Looking for a new team member can be confusing and overwhelming, especially when it’s time one is looking to hire. There are so many options and things to consider when it comes to taking on that first team member, and possibly even more so if it’s been suggested that your first team member is an Admin Consultant. What is an Administrative Consultant anyway and what do they do?
So, what is an Admin Consultant?
An Administrative Consultant or AC, in short, is a remote worker who is usually hired on a freelance or contract basis. They usually work with several clients at any time, providing them all with the services they need, to run their businesses more efficiently and effectively. Generally, each client has a contract that stipulates the tasks as well as the number of hours they’re hiring the AC for – so they’re only paying for the hours needed.
As most ACs are small business owners themselves, they understand how you may be feeling about getting your business organised and on track for growth. More importantly, they can help you with both of those tasks!
Side Note: Administrative Consultants are often referred to as Virtual Assistant (VA). However, personally I prefer the term Administrative Consultant as Virtual Assistance is considered an Industry and not a title and oftentimes does not state clearly what a person specialises in.
And what do Admin Consultants do?
Well, this is one of the most commonly asked questions by businesses looking to hire an AC! And quite understandably so, as there’s no way for you to know how much time you need to hire your Admin Consultant for if you don’t know what they can actually help you with.
Administrative Consultants tend to wear many hats and provide a vast range of different services. Yet many ACs specialise in specific areas – such as branding, website creation or using a particular software platform. Most work with dedicated niche areas, and this impacts on the type of service they provide. Here’s a breakdown of the more common tasks Administrative Consultants / Virtual Assistants provide:
1. Administrative tasks
Tasks such as filing, data entry, managing your task list and implementing processes and procedures
2. Social media management
This can include anything from engagement, content creation, scheduling posts, right through to reporting.
3. Event organisation and management
Events take time to organise and run. An Administrative Consultant can liaise with attendees and suppliers, take notes at meetings, research suitable venues and even follow up with attendees after the event.
4. Email and calendar management
Tasks such as ensuring your appointments and meetings are scheduled, updating your contacts, filtering and replying to emails, tidying out your inbox, are commonly outsourced to an AC.
5. Digital marketing tasks
Content creation, website management, email and sales funnel set up and management, and editing videos are all Administrative Consultants friendly tasks.
6. Customer relationship management
An AC can take on a big part of your customer relationship and retention tasks. Tasks like sales and call management, dealing with queries and competitor research, for example.
7. Personal tasks
Not only can ACs help you with your business life – they’re great for personal tasks too! Tasks such as organising the family holiday, gift sourcing and purchasing, as well as calendar management for the family, to ensure you’re all where you need to be, on time!
8. Travel arrangements
Itineraries, tickets, and hotels, as well as handling your expense and travel claims are great jobs for your Administrative Consultant to handle.
9. Research
Competitors, blog post ideas, keyword research and even candidate selection are commonly and easily outsourced to ACs.
10. eCommerce Assistant
An AC can deal with eCommerce tasks, such as chat and email queries, customer support, order processing, product descriptions, stock monitoring etc.
11. Finance
Invoicing, Credit Control, payroll, preparing your books for your accountant are also tasks your Administrative Consultant can sort for you.(UK based clients should ensure that their AC is registered with the HMRC Anti Money Laundering Supervision).
12. Advisory
Providing advice and recommendations for new tools, improvements in processes and procedures are also often tasks an AC can provide.
So what is an Administrative Consultant/ Virtual Assistant and what do they do for you? As you’ll see above, an Administrative Consultant can be a major asset to your business. Not only will they help you get more organised, but they’ll also free up your time and your schedule so you can focus on what is important to you and what you do best. What’s more, the next time you want to expand your team, you can even outsource that process to your Administrative Consultant too!