For some of you – just hiring your first lead Virtual assistant is a big leap! For others, you are restructuring after a few years and need to raise your standards in how your team serves you and your clients.
So, what is culture?
You will have much more success with hiring the right person for the job that lasts by initially getting clear on what your company culture stands for.
Write down seven (7) of the most important values of your business. This will give you a foundation for your culture. These are standards in which you live and work by.
Think values like: boundaries, respect, creativity, innovation, timing, appreciation, positivity, success mindset, client servicing (5-Star service like Ritz Carlton), visionary, communication flow. I have all my team align with my Ritz Carlton Leadership and Customer Service platforms to better understand what is expected.
I highly recommend reading “The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company” by Joseph Michelli. Excellent inspiring resource for you and your team!
See below for a partial excerpt from my past Lead V.A. ad for Upwork.com. This will give you a feel for hiring on culture first; skillset second.
Headline: Lead V.A. for High Level Success Coach and Business Strategist for Creatives.
“10 years in business with high expectations of support with you being a leader in your role. Fast learning curve a must. Long term and team mentality.
Seeking a dynamic, upbeat, positive minded, higher consciousness, highly proficient team player who fits into my mentoring company’s culture. My company culture is represented by a team of high achieving women who operate from a progressive mindset, wealth consciousness, caring attitude, respectful attitude, high level communication, spirituality-based, and an online savviness with high standards. Think Five Star Ritz Carlton customer service with team and clients.
Detail oriented (spelling, branding, daily tasks, purpose of tasks, etc.) for my support and communicating with clients online and email.
MUSTS: Anticipate the road ahead and initiate ideas to up-level my business, systems and marketing. Sending weekly recurring tasks for clients and new online projects are a must. Anything that would be in my best interest on any given day – let’s discuss. Example: anything having to do with online regulations, online tools, proven list building systems, calendaring, lead generating, email marketing and social media.
Your role is to help my business grow to the next level. Meaning, most activities need to be monetized and leveraged so I am doing my higher pay-off activities (coaching, writing, speaking, training, networking, program creation, inspiration, leadership). Marketing my programs is a key role in addition to admin support. I need a confident, creative, driven lead VA who can see the BIG picture; not just the task in front of her.”
Leveraging your Lead V.A.
This first time hire needs to be focused on a few priority tasks before you have her do more. Task lists I have received from clients initially who are looking to hire their first or second real V.A. – were much too long and extensive. The list equated to 2-3 VA’s worth of work.
Admin VAs are worth their weight in gold. Social Media VAs are, too. They tend to be not the same person. Have your lead V.A. focus on the CRM, help in the sales system, calendaring, keeping you organized and creating a strong consistent work-flow system initially.
Then she can grow into social media and online marketing, maybe. I prefer you hiring a separate social media expert. Bring on an admin VA first and a social media VA expert next.
It takes time to get the work flow system in place which is the most important piece to your business structure. This is why you only need 20 hours a month initially and then add on another expert to do the blog, email marketing and FB ads. Most VAs have specialties; not one fits all with all the duties.
Anything related to bookkeeping needs to be with a bookkeeper. Quickbooks belongs to that; not your VA. She can send bank statements, receipts and such to the bookkeeper and help you stay on top of this quarterly.
Your TWO most important hires are the high level admin VA and a bookkeeper. Bottom line, you can have an overall picture of what she eventually will do, but it’s a gradual, incremental process of efficiency before adding more to her plate or hiring a 2nd team member.
We are not looking for one person to do it all any more than you doing it all. You will get much better results from your team when they specialize in certain main important areas.
As you can see, building a strong foundation for your business requires incremental steps; not one fell swoop.
Ready to discuss your business structure and systems to upgrade your proficiency? Email support@marladiann.com to schedule a discovery call and let’s chat.
