You train to be a lawyer to practise law, not to sit at your desk doing administration. A virtual assistant can massively help to reduce your personal workload and give you more time to concentrate on the really important stuff. Plus it’s more cost effective than an in-house personal assistant as you can pay by the hour as and when you need to delegate. It’s an easy way to optimising your productivity. For starters, here are 6 everyday tasks law firms can outsource to a virtual assistant:
- Your diary
One of the most common tasks outsourced to virtual PAs is diary management. Your Outsourcery assistant can set appointments with clients, saving you the tedious and time consuming email back-and-forth, and expertly organise your schedule to ensure you’re making the most of your days. They can colour code calendar events so that you can easily view the layout of your day and set reminders so that you’re prepared in advance for meetings. One of our favourite calendar software to use is Planner Pro, but we’re happy to use whatever works best for you.
- Your email
On average, a professional receives 304 business emails a week and loses 10 IQ points trying to keep up with the constant barrage of messages, which is equivalent to missing an entire night’s sleep. Hand over the management to of your inbox to your assistant and you’ll feel instantly lighter. Your Outsourcery assistant can expertly organise everything into folders and neatly file incoming mail so that you don’t have to waste time searching through thousands. They can prioritise messages so that you’re instantly aware of what needs urgent attention and what can be left until later. You can even choose to give your virtual assistant permission to reply to prospective and current clients on your behalf, set up appointments and answer basic questions.
- Transcriptions
If you usually take notes by hand, you can scan and send the pages for your assistant to type up, format and file into the relevant client’s folder on Google Drive or your preferred programme. Or you could send a voice recording for your PA to transcribe.
- Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping is one of the tasks you can’t rush. It has to be done accurately or else you could end up facing serious consequences further down the line. Outsourcery assistants are all experienced at bookkeeping and can help to keep your finances in order by reminding your when it’s time to pay bills or paying them on your behalf, invoicing clients, chasing invoices, bank reconciliation, processing expenses and even payroll. We ensure that your details are protected by using the trusted application LastPass to securely store banking information, logins and passwords electronically.
- Social Media Marketing
A virtual assistant can help you tap into social media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, create or maintain a website or blog, and help you build an e-mail list to market your services. It’s an excellent way to engage with clients on a more personal level and reach out to new audiences.
- Travel arrangements
Whether you’re travelling abroad or simply to a meeting across town it takes forward planning to ensure you’re in the right place at the right time. Your assistant can easily compare prices for trains and flights, find a hotel in the right area, book transfers, car hire, travel insurance, apply for visas, and supply you with a fool-proof itinerary that that takes into account the things you forget about, like traffic caused by a football match, roads closed because of a festival or train strikes. Make sure you supply your virtual PA with any membership numbers so that they can look for rewards and ways of boosting your points.
