There are so many tasks that you as a Tradie could outsource to a Virtual Assistant to give yourself more time in the day to focus on what you are good at instead of being stuck in the office all day and all night trying to get through all the paperwork. Here is a list of a few key things that a Tradie VA could take off your hands.
1. Call back service
Does your phone ring all day? Do you just stop answering so you can actually complete the work getting paid for?
Your personal Tradie VA could return calls to those that have left messages for you on voicemail or text and filter through them and pass on the urgent ones and action the rest.
You could also arrange temporary phone answering service with your VA, perhaps you are waiting for an urgent call but are heading into a meeting – ask your VA to answer the phone for an hour.
Bonus: You clients and suppliers get to know your VA and can contact them instead of you in regards to admin or account queries.
2. Social Media management
Sometimes the creative aspect of things are a bit overwhelming and the pressure to show up on social media consistently is huge. If you outsource your social media to a VA they will take it off your hands and manage it autonomously.
3. Supplier Invoice Processing
Your VA will filter the supplier invoices that arrive in your accounts inbox, they will send the invoices to your job management or accounting software and enter the invoice information. This is a huge time saver for you, especially if you are getting a massive amount of invoices everyday. The process is completely paperless.
4. Website Updates & Maintenance
When was your website last updated with your recent projects? Maybe you've niched you services since it was built and you now offer package pricing e.g. EV Charger Installation.
Your VA could update and maintain your website for you. Updates and changes to your website help with your SEO and keep your branding and content up-to-date and on brand. There are also temporary features on websites such as the announcement bar – if you have a temporary announcement you want your website visitors to see (such as “Client space available for November, book now”) your VA could organise that for you.
5. Payment Claims & Retentions
Your business is growing, and you are now starting to work with many contractors, and they are asking you to start submitting payment claims including retentions, and you’ve got no idea where to start.
Your VA will have a payment claim template that could be customised to your branding & requirements and include any variations to your project.
You would need to make some changes to your Xero and also let your accountant know that you now have retentions as they need to take this into account when doing you end of year returns. Procedures would be put in place so that retentions are claimed when they are due as many contracts have 3, 6 or 12 month retentions terms depending on what their client requires.
The last thing you want is to miss invoicing those retentions.
6. Price Book Updates
How many emails have you had this year informing you that they increasing their pricing?
For months now the construction industry has been hit with ever increasing prices from their merchants which they can no longer afford to carry. Many clients have had to reduce how long a quote is valid for before they have to be reprice, which is creates a lot of extra work for you having to go back to the merchant for new pricing.
If you use a job management tool like Fergus or simPRO, your VA can get the price books from your merchants (some of the large ones do update automatically which is great) and upload them so you know you’re quoting with the most recent pricing. Your VA could also contact your merchant for the most recent pricing and amend a quote and send on your behalf.
7. Quoting
How many quotes are you sending every week? How many are at the 11th hour? How often does a client reply that they went with another company who go their quote in quicker?
Depending on how you do your quoting this is also another task you could outsource to your VA. A new quote can be created in your job management tool, load up the plans and specs so they are there at your fingertips when you’re ready to price it. Your VA can set reminders of when tenders are due so that you can ensure they are submitted on time. You might have standard pricing for the works you carry out e.g. switching a single power out let into double or replacing a toilet with a new one, imagine if they were sent out soon after they were requested or just after your site visit?
Tip: It’s a lot quicker for you to review a small quote than having to create it from scratch.
8. Scheduling Jobs
How often are you out onsite doing the working and you have forgotten to schedule that site meeting or small job into the schedule?
Trust us it’s a lot easier to text or call someone else to do that job for you. Your VA does use multiple ways to communicate with you, so you can decide if when you’re driving you call your VA and chat about all of the tasks that you need actioned, which frees up space in your brain for other tasks that require your attention.
Tools: WhatsApp, Messenger, Email, Text, Phone, Voice Message, Fergus Notes & Queries just to name a few.
These are just a few of the tasks you could outsource to a Tradie VA!
Download our free guide to get ideas of what your can outsource today.
If you have any questions or comments please head over to our Facebook page or you could book a free discovery call by clicking here and we can chat about your business needs.
