What are some of tasks your Executive Virtual Assistant can help you with

No matter what type of business you have, hiring a Virtual Assistant can free up time and resources so you can focus on growth and development. So if you’re looking for ways to make your business more efficient, give Virtual Assistants a try and see how they can help take your business to the next level. You won’t regret it!

The first and most obvious is administrative tasks like managing your emails, scheduling meetings or responding to customer inquiries. Your EVA can also help you with research tasks such as compiling data for blog posts or doing background checks on potential customers. On the marketing side of things, your Virtual Assistant can help you with creating content for social media, tracking analytics and measuring your campaigns’ success.

A Virtual Assistant can also help you with customer service tasks such as responding to customer inquiries or managing your customer database. They might even be able to take on some of the more technical aspects of your business like creating website designs or setting up digital marketing funnels. Whatever it is, if your Virtual Assistant has the right skills, they’ll be able to help take your business to the next level.

Executive Virtual Assistant help busy executives work more efficiently. They do this by completing tasks that are not related to the business, but still need to be done. Many executives are now comfortable with having employees who work remotely. If you are looking for a virtual assistant, use this guide to understand what they do and how to find the right one for your needs.

What Is the Definition of an Executive Virtual Assistant?

A executive virtual assistant, or EVA, is a remote administrative assistant who usually works part-time. They provide support to a specific executive or team. The duties of a virtual executive assistant are similar to those of traditional administrative assistants, but with some key differences. Most notably, EVAs act as an extension of the CEO or VP–someone who can make decisions independently to improve productivity.

• A traditional virtual assistant does tasks that are based on a process that is written down. A virtual executive assistant helps to create and define those processes.
• Traditional virtual assistants often do work for sales teams and back-office systems. They might not do work specifically for an executive.

Many executives reach a point where their ability to grow their business stalls because they don’t have enough time. A virtual executive assistant can help by doing some of the admin work that needs to be done. This assistant can do this work with a lot of skill and trust.

What Does a Executive Virtual Assistant Do?

Here is a list of some common work duties for a Executive Virtual Assistant:

• Email and phone screening
• Travel planning
• Event planning
• Professional networking
• Personal tasks

Calendar Management

Executives use up 16 hours of their week on day-to-day tasks, and scheduling meetings is a major contributor to this time loss. It takes the 20 minutes to set up a meeting, but the process can cause significant issues with:

• Email ping-pong to find a time that works
• Rescheduling and cancelations
• No-shows that mean starting over

If you spend 20 minutes in a few meetings each day, that adds up to a lot of wasted time. An Executive Virtual Assistant can take over this process by:

• Reaching out to meeting attendees
• Proactively sharing slots available on the executive’s calendar
• Sending confirmations to reduce no-shows

Internal stakeholders often compete for an executive’s time. An Executive Virtual Assistant learns who is most important to the executive’s work and can defer requests for help to more appropriate contacts in the company.

Email and Phone Screening

A significant portion of an executive’s day is spent weeding through their email and voicemail, trying to delete the unimportant messages. When done in real-time as they arrive, this process can be incredibly disruptive; you have to stop what you’re doing every time a new message arrives just to see if it warrants your attention. Additionally, “switching time” – the 20-25 minutes it takes to back out of one task attending another and return to the first – also contribute significantly to executive productivity lost each day..

Having an Executive Virtual Assistant can be extremely beneficial because they will learn your contacts and priorities. This way, only messages that require your attention will be sent to you, saving you time. Other benefits of having an Executive Virtual Assistant include:

• Forward messages to a more appropriate contact
• Create folders and store emails for you to review later
• Return calls and emails to qualify ambiguous inquiries on your behalf

Travel Planning

Many executives prefer to plan their own travel because they want to control their experience. They have preferences for:

• Airlines
• Airports
• Aircraft seating
• Loyalty program perks
• Hotel chains
• Room types
• Rental car agencies
• Vehicle types

Taking a business trip is supposed to be personal, and it is. But what people don’t realize is that it takes the average person 12 hours just to plan the trip. And we’re talking about researching flight times, considering layovers, finding hotels with available rooms within your budget, starting from scratch when one itinerary doesn’t work… Then you have add in arranging meetings at your destination city, picking restaurants for meals (and making reservations), on top of everything else. It really starts to pile up.

You can document and delegate all of your preferences. You can always review the final plan and make changes if needed. However, it is a huge advantage to have an executive assistant who knows your requirements and hands you a complete itinerary with all the necessary documents before you leave.

Event Planning

Trades shows and conferences can be very complicated. They involve a lot of planning and organizing. This is where an Executive Virtual Assistant can help. They can make sure that all the details of the event meet your standards, such as the venue, food, displays, and materials.

The following are external events:

• Trade shows
• Conferences
• Partner meetings
• Executive speaking opportunities

Tasks they can asssit with in External events:

• Reserve venues
• Send invitations to your contacts
• Order display and collateral materials
• Arrange for any shipping to the venue
• Book your flights, hotels, and meetings
• Register for the event
• Submit abstracts for speaking opportunities

Professional Networking

It’s easy to let busyness get in the way of maintaining professional networks. A LinkedIn study found that:

• 80 percent of executives said networking is important
• 70 percent got positions where they had a connection
• 49 percent say they don’t have time to do it

An Executive Virtual Assistant can help you stay connected to your contacts by:

• Entering and segmenting contacts in a database
• Scheduling regular calls
• Researching events you are attending to see if connections will be there and scheduling meetings
• Following up on action items

Personal Tasks

According to studies, up to 25 percent of an executive’s time is spent on personal tasks. Much like how work duties can interfere with productivity, non-work related errands can have the same impact. The solution isn’t necessarily allotting more time for work and less for home life but rather giving executives leeway to focus on what truly matters most in their lives—both at work and outside the office. An Executive Virtual Assistant can perform personal tasks like:

• Shopping for gifts
• Scheduling personal appointments
• Paying bills
• Planning family vacations
• Making dinner reservations

An assistant can also make sure that important personal functions are on the executive’s calendar, such as:

• Parent-teacher meetings
• Children’s activities
• Birthdays and anniversaries

Why You Need an Executive Virtual Assistant

You need an executive virtual assistant to take care of the tasks you don’t have time for! With advances in technology, executives can be more self-sufficient than ever before. However, there are still many administrative tasks that need to be done, such as managing voicemail, calendars, travel expenses, and more. When you need someone who can represent you professionally both inside and outside your organization, an Executive Virtual Assistant is the perfect solution. You’re giving this person the authority to:

• Schedule internal and external meetings
• Prioritize email and phone communications
• Delegate requests for your time to a more appropriate contact

Signs you need an Executive Virtual Assistant include:

• Your email and voicemail boxes are overflowing
• Your significant other is complaining
• Your subordinates are complaining
• Business is slowing down
• Your work-life balance is not balanced

An Executive Virtual Assistant can help you regain what is most important to you so that work and home life are more balanced.

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