In the September 2010 newsletter article, the ABC’s of Delegation, we explored some tips on the “how” of delegation. That article spurred some requests on the “what”, so this month, we will suggest some “whats” that can get you out from behind your desk and allow you to focus on the business of your business.
The “Round To-Its”
The Round To-Its are all of those things that you back burner for the ‘if only’ times. You know those times – there is really no clock that chimes “ it’s if only time”, but you sort of have one in your head. If only I could get this other work done, then I can tackle all of those tasks that I have been meaning to get around to. The trouble is, we end up never getting around to them. Here are some examples:
Monthly or Quarterly Newsletter Creation and Distribution
File Organization
Business Card Scanning of all of those people you meet at networking events
Cleaning up your email account(s)
Writing welcome notes to new Chamber members
Sending Thank You notes to Referral partners
The “ I Hate to Do-Its”
This category is the no-brainer tasks. You had to do these tasks anyway, so delegating them to someone else to do results in a win-win since you hate to do them. The tasks get accomplished and you didn’t have to do them, what more could you ask? Here are some suggestions where you may want to have someone else do these tasks:
Bank Statement Reconciliation/Monthly Bookkeeping – Okay, you caught me. I absolutely hate to do this; hence, it is on the top of my list to delegate, along with all of those other preparatory, pre-tax filing, getting the accountant the information types of chores. I hired one of my Cybertary Team members as my bookkeeper and I can now sleep at night knowing this work is done.
Prospecting for New Clients/Follow up with Existing Clients /Setting up Appointments– I have seen grown men and women who otherwise exude tremendous confidence and self-assurance become fear struck at the concept of picking up the phone and making a call to prospect for new business. The thought of cold-calling makes them positively weak-kneed. Following up with existing clients should be less of a chore, but many people just cannot find the time or energy to do this work. The good news is that by hiring a Cybertary, these calls not only get made, but you give the appearance that you have a staff, two benefits for the price of one.
The “I Really Like to Do-It But Someone Else Can Do-It Better (Faster/Cheaper)”
Do the creative juices flow for you in developing a Powerpoint presentation, but fall apart when you try to make it “look professional”? Do you get bogged down in the appearance of your document to the detriment of its content? There are some things better left to experts. While we can all struggle along with the basics of the various office productivity software, complex formatting, editing and proofreading can be a huge sinkhole of time. Focus your efforts on the content or the message and leave the mechanics to the experts that can do it more quickly and efficiently. A Cybertary is an administrative professional who is skilled in multiple platforms and applications and who does this work every day. They can help you portray a professional, polished appearance in your marketing collateral, correspondence and other materials.
The “I Don’t Know How to Do It”
One of the biggest mistakes that I see small businesses make is thinking they can do things for themselves, especially as it relates to their online presence. They create their website, their brand, their email marketing by cobbling together various pieces, often ‘free’ and not accepting the reality that oftentimes, you do get what you pay for. Invest in your business’ appearance by hiring qualified experts to help you, especially when you don’t know how to do it yourself.
Another of the areas that I consistently hear from clients is they know they need to follow up with prospects, but just don’t know how. Or, they know they should be doing social media, but they just don’t know how. Marketing plan execution, acting as a surrogate for social media postings, be they LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogs are all perfect examples of the type of tasks that can be readily delegated to a virtual assistant.
Hopefully, these suggestions will help you get some time back in your day for the important task of working “ON” your business as you allow others to work “IN” your business.
