No one could have predicted the impact of COVID-19 and shelter in place protocols, let alone the effects that it would have on the business world. Now that it’s here, new challenges and opportunities to find creative solutions are everywhere. Among the devastation are some very exciting stories of businesses being creative, shifting gears, and making it work. Entrepreneurs are doing what entrepreneurs do: they are being creative and finding ways to keep going. Even our crew at QBR made significant changes to adapt and meet the needs of our clients. It’s been a challenge, but a successful transition!
As a small business owner, you likely are feeling the pressure of the times amounting to hardships and worry if your business will make it out of the pandemic. They are scary times, but there are things you can control. Now is the perfect time to get back to the basics of business. Those tried and true methods with a new social distancing spin. You may not be able to see your customers face to face but that doesn’t mean you can’t still serve them. In fact, now is that time to make some fixes that will help your business not only now, but set you up for more long-term success.
Think important yet repetitive tasks such as producing email marketing campaigns, optimizing your site’s SEO, creating invoices, inputting data, social media content, website management, or researching potential clients. Are all of these tasks happening? Do you have them in processes where they are happening without a lot of your personal effort?
Think about this: with the vast majority of the United States in a shelter in place protocol, where do you think a large majority of the time is being spent? Honestly, it’s their screens. Cell phones, computers, TVs just scrolling and scrolling. Did you know that every FOURTH post on Facebook is an advertisement? Why not have that be your business? Now, more than ever, businesses are capitalizing on the Internet to feel connected to their clients.
Now I know this is the hard part. You may not know how to do all of that, or maybe you even downsized your team because you were worried about supporting someone full-time. You don’t have to. You don’t have to do it all yourself, and you don’t have to have a full-time person in the office with you. A Virtual Assistant can help you with all these tasks and many more. They make sure your business not only survives the pandemic but exits these times bigger and better than before.
I wanted to take the time and breakdown how you could use a virtual assistant to boost business.
Administration and Customer Service
You always have administrative support needs and admin tasks that need to be done. These are foundational pieces that keep the business functioning smoothly. Our virtual assistants can handle all of the day-to-day administrative support involved in running your business. They can schedule your meetings and appointments, manage your busy schedule, remind you of those things you keep forgetting to do, keep your inbox tidy, plan your vacation, and make sure everything is documented.
Some of our clients are health care and mental health professionals, and as you all know, these times are very scary and unprecedented-with health care. Our team effectively and proficiently help multiple clients re-schedule appointments, moved hundreds of clients to online appointments, answered 1000’s of questions from clients for our health care workers via phone, and email ALL while our clients were able to focus on their practice. They didn’t have to stress about spending their time doing admin work because they got to focus on their practice’s transition while we handled the rest.
Ask yourself, what is your time worth? We know your business is on a budget and if you aren’t generating the revenue, who is? That means you should be spending your time on revenue-generating tasks and not worrying about the administrative details. An administrative support virtual assistant can help keep your focus where it matters most.
Digital Marketing, Social Media, and Blogs
We know you are busy, but your customers want an answer…now! We will monitor your accounts, respond to customers, and keep them talking with you while you have other things to focus on. Consistency is the name of the game, and we know that is hard to keep up with alone. You have to keep your name fresh in their minds and keep your sites active. You can set the number of posts you want per day, week, or month, and we will make sure they are created, posted, and checked in on.
Think about this: how many posts have you seen online about COVID-19? Right now, if you Google “COVID-19,” more than 15,510,000,000 posts pop up on this single search engine alone. Imagine if your post didn’t catch the eyes of those scrolling because you weren’t effectively using tools like ads, social media, blogs, newsletters, etc. It would be lost in the sea of posts. QBR has already published multiple COVID-19 blogs, social posts, and ads that are gaining high engagement on social platforms for our clients. And better yet, we can get going on other content so you can come out of this with some fresh ideas for your audience.
Fresh, unique, and engaging content is an essential aspect of getting and keeping a following of your customers. You want them to look forward to seeing what you have to say. Content suggestions will be created and submitted to you for your approval before they are posted to any of your sites. We monitor engagement, reach, and a variety of other variables that help us make the best possible content that stays true to your brand.
Website Management
We build websites with an incredible range of functionality and can customize them to your heart’s content. Do you already have a website? Excellent! Quick Business Resolutions can connect all of the dots for you by integrating your social media, email marketing, search engine optimization, Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, and make updates to your existing site.
We know how hard it is to find the time to focus on that website remake. Guess what? Now is the perfect moment. Take the time to update, freshen up, or re-brand your business now because you have the time! Your schedule may not feel as jammed pack or bogged down because the pandemic has forced us to all slow down a little. Your brand and your website are the way that your customer perceives you and your business. Taking the time to make sure everything is a beautifully designed and functional site now will create fewer problems when business is back open!
Final Thoughts
Listen, I know how scary these times have been for business owners. I am feeling the same feeling you are when it comes to the business, caring for my team, and the uncertainties of what happens next. Because it’s more than a business to me: it’s the center of opportunity for our employees, for our passions, and our customers. However, pandemic or not, our businesses always have room for improvement! We have all been granted the opportunity to capitalize on the time right now to make those improvements.
My passion has always been supporting small businesses and making sure they get the help they need. We would love to work with, but more important to me is that you get someone to help you. None of us should be doing this alone. With QBR, you get the skill set of an agency with the personal touch of a high-quality virtual assistant. We can take those energy-draining and time-consuming tasks off your plate and help you better focus your energy where you need it in your business. Give QBR your to-do list and put yourself to work where your business needs you most. Contact us today.Not sure if you are ready for a VA? Take our quiz!