As full-time professional speakers you are out on the road a lot! You are used to working from a hotel room by yourself and not having any staff to help you take care of things. Or maybe you haven’t the funds to hire full-time staff. So how do things look when you do get back home from traveling? And when you do get back home you might find that you are swamped with emails from the past weeks you’ve been gone and don’t even get started on all of the spam that you will need to clear out of your inbox.

Did you know that professional speakers and a virtual assistant are a match made in heaven?

A virtual assistant can offer you help as a part-time staff member. The best thing is partnering with a virtual assistant is one of the smartest things that you can do. By hiring a VA you are not responsible for employee taxes, health insurance, or any office space or computer equipment. So what can a Virtual Assistant help you with?

 

1. Answering Telephones. Meeting planners and professional speakers bureaus can be impatient and having someone answering your calls makes things easier and professional. If the VA is in the same time zone as you are that would be great but not necessary. The VA can still pick up your voice mails and return phone calls. With technology as it is today a Virtual Assistant can sign up for an account such as Ring Central. Then set up an extension where you can forward your phone to the extension and she can manage calls.
2. Editing And Sending Your E-Zine. Set up your e-zine (newsletter) in a template in your email marketing system like Aweber, Infusionsoft, or Convertkit. Once you write the newsletter the virtual assistant will proofread and edit, the newsletter send it back for final approval. Once approved the VA will set up the launch date for the newsletter, upload it to your email service provider. The newsletter will be sent out weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. She can also send you stats of how many people bounced, how many people actually opened the email. And how many click through on a link that was provided if you have one
3. Work With Speaker Bureaus. You Virtual Assistant can keep the professional speaker industry bureau updated on professional speaker rates and speaking topics, send them travel arrangements and make sure that they pay on time. She also can find out when a professional speaker is needed.

Professional Speakers Distribution System

1. Shipping Promotional Material. When you are on the road you don’t have the time to ship your books or other materials. You can be away for days or weeks at a time. Your VA can take care of the shipping and all that is involved with it for you. She also can process credit card payments and prepare the invoices. If any problems arise with the shipping of your promotional material your VA can take care of that too.
2. Database and Business Cards Maintenance. Once you return from your speaking engagement, you have a list of people who have filled out a form of some sort and have asked to be added to your professional speakers email mailing list. Your Virtual Assistant can take care of that for you and that would be one less thing that you would have to worry about getting to. Also if you have a stack of business cards that have been laying around for months collecting dust, your VA can also scan all of those cards into your database for future mailings.

 

So you see a Virtual Assistant for professional speakers is your best friend and having one is like a match made in heaven. As a business owner I know it is hard for you to give up some of these daily tasks but in the end you will see the benefit of having less stress and more time to take care of the things that you really need to be concentrating on.