How A Real Estate Virtual Assistant Can Help You Grow Your Business
The simplest trick that an overworked executive can pull off to get ahead of their busy schedule is hiring an assistant. In the 21st century, they even have the privilege of hiring a virtual assistant. It’s a remote work solution to this issue.
A virtual assistant is a contractor who provides administrative services to clients without meeting them in person. They work from a home office (which is something that the majority of people got accustomed to in 2020/2021), and their job is to schedule appointments, perform outreach, manage email/social media accounts, etc.
- Still, is hiring a real estate virtual assistant just as advantageous?
- How would such an arrangement even work, and what would their tasks be?
- Most importantly, how can this help you grow your real estate business?
Let’s find the answers to some of these questions!
Cold Calling
Cold calling is a technique that is quite underused in today’s business world. It is something that you might lack time to do on your own, at least. According to some recent statistics, cold calling has a success rate of 2%. While this would be low in some other industries, in real estate, where commissions are few but high in value, these numbers are not so easy to dismiss.
It is not unrealistic to expect that a skilled and committed virtual assistant can make as many as 60 calls during their workday. That is without them even committing their entire workday to this. While this may seem like a particularly high number, it is not impossible to make as many as 200 to 300 calls per hour with the triple line dialer.
While some may suggest that the best time to call is between 10 am and 2 pm, the truth is that in the real estate industry, the period between 4 pm and 5 pm may be even better. Now, if you’re hiring remote assistants from different time zones, it’s worth paying attention to this, as well as mentioning this caveat.
Cost-effectiveness
Hiring a real estate virtual assistant is a business agreement that strongly benefits you as the client. Why? Well, because of the nature of the agreement. First of all, you only pay your assistant for the number of hours you use them (there’s no fixed fee for keeping someone on retainer). This gives you greater payroll flexibility.
Second, the deadlines that you impose are considered contractual. These virtual assistants are professionals, and this business model allows you to hire top talent at a reasonable hourly price.
The amount of money you save on the ‘virtual’ part is not to be underestimated. A traditional assistant would occupy space in your office. They would also need a desk, travel expenses, equipment, etc. With a virtual assistant, you don’t get to pay for these things. In other words, you get to reap all the benefits of the remote workforce.
Lead Follow-Up
The next thing you need to understand is the importance of lead follow-up. Now, the first thing worth mentioning is the fact that about 70% of all sales are a direct result of a follow-up. Despite this, as many as 44% of sales reps give up after a single rejection. Roughly 22% stop after two rejections.
By having someone persist because it’s their job (and because they’re instructed to do so), you’re already drastically improving your odds.
Sure, the real estate industry is a bit specific in this regard. We’re talking about projects and transactions that often involve millions of dollars. People need some convincing and there’s the figure that only 2% of sales close after the initial meeting. Still, you would be surprised at just how easily people give up.
Managing Your Calendar
The job of a real estate agent, buyer’s agent, contractor, etc., includes an insanely packed schedule. With the help of a virtual assistant, you can start clearing these things out. An automatic planner won’t worry about your essential activities or try their best not to have you overworked. Sourcing outside assistance to avoid getting overworked is one of the first things you should do as a first-time business owner.
You see, a real estate manager needs to set realistic goals, delegate tasks and responsibilities, and give their best to avoid multitasking. These are just some of the privileges that a skilled virtual assistant can provide you. A person with just a bit of experience in real estate management can help you batch your work in order to optimize your workflow.
Not to mention the fact that just by hiring an assistant, you’re already freeing up quite a bit of time. Now, all you need to do is work together to make the effects of this even easier to see.
Online Presence
You can also hire someone to manage your social media presence. Do you have a real estate website or a blog? Writing a blog post will take you an average of 4 hours and 1 minute. Is this the time you have to spare, or should you hire someone else to take this mantle?
What about your social media profiles? Platforms like Instagram are a godsend for the real estate industry. You still need someone to keep all your profiles active, which could be one of the tasks of your virtual assistant.
Lastly, if you hire someone with a background in digital marketing, they could even monitor some of your marketing efforts. A virtual assistant can get familiar with the most relevant KPIs (key performance indicators) and make occasional reports on the subject matter.
In Conclusion
The last thing you need to understand is the fact that you need to be as specific as possible when hiring. You’re looking for an assistant, not a replacement. Just think about it, someone with your exact skills and ambitions (or superior) would be looking for an assistant of their own, not sourcing their time to you at a bargain price.
The most important three things you need to do are – be transparent, manage your expectations, and define their work spot from day one. This way, you can eliminate all the potential misunderstandings from the equation.