Every smart business owner knows that those non-profitable time consuming back office tasks that nobody loves are best delegated to someone else. Invoice raising, database cleansing, credit control, internet research for accommodation, venues or products - all these are necessary but they really eat into your day and keep you from getting on with what you do best – seeing clients and making money. And what about the practical day-to-day things that go wrong now and then? They can really thrust a spanner in the works.
If you haven’t got an in-house team of admin people behind you to take tasks like these off your hands, you can pass them across to a remote admin support service. But they would be dealing with your business affairs and your clients – so how do you evaluate who would be the right people for the job?
Referral – to save time, the preferred route is to seek an introduction from someone you know who has used such a service, and who has high standards and expects professional and reliable delivery from suppliers.
Recommendation – the second possibility is to look for an admin support firm with a long pedigree and plenty of testimonials from satisfied customers. Anyone who can’t satisfy these criteria is unlikely to be able to support your business adequately – you need to be confident that your own clients and contacts will get from this team the sort of service you yourself would provide.
Interview – this involves checking out personally all the virtual office teams you can find to reassure yourself that they can deliver on their promises. This could be time-consuming but meeting them should answer most of your questions – if they appear knowledgeable, professional and reliable, this is a good sign. They should be able to provide a free trial of their services for a limited period – if not, ask them how they intend to prove their abilities.
The ideal remote admin support team, however, will be found through a combination of all these routes. Preferably, they will be known to at least one person you know professionally, would be able to provide ample glowing references and would be willing to meet you and demonstrate delivery of their support offering.
Tip: Choose a quality provider with whom you feel comfortable working
A team offering a meaningful admin support service will think for itself and anticipate your problems, rather than simply being reactive. Things can change quickly in business and you need to be sure your back up team can stay one step ahead.
A team offering a meaningful admin support service will think for itself and anticipate your problems, rather than simply being reactive. Things can change quickly in business and you need to be sure your back up team can stay one step ahead.
Case study: The stranded architect
An architect is en route to a site meeting in a field somewhere out in the sticks but develops car trouble along the way. He calls his remote admin assistance service and asks if someone can notify the client and the contractors that he will be late for the meeting. He then calls his motoring rescue service, and even though they arrive quickly, they can’t repair the car at the roadside so they must ferry him and his car to their regional depot.
The depot is in the opposite direction to the appointment and the rescue service won’t leave the poor man wandering about on the dual carriageway, so he asks them to take him to the nearest roadside services. Meanwhile, back at base, the remote admin service team have called a minicab firm and arranged for the architect to be collected from the drop off point and taken to his appointment, and they have also informed the client of his estimated time of arrival.
The client tells the admin support team that it’s starting to rain so he and the contractor are going to take a break at a nearby restaurant and will wait for the architect there. They’ve tried to ring him, but his mobile phone appears to be dead. The admin assistant tries to ring him too, but she can't get a connection either.
She then telephones the mini cab company and asks them to relay the message to their driver so that he can take the architect straight to the lunch venue. The architect arrives there at the same time as his client and the contractor, and they eat lunch together before moving back to the development site.
She then telephones the mini cab company and asks them to relay the message to their driver so that he can take the architect straight to the lunch venue. The architect arrives there at the same time as his client and the contractor, and they eat lunch together before moving back to the development site.
Meanwhile the virtual admin support team have located a hire car for the architect to use on his way back, and booked a cab to collect him from site and deliver him at the car hire depot. That’s quite a comprehensive service!
So there you have it – the right admin support team will think ahead on your behalf and come up with practical solutions to your every business problem. At Standby we know this for a fact – we’ve been helping businesses flourish since 1983. See this webpage for details.
If you’re not getting this sort of service from your admin support team, or if you’ve never used remote admin support and would like to know more about how doing so could significantly help your business, call Standby for a no-obligation chat on 08456 838 678.
We’ll work with you to deliver just what you’re looking for.
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