Asking someone to manage your diary might be one of the best business decisions you ever make. It means better time-management, less opportunity for double-booking and makes a real difference to how you can grow your business. So how could moving to a virtual assistant diary management service help you?
The hassle of diary organising
You might be surprised at how much time is wasted over the course of a working week on arranging and re-arranging appointments. Just think back to your last full week of work and consider the number of emails and phone calls you engaged in simply to make or change appointments in your diary. It may be a normal part of your daily routine at the moment, but imagine what else you could do if that time was free for business development or client meetings.
Well, that change is perfectly possible if you ask an expert to help. By outsourcing your diary management to a virtual assistant, you not only make your diary process more efficient; you release time in every working day where you can be more productive on behalf of your business.
So, what does this mean for you?
- Accurate diary entries – some business owners manage two or three separate diaries, one at their desktop, one on their phone and often still a paper-based calendar. This produces a lot of opportunity for mistakes and double-bookings, meaning you could end up at a meeting that’s already been cancelled, or discover at the last minute that you can’t be in two places at once. Putting someone in charge of your diary means accurate diary entries that you can rely on.
- A single calendar – there are a number of cloud-based calendar apps which allow you to synchronise your diary at any time. Access the calendar from your phone, tablet or desktop and have all the information you need at your fingertips – from location to things to take with you. For various reasons, many people use Google Calendar, or the Apple equivalent, and there are other apps available including Fruux and Foogi. These online diary management apps allow you to schedule meetings with a group of people quickly and easily, and as soon as you update something on one device, it registers everywhere else. All you have to do is give access to your virtual assistant or diary planner.
- Retain control – a good diary contains everything you need to make your daily life manageable and efficient. So you need to retain some control. That means that you can add anything that prevents appointments from being made when you don’t need them – so if you want to leave the office at 3pm every Thursday so you can pick the kids up from school, it’s permanently in the diary. Similarly, if you are arranging private appointments, such as a hospital visit, you can add this privately to your diary and all your assistant can see is that the time is blocked out.
- Greater efficiency – don’t stop at adding appointments; get your diary organiser or virtual assistant to help you prepare for meetings too. They can put board packs together, create presentations, book travel and accommodation and type up transcripts of meeting minutes. You’ll become more efficient and your business will look and feel smarter to your clients.
Time to make a change?
If you can see the benefits of investing in a virtual assistant diary organiser so that you can work more effectively on your business or would like to learn more about outsourcing to a virtual pa, feel free to call us on 0800 994 9016 or use our contact form in the menu above.