your assistant should be assigned, and these are things that will make an immediate impact on your current staff’s productivity. Creating work orders, entering time sheets, review - ing applications, sending out renew - als, answering emails, and collecting move-in and move-out paperwork are easy tasks to teach. #6: CLEARLYDEFINED TASKS Jobs that have a definite yes/no, right/wrong answer are the best assignments for your assistant. It is a mistake to have their first respon - sibility be answering phone calls. This could lead to mistakes if they don’t already know the operations of your business. Any situation where the assistant needs to make a quick decision for a tenant/prospect, without having the time to make sure they have the right answer, is a recipe for disaster. Give them time to learn the way things work within your company and gain confidence before putting them on the spot. #7: LIMIT DEPARTMENTS In an effort to get the most bang for your buck, you will be tempted to gather a list of the tasks with which your staff needs help and have your assistant try to learn tasks from several different departments and supervisors. This is going to severe - ly limit the productivity of your first assistant. If you focus on one area, say marketing, and have your assis - tant schedule showings, refresh ads, and help with renewals, then their learning curve will be much faster. They will be able to see how their different tasks fit together to accom - plish a larger goal.
This task is something that benefits the company but can be done at any time. It is a task that the assis- tant will work on when they have accomplished all their other jobs. A task that has quantifiable results, such as entering data, is a good choice. This will allow you to see if your assistant has more room for learning new processes. Prospect - ing for new clients can be a great busy-work task. #9: SUPPORTTHE STRONGEST, NOTTHEWEAKEST You might have your new assis - tant help your weakest teammate because they are failing at their duties. This is not recommend - ed as, most often, the worst staff member is also the person that will be unmotivated or not edu - cated enough to be a good teach - er. Because you will only get out of your assistant what you invest into your assistant, having a weak team member be their immediate supervisor will only result in having two bad apples. Instead, feed your strongest worker. They will appre- ciate that you notice their dedica - tion and have offered them support. They will be motivated to teach your assistant so they can be even more productive every workday.
#10: TRAINING IS KEY A virtual assistant can be like a sponge for knowledge if an invest - ment is made in proper training. They can accomplish almost any task that can be done remotely if detailed step-by-step instructions are provided. However, if there is an unreasonable expectation that the assistant will jump into your busi - ness and know how to do tasks that are specialized to your company, you will surely be disappointed. Plan the duties for your first virtual assistant, have an excellent train - ing program that shows them every detail of how to complete the pro - cess, and profits, productivity, and staff morale will increase! •
Chase Collins, NARPM® Affiliate Member, is the sole owner of Prosper Real Estate, managing about 2,000 rental properties in Wisconsin and
Minnesota. He has been managing properties in the Midwest for 17 years. Chase has consulted for hundreds of property managers and trains virtual assistants in the property management industry. More information can be found at www.PropertyManagerAssistant.com. NARPM members benefit from savings on programs like this; for more information on joining, visit www. NARPM.com/join.
#8: BUSYWORK Every member of your team should have a “Busy Work” task.
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