Third Friday in May is recognized as International Virtual Assistant Day. So today, let me big-up the virtual assistant community who are the unseen heroes backing many successful businesses and professionals. Happy International Virtual Assistant Day!
Virtual Assistants are generally self-employed and provide a variety of professional services to entrepreneurs and businesses remotely from a home office. In addition to their technical or specialized abilities, soft skills are very important for the making of a successful virtual assistant. Here is a list of 10 soft skills for a great VA:
An effective virtual assistant needs to know how to prioritize and keep things on schedule. The job of assisting a business, an executive or a manager includes scheduling and meeting agreed on deadlines and communicating in advance any variance. No one likes last-minute excuses, therefore a virtual assistant must understand the client's priorities and manage assigned tasks so they can focus on the core of their business.
Equally important as being able to manage time, a virtual assistant must be able to grasp the big-picture thinking of their clients to manage a project. With projects, there may be moving parts so a great virtual assistant is one who can manage the deliverables of the project and collaborate well with other team members. Virtual Assistants who are competent in tackling projects can foster a trusting and lasting business-relationship with their clients.
Communication is key. There is nothing more valuable, than understanding and being understood and the same goes for virtual assistants. It is imperative, that information between clients and virtual assistants is conveyed in a manner that is clearly understood to meet expectations.
This is a fundamental quality that is necessary to be a great virtual assistant. Listening leads to learning and it enables the virtual assistant to ask the right questions and connect them with the vision and direction of their clients.
A meticulous virtual assistant will never go unnoticed. A great virtual assistant respects and approaches the client’s business with efficiency and accuracy. After all, such assistants pride themselves in noticing things others don’t which work together for the client’s need to balance work with their family or private life.
A great virtual assist must be able to interact well with all people. They are flexible and patient and can build rapport in various ways.
Having a curious mindset works well to motivate one to research and gather information. A great virtual assistant has a natural curiosity and ability to research and build bridges between ideas to better understand the client’s needs and to equip them to trade valuable information.
Exhibiting good, sound practical judgment, and prudence achieved by being more aware and reflecting on situations before making decisions. A great virtual assistant is capable of filling the gaps and demonstrating initiative when given incomplete ideas while keeping the client informed and in approval along the way.
The making of a great virtual assistant is one who is dependable and reliable. This demonstrates a commitment to the task to complete it accurately and timely.
This is simply the most important skill for a great virtual assistant, being able to keep your client information private and secure. The loss of the client’s trust in the virtual assistant’s ability to keep things confidential can cost the business relationship and their job.
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Susan Scarlett is the executive assistant helping busy professionals with their to-dos. She also enjoys blogging about topics of interest, sewing, and volunteering.
