Sales operations are the lifeblood of the business, so putting sales-related tasks at the top of your priority list only makes sense. However, babysitting sales personnel can pull you away from other equally important business operations.
Additionally, these sales processes usually involve routine tasks that require meticulous attention to detail—a level of attention you can’t always afford.
The solution? Delegate your top sales reps’ tasks to a virtual assistant. The next question is: which sales tasks can you entrust to your VAs? And why those tasks specifically?
5 benefits of using VAs for sales tasks
Virtual Assistants (VAs) are like much-needed helping hands for managing businesses. They greatly help alleviate the pain points of business growth. So as your business grows, the number of tasks, processes, and operations also increase. Hiring a full-time employee might not be the best option due to the resources involved in recruitment, hiring, onboarding, and training.
Meanwhile, hiring or outsourcing to VAs presents itself as a scalable solution. This allows businesses to add support as their needs evolve—without significant upfront costs as they often already come equipped with the right set of skills.
Here are seven ways that virtual assistants can help with sales and marketing strategy and tasks:
1. Improved time management and productivity
Businesses often struggle with limited time and overloaded staff. VAs can free up valuable time for entrepreneurs and employees by handling repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on core business activities.
2. Administrative overload
Administrative tasks like sales data and entry (the most common VA skill, appearing in 9.3% of resumes), scheduling appointments, and managing emails can be time-consuming and tedious. VAs can handle these tasks efficiently, improving overall business organization and streamlining the sales process.
3. Wider global reach and expertise
A virtual sales assistant can be located anywhere worldwide, allowing businesses to access global talent pool with specific skills or language proficiencies that might not be readily available in their local area. Gone are the days when you could only hire employees who were in the same vicinity.
4. More cost-effective
Hiring a Virtual Assistant for sales or an entire virtual sales team can be significantly cheaper than hiring a full-time employee. They typically charge an hourly rate or project fee, and businesses only pay for the services they need. In general, VAs typically help businesses reduce operational expenses by 78%.
5. Increased focus and creativity
When you have a remote sales assistant focused on prioritizing sales tasks, the management team can then focus on strategic planning, innovation, customer outreach and exploring new growth opportunities.
3 major categories of sales tasks virtual assistants are well-equipped to handle
1. Prospecting and lead generation tasks
Prospecting involves extensive research, cold outreach, and initial lead qualification—all time-consuming activities. Delegating these tasks to virtual sales assistants allows you to focus on the high-value aspects of the sales funnel and cycle. The prospecting process includes crafting personalized proposals, developing rapport with qualified leads, and ultimately even closing deals.
By handling the nitty-gritty groundwork, a virtual assistant for sales can free up your time to concentrate on activities that directly contribute to revenue generation and business operations. These include:
- Researching and compiling targeted prospect lists: A virtual assistant can save you significant time by researching your ideal customer profile (ICP) and building targeted prospect lists based on specific criteria. They can also follow your already defined ICP to meticulously research and compile targeted prospect lists. This ensures you reach the right audience—companies or individuals with a genuine need for your product or service. This targeted approach reduces wasted effort and increases the likelihood of generating qualified leads with a higher chance of conversion.
- Sending introductory emails and cold calls: VAs can handle sending initial outreach emails or making introductory cold calls to generate leads. You can then take over for more personalized communication with qualified leads.
- Qualifying leads: Virtual sales assistants can use scripts and qualification criteria to assess potential leads and identify those that are a good fit for your product or service. You can train VAs to qualify leads based on pre-defined criteria. This involves gathering information, asking qualifying questions, and assessing a lead’s fit for your offerings. By delegating this task, you ensure a consistent and efficient lead qualification process, preventing unqualified leads from entering your sales pipeline and wasting your valuable time.
2. Sales cycle support tasks
Here’s a fact. The sales cycle involves numerous administrative tasks that a virtual sales assistant can take off your plate. A VA can handle these tasks efficiently and give you precious time and headspace to focus on strategic operations.
Tasks related to the sales cycle include:
- Scheduling appointments: VAs can manage your calendar and schedule appointments with qualified leads based on availability. This eliminates the back-and-forth communication and allows you to focus on substantive conversations with potential customers.
- Data entry and CRM management: VAs can input contact information, update customer relationship management (CRM) systems with call notes and activity logs, and manage basic data entry tasks related to the sales pipeline.
- Preparing sales presentations and proposals: VAs can compile information, format presentations, and gather necessary data to support your sales pitches.
- Managing and monitoring your sales pipeline: A virtual sales assistant can be assigned to manage contact information, update CRM systems with call notes and activity logs, and schedule follow-up tasks. This comprehensive data allows you to clearly see the status of each lead, prioritize your efforts, and ensure no potential customer falls through the cracks.
3. Sales-related administrative tasks
There are many administrative tasks that are related to the sales process. These are travel arrangements, expense reports, email management, and data entry—all of which can consume significant chunks of your workday.
Delegating administrative tasks to a virtual sales rep or assistant allows you to focus on the higher-level sales tasks such as crafting pitches and negotiations.
The tasks that you can delegate include:
- Handling communications: VAs can handle sending follow-up emails, managing your inbox by filtering and prioritizing messages, and scheduling reminders for important contacts. The constant influx of emails, phone calls, and administrative needs can be distracting and mentally taxing. A VA can handle these routine tasks, minimizing interruptions and allowing you to devote your mental energy to higher-level thinking and problem-solving.
- Travel arrangements and expense reports: Delegate travel arrangements, hotel bookings, and expense report creation to free up your time to focus on selling.
- Competitive research and market analysis: An effective virtual sales assistant can gather information on your competitors and conduct basic market research to keep you informed.
It’s time to streamline your sales operations with virtual assistants
Free up your time and boost your productivity with a secret weapon: a virtual assistant (VA) from TaskDrive. Contact us today to unlock a world of productivity and take the first step toward a more streamlined and empowered work life.
TaskDrive offers dedicated AI-augmented virtual assistants committed to providing top-notch support, ensuring you have everything you need to conquer your business dreams. Contact us today to unlock a world of productivity and take the first step toward a more streamlined and empowered work life.
