You’re thinking it might be time to hire some help for your studio and you’ve been researching Virtual Assistants that you may wish to work with.
But one thing is stopping you…
…you have no idea what to actually outsource to a VA. You know you need help handling things in your studio but what types of things can VAs even do?
Every VA has their own unique skill set and range of services that they offer so you’ll definitely need to do your research and chat to any potential VAs before you go ahead and hire them.
Here are 5 tasks you might want to outsource to a VA:
1. EMAIL OR MESSAGING SUPPORT
Email and messaging support is often one of those things that is overlooked. Replying to customer messages or emails and handling enquiries can feel like one of those tasks that isn’t worth outsourcing - it doesn’t take a huge amount of time and it’s not particularly difficult.
But that hour or so each day replying to messages and emails soon adds up over the course of the month and it’s not something that needs to be done by you. Your time and energy will be much better spent serving your clients or creating new opportunities, programs and/or events for your studio … you know, the kind of tasks that need to be done by you!
2. SETTING UP EMAIL SEQUENCES
Whether you write your email sequences yourself or hire a copywriter (or a VA!), they still need to be set up in your email marketing software.
Once the content is ready, hand it over to your VA who can plug the content into the sequence, format the emails, and set up any automations that may be needed, for example, if the sequence is triggered by a new enrolment and there are 5 emails, 1 to be sent every week.
Again, try to think about things in your business that don’t need to be done by you.
3. SIMPLIFYING TRIAL CLASS BOOKINGS
How many hours do you spend each week keeping up with trial class bookings? From promoting your classes and replying to email enquiries to talking potential clients through booking a trial, sending reminders with details of what to expect, and then following up recent trial students - keeping track of trials can be a full-time job in itself.
A VA can help you automate the whole process from setting up a user-friendly trial class booking system and embedding it on your website to designing and implementing automatic email nurture sequences. They can even show you the best way to import all of that data into your studio management software.
Think about the countless hours this will free up for you and your team to focus on building the studio and delivering the best classes possible.
4. DESIGNING STUDENT & TEAM HANDBOOKS
It’s one of those tasks that has been on your to-do list for months (or maybe even years) and just keeps getting pushed back into the ‘too-hard’ basket.
Yes, we are talking about studio handbooks! Having cohesive and thorough handbooks for your clients and team will make the world of difference in your studio. Parents will have a 'go-to' resource for answers to common questions while your team will have a concise reference document to cover codes of conduct, classroom procedures and - most importantly - your expectations.
Your VA can help you decide which information to include, compile all the details and work with you to design hard or soft copy handbooks that you will use for years to come.
If you're thinking of selling your studio or even passing on more responsibility to your team, you could also talk to your VA about creating a Studio Handbook which documents all the procedures involved in running your business.
5. CREATING TRAINING MATERIALS
We all know how important it is to regularly train your team to keep them motivated and focused on your vision and goals for your studio.
But finding the time to plan and produce beautiful training materials such as presentations or handouts can be difficult when you're running a studio. That's where your VA can help.
Delegating the design and creation of your training needs will ensure they'll be done in time and to a professional standard so you can focus on motivating your team to build your studio.
The list of tasks that you can outsource to a VA really is endless. Hopefully, this list has started those cogs turning and given you some ideas to start with. If you’re wondering what else you can outsource, download this list of 100 Tasks to Outsource to Your VA.
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