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Many people who know little about online marketing can barely identify what a Virtual Employee is and its importance in a business. By definition, virtual staff are online secretaries and more. Why more? Aside from the usual clerical stuff, setting of appointments, and answering of calls, some virtual assistants take their professions to the extra mile. A good virtual assistant is one of the keys of having a smooth sailing online business.

What does a Virtual Assistant do?

An effective virtual employee can efficiently do many tasks. Multitasking, taking initiative and problem solving are some of the best skills of effective virtual staff have. The more capable a virtually assistant is with the tasks, the higher his or her rate will be. To get the most of your budget, clients should start checking which tasks a potential virtual assistant is willing to handle for a certain rate before they can weigh their options.

A virtual assistant can do one or more of the following depending on agreed conditions:

• Handle customer's and potential clients' inquiries through phone or email. - With an administrative virtual staff, clients do not need to spend time checking emails and answering questions may it be regarding their product, service or the business itself. Their virtual employee can also correspond to clients such as transcribing of meetings and voice messages,making a follow up on orders or delivering customer service.

• Take care of minor billing and accounting - A virtual executive assistant can also be trusted to do books. The client's business' balance sheets will be provided to them when they commence the job.

• Make arrangements - Scheduling a meeting, travel arrangements and appointments are usually done by a personal virtual employee. It puts one's mind at ease while he or she tends to the more important stuff in his business.

How do we Communicate?

Now that the tasks are set, it is time for a virtual staff to learn how this business works. Basically, the internet is what connects the client and your virtual assistant. Communication can be done by many means. VoIP, Online messengers, Emails and Chat applications are just some of them. There are plenty of free communication services offered online that virtual assistants also can take advantage of. There are also some companies that offer virtual assistant services who already have developed their own application or software for communicating with their staff. This proves to be better than not having your own software as it provides both security and quality to the company. After all, most businesses are concerned about protecting their Intellectual Property.

Now What?

With the many good things virtual staff can do, improper setting of expectations can lead to a serious misunderstanding between two parties. Thus, it is best for you to clearly establish the tasks that need to be done, the frequency and other expectations. Clarifications, deadline negotiations are also done prior to the start date of the operation. Most virtual employees are level headed and are very flexible with the tasks that are expected of them. Still, the key for this successful partnership is to build a clear and professional relationship.