The Gritty Virtual Assistant Blog

Dear Gritty VA:

I have started to support a realtor and while we are working through some of the tasks that I can support her with I was wondering if you could provide me with any other services or ideas on how I can support her further? –KA

Thanks for the question.

Good for you for getting proactive! Since I don’t work with real estate agents or that target market in any capacity (and thus have no clue as to how their businesses are run or what administrative work is involved), I don’t have much to offer in the way of specific service ideas. What I would have you do is two-fold:  1) talk to colleagues who work with the real estate market, and 2) talk to actual real estate agents to learn more about their businesses, how they are run, what work is involved and what their common goals and challenges are. Doing that kind of market research is really the only way you will truly know what those particular clients want and need.

While I don’t have much specific insight when it comes to the real estate market in particular, what I can offer you is this… Besides getting conscious and intentional about really getting to know your chosen target market, these are things you will also have to figure out together with your client. Except for the general, practical stuff that clients in a particular industry or profession commonly share, each client relationship and each client’s needs is different.

The support you provide to each has to evolve organically, at its own pace. You can’t rush it, and you’ll end up causing yourself and the client problems if you do. (And by the same token, don’t let clients rush you or your processes either). You want to allow things to grow at a measured, controlled and steady pace. You don’t want to take on too much all at once. Start with a few areas of support and as you get those whipped into shape, and as you continue to keep the conversation going with your client, you’ll find more things you can take on and help them with.

This is also exactly what my Activity & Time Analysis Tool™ helps you do as well.

Have the client keep track of their time and activities for at least a week, if not two. You can have them do this either before you begin working together or right at the beginning of your working relationship. The tool comes with a sheet for this purpose which you can either have clients fill in directly or enter the information yourself when they send it over to you. Then, once you plug the data into the automated tool, it spits out five different charts that give you a complete overview of their business and shows you exactly what they are doing in their business, what they are wasting time, where their obstacles are, where they’re doing well, where they definitely could use help and what tasks, functions and roles you could take over for them.

It’s a much more precise and “scientific” (if you will) way to get ramped up with clients more quickly. It will allow you to make more purposeful recommendations and it better facilitates the whole delegation process. I really encourage you to read the product description because I think it would help you tremendously.

That’s the best advice I can give you there. Hope it helps.