A real estate agent or agency owner must establish strong relationships with each of their employees no matter they are in-house, outsourced, full-time, part-time, or contractual. One great way to build strong relationships is by showing genuine interest in their growth and development. So, helping them increase productivity while keeping things simple yet effective is a great method to make sure you do this.

All small business owners want to be more productive, but you need to have some sort of productivity strategy. In this post, you will discover how to make the most of your virtual assistant in a way that benefits both them and your business.

5 Ways to Enable Your Virtual Assistants to Boost Their Productivity

1. Setting Adequate Expectations

It's a frequent fallacy that working with real estate virtual assistants is only about saving money. Saving money is important, but as a business owner, you shouldn't hire someone with unrealistic expectations.

When working on a new project, don't overwhelm your virtual assistant with too many responsibilities at once. First, make sure they know all the nitty-gritty related to those work and only then hand over full responsibilities. Since they’re hired to do specific jobs, it’s best to delegate tasks of those nature alone and only have them involved in other tasks depending on the situation and need. 

The last thing you want is for your virtual assistant to feel overworked from, say, all the data entry jobs you have assigned to them. Only if every employee is content and productive will you be able to achieve your business objectives.

2. Communicate and Collaborate Closely

When you hire real estate virtual assistants, you cannot expect to spend a day outlining your expectations for them and then expect them to carry out those tasks without any problems. Even the most competent virtual assistants need to be aware of daily requirements, updates, and changes. So, if you want to get the most out of your virtual assistant, communication is essential.

Your virtual assistant will quickly learn how you prefer to manage your work if there are open lines of communication. Even though all business owners may have the same ultimate objective—to create money—the means by which they do it will vary. Let's say, for instance, that your virtual assistant has a lot of experience handling email. In that situation, it doesn't necessarily follow that they will instantly understand the emails you want them to prioritize and filter.

They can only discover which approaches and procedures are best for you and your work if you communicate properly. Undoubtedly, you must allow free communication so that your VAs can also discuss the problems, issues, and suggestions they have for your work.

If you don't concentrate on explaining to them what you need them to do, hiring someone to complete a task is of little use. When you outsource real estate VA jobs, you want the person you hire to help you in a specific way, whether it be through research, working on a brand-new project, or ordinary administrative tasks.

3. Use Simple and Easy-to-Use Tools for Your Business Needs

Running a successful business requires keeping things simple and clear. You also end up saving a ton of time. When you hire an outsourced real estate VA, they might be working in a completely new work setting. The tools, software, and other various resources you use may be new to them. Hence, it certainly takes some time for the VA to get accustomed to your business' procedures and tools. 

In order to make it easier for yourself and for everyone you work with, you can use mainstream tools as much as possible. For example, Google Meet for meetings, Google Drive for file-sharing and storing, Slack or Microsoft teams for chats, etc. 

4. Make an effort to Motivate Them

Your constant support is very much effective in your VA’s productivity - more than you may imagine. A good support system from you works as an inspiration and motivation for your VA. Mistakes will undoubtedly occur, but it's important to assess them correctly and also respond to them appropriately.

It is obvious that you want your VA to create high-quality work. But if you repeatedly criticize them for their errors without suggesting how not to repeat or avoid them completely, they will eventually lose interest. When you outsource the VA jobs, it's also apparent that your VA comes from a different culture. So, be careful about how you approach them when discussing any errors. For example, conduct a weekly meeting to discuss matters like this. When a date and time are fixed, the VAs can prepare themselves for the feedback session, and more importantly, feedback will be welcomed readily.

Give your VA good feedback if you're pleased with the performance level they’re delivering. Anyone who receives praise feels more confident, regardless of who they are. For instance, providing your virtual assistant with rewards for good work, like bonuses, is a great way to keep them engaged and focused on their tasks. 

You must also keep in mind that each VA you hire will respond differently to various motivational techniques since each of them have a unique personality. It is your responsibility to provide your VA with the right kind of support that matches their personality and complies with your code of conduct.

5. Have Your Virtual Assistants Involve In Other Tasks

This might sound counterintuitive from what we explained in the first point but wait. Hear us out. When you hire virtual assistants, you frequently end up with well-rounded people who are capable of more for your business than you initially thought. What we mean in the first point is that they might need some time to adjust in and fully shine at once. 

For instance, you might hire a virtual assistant (VA) to do normal administrative tasks, but it quickly becomes apparent that they can assist your company with higher-value activities connected to your CRM or other operational duties. Hence, to find out about the hidden skill sets of your virtual assistants, you must get to know their potential in other areas as well. But remember, instead of having them involved in different tasks with your judgment, it is always better to ask about their interests and find task areas that match those interests.