It's in the back of your mind, and you keep pushing it away, until it comes back louder than ever. "No, I can do it!" you say to yourself over and over again, month after month. But now you, like so many before you, have finally realized you CANT DO IT ALL BY YOURSELF!
This VA Guide will serve to assist you in your decision to add to your business.... that crucial step of adding in your leverage. Whether you decide on an on-site assistant, or a Virtual Assistant, it's best to consider everything about you, your business, and its needs to make the best choice!
It's no secret that with the growing amount of competition, technology and administrative overload, going it alone can have its disadvantages. Once the decision has been made to arrange for some assistance, many agents are turning to Virtual Assistants as a perfect middle of the road option between hiring a full time,on-site assistant or going it alone. But in what may ultimately be a wonderful addition to your business, there are some things to know and consider before working with a Professional VA.
What is a VA?
#1 There are a variety of definitions of VAs, defining who we are and what we do. I'm sure many of you already know~but for those who don't, this is it, in a nutshell:
A Professional VA is a micro-business owner who provides administrative & personal support to its clients in long-term, deeply collaborative partnerships. The highest and the best of this profession base their role as a VA as just that...a partnership. Our services are provided with the desire to support our clients across the board...not with just one specific function or task, no matter ongoing that might be.
#2 Most VAs come with a vast array of experience in the corporate world, or in real estate itself. We have come to our own businesses so that we may reclaim our lives, control our own destinies, and use our talent and skills to support clients that we hand pick ourselves. Unlike corporate positions, there are few constraints on VAs who own their own businesses. You'll finds that we are pro-active, rather than just waiting for you to hand us our task list.
#3 Professional VAs are not employees. You don't "hire" a VA, you "work with" a VA. There is no need to provide space, equipment, a guarantee of hours or benefits. You don't have to pay for our Internet surfing, Active Rain blog time, our coffee breaks or errands. We strive to be hassle free...one check, once a month! How simple is that?
#4 Professional VAs bill at rates of $30+ per hour. The more professional, industry specific education a VA has, experience working with virtual clients, the more she/he can make things happen with his/her clients, the higher the fee will be. This may seem like a lot, but when you think about the value of your own time, and what you could accomplish with more of it...it starts to look like a deal!
Many VAs work on a retainer agreement. They block a certain number of hours per month to be used specifically for that client. The client pays the monthly fee ( # of hours by $per hour = retainer fee) at the beginning of the month. Unused hours do not roll over to the next month. Expenses like postage, delivery of docs, and vendor accounts are additional. The per hour rate is usually a discounted rate of %10 or so in recognition of the client's willingness to commit to a block of time with the retainer. The retainer comes with a higher degree of commitment to the partnership-for both people. But for those not ready to make a full commitment, per hour and per project agreements are usually available.
#5 There are some people who probably shouldn't consider working with a VA. If you are controlling, need to micro-manage, have trust issues, aren't on line, can't understand how or why this would work, live in the urgent, procrastinate, rush to deadline, aren't organized, want someone at your beck and call, have a huge ego and can't work in partnership with others, don't understand the power created in a relationship with a fantastic assistant, aren't open to learning new ways of working and communicating, or if you work in a high-pressure field where things run you instead of the other way around, you probably need an in-person employee, not a VA.
#6 Professional VAs invest heavily in themselves and their businesses, all for the benefit of their clients.
Professional VAs are life-long learners. They are curious, open, receptive to new ideas, and they take the time to really hone their craft. Never move into a relationship with a VA who isn't taking steps to better him/her.
#7 A word of caution: You must do due diligence in your finding, interviewing and hiring of a VA. Collect references, ask about their work load, and how they handle your work.(ex: do they do it themselves, or do they sub-contract it out to another VA.
Part 2: Creating a Virtual Action Plan BEFORE you Delegate!
Laura Monroe | Real Estate Virtual Assistant
| Copyright 2007
Source: Stacie Brice
I am the CEO of Creative Agent Solutions.com. My team and I assist real estate professionals in implementing online marketing strategies, Wordpress, social media, and business systems to catapult exposure and dominance in their marketplace, while focusing on productivity and the bottom line.
Copyright 2010 Laura Monroe | Real Estate Virtual Assistant
Creative Agent Solutions.com 916.343.3823
Thank you Laura for making the VA so clear.
Leigh, thank you for bringing up a topic that might stall many real estate agents when considering a VA. As Laura does, I have a statement of confidentiality and consider that to be a core value.....not telling EVERYTHING I know comes from my childhood.
One other point that helps is the opportunity to work with someone who is NOT in the neighborhood and who usually works in the background. Snoopy people have a more difficult time getting to the information. In small communities, I have made a commitment to NOT represent more than one office. I don't even talk 'shop' with other agencies beyond the one I work with. Maybe they do, but that's not something that leaves me comfortable.
Laura.... first off, you know that I am in the mortgage industry. We have talked about this. But even if I didn't know what realtors did, I still don't know what you do for them. What can be your exact duties? Maybe you will talk about this in part 2? But with respect to that, wouldn't you want this clarified in part 1? You did mention administrative and personal support. But what does this consist of when working with a realtor. What will you do and what won't you do?
I am still here and still interested. And looking forward to part 2.
JudyAnn~I'm always glad to see your comments..thanks!
Hi Jeff~ Yep, we've talked about that, and yes, I will definitely be going into more detail in my next posts about what I(we) offer in terms of support. There really is quite an array of services, and alot of VAs specialize more in certain areas over others. Speaking generally, there is almost nothing that can't be done virtually, except the people part; which is what Realtors do best~and should be focusing their time on.
This post was to lay the ground work in terms of claryifying the relationship between Realtor and VA, as it's dynamic is quite a bit different than that of a traditional assistant~and often misunderstood. Don't worry Jeff, I won't leave you hanging;
Hey...one more thing...thanks for commenting! I appreciate your interest! Super Cool!
Hey Laura.... my pleasure... I am interested....and there are reasons for this. Just as we did when I was in le-tip.(a networking group that I mentioned in one of my posts) Getting to know your community or the people in your group. How would I get you a referral, if I couldn't describe what you did.
Besides, just busting on ya, but you mentioned the VA as being a her. Her this and her that. Couldn't a guy do this? Just curious....
Jeff~ No problem, I can take it:)! It's kind of like leaving the price off of the property flyer...Call for Pricing!
Yep, there are guys who do this, in fact there are a few right here on AR~
Leigh, I think I can answer that question. I bought my house before I sold real estate. My agent had a VA. I found out, once I could get into the MLS, that this VA serviced several agents in the immediate area. When doing listing coordination (taking a listing from listing appointment to under agreement) or transaction management there really is no problem with a VA working for several agents in the same area, or even the same office. But when prospecting, sending farming letters, making expireds calls, I can see a problem creeping up.
The solution is for a Virtual Assistant to know before they work together the zip code the agent markets in. A VA is working for agent A who is marketing in 3 zip codes. She then begins working for agent B who is marketing overlaps with the first agent's area. Marketing on the internet there's less chance of that happening. But marketing in person I can see it happening.
Jeff, we can do almost anything that the agent can do. Because of the law, there are a few things an unlicensed assistant cannot do. That varies by state. For example, we can pull comps from the MLS but we can't interpret them. We can sit at an open house and take names or hand out info packets but we can't answer questions about the house. The role of a virtual assistant is not to do what they can, though. It's to do what will free their time up the most so they can spend their time making money. We can do this for mortgage brokers, too. Imagine if you could hand over some of your work to someone to free up a little bit of your time. I'm going to blog on this subject.
Crystal.... what could you do for a mortgage broker? Because I had asked Laura this question before, but she hadn't done this as of yet.
jbelonger@assuredlendingcorp.com
thanks, jeff
Jeff~ Since I don't have a full understanding of your day to day administrative tasks with out talking to you, it would be hard to put a list together. if I were to pull some tasks from agent assistance to mortgage side, I would say this:
Contact & Database Management..Handling your CRM software, email marketing, managing your database, and sphere of influence in your chosen program.
Creating marketing pieces for you...postcards, newsletters, etc.
Personal Assistance: Taking care of appointments, schedules, travel arrangements, concierge tasks.
Without knowing more about your day to day tasks, its hard to say what you could have a VA do.
Let me ask you this. If you hired an assistant, what would be thier job description?
Laura..... my day to day? Get up in the morning, read the sports section.... go out to my deck and get served breakfast.... then 18 holes of golf, followed by a nice Grey Goose martini.... then to the massage room for one hour... then back to the bar for some more martini's. After that, maybe dinner with a lovely woman.
So.... is this reality or fantasy? lol Well, fantasy for now.... in 12 months, reality for at least 1 day a month like this....
I did get your e-mail and I will answer your questions tonight.
thanks....jeff
I recently had a bad experience with a real estate agent. They were incensed that I was working on a competitor's site. They weren't even my client - the competitor was my client. I don't take two clients in one selling area for a reason...
Anyway, they wrote a really nasty email to my client and me, that they resent someone from another area, pretending to know about THEIR area. They indicated they'd spent THOUSANDS OF HOURS making their site informative, and really didn't like my client building an equally good, if not eventually better, site! I was dismayed that some real estate agents still can't "get" that we help, not hurt, business....
Hi Laura,
I really enjoy reading your blog here on AR. I am a REVA and I have myself set out on trying to answer the tough questions of "what can a VA do for you?" I have started to blog about it here on my blog on AR in a 4 or 5 part series. I would love for my fellow VA's to take a look at it and post comments on what I have left out. I am sure that I have left out some items - it really is hard to put what we do in a nutshell isn't it? When you think of one thing to add, you think of 5 others that you could mention at the same time!
If any of you fellow VA's (or anyone) have time, please just visit my profile, click on my blog, let me know what you think, and post away! I would love your help in completing my attempt at a virtual assistant definition. Like I say in my post. I can always learn more, and I am eager too!
Thanks for your help to me, and for helping others to get a more complete view of the virtual assistant industry.
Nancy
Wow, thanks for the posts. Really great information, especially for other VA's like myself. Is there going to be a part three to this? I really enjoyed the info about what real estate agents should prepare for before delegating work projects to VA's. Agents can have a hard time letting go sometimes.
Thanks again for your excellent information.
Perfect service for any agent. I see you are doing a site for KW Agents. Thats a good move considering we are gaining 1200 new agents every month. Are you going to looking for local agents in local areas to promote your KW services?
Thank you so so so much for posting this, especially the part about most vas charging more than $30 per hour. I'd love to post a link to this series in my own personal blog. I also want to post this link as a handy tool to the other virtual assistant forum I am a part of. Let me know if this is okay.
DeAnna Troupe
DeAnna Troupe's Virtual Assistant Service
Laura,
It seems like I am a latecomer to this VA phenomena. I have learned about this through Michael Russer and am fascinated. I will continue to read your posts and think about how I could use a VA to help promote more business. Thanks!
Dan