When you think about it, much of the success of your business is down to the quality of research you do. From market research and customer surveys to event planning and technology support – research is a necessary part of your operation. It’s also time-consuming though – and that’s why many small businesses choose to work with a virtual assistant. Research services managed this way are affordable and free up your time to concentrate on other things.
So, what are the benefits of outsourcing to a virtual assistant? And how can they help you to move your business forward? We’ve listed 9 ways that we know work brilliantly for business owners, and could be the answer you’re looking for.
1. Industry research – what is the current state of play in your target industry or industries? What is their overall contribution to the economy? Where are the gaps? What are the latest trends?
2. Competitor research – who are your key competitors? What does their product or service range look like? How are they marketing themselves? What is their pricing structure? What do you need to do to expand your market share against them?
3. Product or service research – what is the market like for the products or services you’re selling? How could you do things differently to make your offering unique? Is there an opportunity to provide something else that could help your business acquire more customers? These essential areas of market and customer research help you to manage your business strategy and planning, and to make changes to your offering based on good quality, up-to-date data and insights.
4. Customer surveys – one of the best ways to manage a successful business is to have a good dialogue with your customers. The more you know about what they want, what they need and how they feel about your products or services, the better you can serve them. This relies on great feedback, and that’s where virtual assistant research can help. From quick post-sale feedback and encouraging reviews to full-scale customer survey research, you can build a fantastic understanding of your customer base and how you can grow it.
5. Technology solutions – there are lots of great technology platforms out there that will help you to run your business more smoothly and more efficiently. You don’t need to do your accounts on Excel or keep your customer records in a filing cabinet. Instead, you can easily adopt financial software that’s designed for SME businesses, or use a CRM to keep track of all customer and sales activity. But knowing which system to buy can be a minefield – and the research can take hours. Outsource this to someone who has the resources and expertise to help – like an internet research assistant – and you’ll get a shortlist of recommended products to help make your life easier and your business better.
6. Pitch documents and sales presentations – putting together a sales or financial pitch presentation is time-consuming. You need to research market data, competitor information, product pricing, financial data and more so you can make your case. But often, you can’t afford the time to do this properly – and your pitch may suffer. So this is a great opportunity to use a virtual research service. Someone who can pull all the relevant data together for you – and even build your presentation for you in your chosen template and software.
7. Travel research – if you need to travel for work, either at home or overseas, you need to look at flight times, train timetables, hotel bookings, car hire and more. Again, you can spend hours trying to put a business itinerary together – time you can save by outsourcing to an experienced travel researcher and organiser.
9. Event planning – holding a seminar to attract new clients? Want to put on a charity event? Holding a panel discussion to highlight your expertise? All of these events require planning. For live events, you need a venue, catering, invitations, hand-outs, presentations and more. For online events like webinars, you need to choose a hosting option, advertise on social media and manage the event on the day. All things that can be handled by an event planner virtual assistant quicker and less expensively than you can do it yourself.
10. Marketing research – marketing plays a big role in your success, but small businesses often have limited budgets, so how do you know where to spend your cash? Outsourcing some simple research will help you discover which platforms and options are best for your business and determine how you can plan your marketing for the best results.
If you think that using virtual assistant research services could save you time and benefit your business (and we know it does), why not call us on 0800 994 9016 or use our contact form in the menu above?
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