoint and Keynote
Create spreadsheets and databases
Research competitors
Compile reports

Imagine the difference that delegating these tasks to a Virtual Assistant could make
to your business.  What could you achieve with all your newly regained time?

Share in the comments which one of these areas of executive administration would
make the most difference to you.

My name is Selina Johnson and I'm an elite Virtual Assistant providing Virtual Business Support to Executives. We help SME's with administrative, technical and creative support so you are free to grow your business and increase your profits.

Contact us today to discuss how we can add value to your business.

01234 602596
hello@selinajohnson.com

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