It’s the most wonderful time of the year! In addition to the holiday festivities and gatherings, the last quarter of every year can be a very hectic one for businesses and entrepreneurs. From sending out gifts and cards to clients to planning the holiday party for the staff to launching promotions and seasonal sales, it can easily be the busiest time of year. After all, even for the average individual, this is the one season with added obligations socially and interpersonally.
Gift shopping is a hassle in and of itself, no matter how many individuals are on your list. That’s in addition to coordinating with friends and family on holiday plans, figuring out details like who is hosting and will travel be involved? Not to mention, there are several business nuances that come with being an entrepreneur–year-end bonuses, financial planning for the upcoming year, employees requesting time off, etc. Suffice it to say, you’re more than likely a bit more stretched than usual, particularly if you are a small business owner and short-staffed.
Whether it’s your favorite time of year, or it’s the season you dread every time it comes around, there’s no denying that a little extra help around this time couldn’t help. Here are all the ways leveraging a virtual assistant can really make life easier and much less stressful.
Virtual assistants can handle holiday shopping and corporate gifts
A simple card with a personalized message and box of sweets will go a long way towards building the rapport with your clients. This is a meaningful gesture that can be time consuming to do with a high volume, but very easy to delegate. Virtual assistants can be great for knocking out that shopping list. With digital platforms like Amazon, it has never been easier to leverage a VA to help with ordering gifts whether they are for your staff or your clientele.
Even if you prefer to make the decision on the gift itself, you can still leverage an assistant to help throughout the process. How much time could be saved if you had someone to browse gift options, vet through reviews, and shortlist ideas within a specified budget for you to pick from? After all, when you are already buried in work and other obligations, last minute gift shopping is a stressful task that can be avoided.
Virtual assistants can offset being short staffed
After working hard all year, it would be great to approve each employee’s vacation request. From a business perspective, this can make logistics and operations a little tricky. By bringing on virtual assistants for focused tasks, this can help alleviate some of the workload and allow more of your loyal team members to spend more time with loved ones during the holiday.
The key to making this a successful solution is by planning ahead. Having clear direction and documentation for certain processes will make it easier for a virtual assistant to step in. If documentation doesn’t already exist, a great way to ease this into your current holiday planning is by asking your employees to create a high level overview of their roles for your review and approval, prior to taking the time off.
Virtual assistants can handle culture and morale focused tasks
With holidays comes celebration. And as a business owner, it can be a great time to highlight accomplishments from the year and celebrate as a team. The classic holiday party is a great way to boost morale and build a positive company culture. However, planning an event takes a lot of additional time and effort that you may not have. Consider leaning on a virtual assistant to help with organizing the company holiday festivities.
With the current circumstances, there may be a few extra details to take into consideration. From social distancing to remote workforces, it can be more complex to ensure that your team feels connected and included. With virtual assistants, not only can they help with putting together the actual virtual celebration, they are well versed in working fully remote and likely to have a few good ideas on how to make the most of your digital party.
Virtual assistants can handle last minute influxes
On the business end, the holiday season generally brings about a spike in client requests and last minute orders. Whether it is an increase in emails or a higher number of transactions that need to be processed, a virtual assistant can seamlessly plug into your existing workflow. Not only will this ensure that you are not missing out any potential sales, it could help maximize the number of sales.
Virtual assistants are a budget friendly option that can help alleviate any strain from the added influx in work. With more inbound requests from customers, having the extra pair of hands will help prevent delays and a growing backlog.
Virtual assistants alleviate your overall workload
Work hard, play hard. Even if you’ve got everything handled, a virtual assistant can make sure that you actually get time off too. The holiday season only comes around once a year, but many executives, entrepreneurs, and small business owners elect to double down on work. Whether it is due to covering for your team members or needing to manage business growth, it can be easy to fall into a pattern of overworking.
Virtual assistants are great for freeing up some of your day-to-day tasks so you can have more time to spend with your family and loved ones. It can be answering emails, scheduling meetings, data entry, market research, or other small tasks–virtual assistants are specialized and can tackle redundant tasks in an efficient, productive manner.
The Bottom Line
The holiday season is a busy one, whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur or a new business owner. From personal social obligations to holiday campaigns to miscellaneous tasks, it can quickly add up and become another laundry list of stressful tasks. This is where a virtual assistant can really come in handy.
Because VAs can be task based, project based, or hour based, there isn’t the same commitment and overhead that comes with hiring a part-time or full-time employee. They can be integrated into your business leading up to the busier season, and seamlessly transitioned out when the workload lightens up again.