You are excited with your newly hired virtual assistant and you should be. But hiring is just the start because now, you need to make sure that your new team member eases in smoothly to the new role. How well you manage this adjustment period will have an effect on the performance of your VA. You have to remember that distance plays a role in your professional relationship. Get it right from the very start and everything will flow easily as you progress forward.

First things first

The best way to start the on-boarding process is with a welcome email. Remember first impressions last so set the tone right with this one. You can enumerate your expectations and the other details you don’t want the new hire to miss out from the very beginning of his or her engagement with you.

This is also a good time to know about their expectations. This two-way approach strengthens trust and would allow your new VA to be comfortable with you.

You can also attach the employment contract in the same email and have the VA sign it. If you feel you need to have a Non-Disclosure Agreement signed with the VA, then you can also have it attached on the email. Do not forget to write down your reasons why you feel the agreement is necessary.

From this point, you can choose to have a voice call with your VA to discuss other things that will be vital in the on-boarding process like what time you expect him or her to be in for work, the procedures if he or she cannot report for work, and etc.

Accounts and privacy

Delegating tasks means giving up exclusive control and access on the platforms you are using for your business. This would mean letting your VA access your email and social media accounts. Sometimes, this could even mean letting them inside your online shopping portal. For some business owners this is just part of the outsourcing process.

For some, this is seen as a source of privacy concerns. There are however ways to mitigate the risks. One of the most obvious solution is to tap into the limited access features of many online platforms. For example, in Facebook you have the ability to assign a Page role for your VA depending on the nature and scope of his work when it comes to social media management.

Gmail also has a delegation function so that VA’s can answer emails on your behalf without letting him or her access your entire inbox.

However, it is important that you should not be too rigid with security to the point that it paralyses your business as you cannot easily delegate mundane but time consuming tasks to your assistant. There is a delicate balance in outsourcing that you need to consider. Understand your needs as a business owner and then rate the risks you feel that task is work.

Engaging with customers

If you are used to doing business solo, then this part of the outsourcing “reality” will be difficult to swallow. Your most valued customers need to be passed on to your VA. Your assistant will assume your place so that you can free your time and focus on the other areas of the business. The important thing to do here is to train your VA carefully on the language and tone of your online voice. If you want, you can have “canned” replies ready for every situation in your business transactions so that your VA will not make any mistakes.

On the other hand, you need to trust your VA. You need to let go and let them take care of your customers. There will be a learning curve but this stage is necessary for your business to grow and scale up.

Invest time for training, make a customer engagement manual on multiple platforms just to standardize everything. Once you have done the training, learn to let go and trust your virtual team to deliver.

On-boarding a new VA will take time. While it is tempting to deploy them to do tasks the moment you hire them, spending time to have everything set up before the first delegated email is read and sent will ensure that your work process will progress smoothly. Remember, you want to be freed of your daily, mundane tasks. Do not trade that for dealing with VA management issues.