How much of your sales representatives’ time is spent speaking with prospective clients? You may have noticed that it’s not as high as you want it to be.

Instead of communicating with prospects, your agents are spending most of their day looking for new leads, securing contact information and scheduling meetings. Such tasks are critical to the sales process but it’s not the most efficient use of their time.

Why? Because they don’t generate any revenue.

As a matter of fact, anything that doesn’t involve building relationships or figuring out what clients need can be seen as non-core. Do you really want to expend a good amount of your resources on activities that can’t produce more sales?

If you want to give your in-house representatives more time for actual selling, learn to delegate and outsource non-core tasks to a sales virtual assistant. Here are a few examples of tasks that can be assigned to one.

Creating expense reports

An expense report is a form that itemises expenditures for which you are asking for reimbursement. You typically have to attach receipts to it when expenditures are above a certain amount.

As to the sales process, dealing with databases and filling out forms isn’t high on the list of things to do. It may put money back into your individual pocket but it doesn’t really benefit your company.

Confirming tomorrow’s meetings

Save time and make money when you get this done. By making sure that you aren’t waiting for a no-show on Skype or in a cafe, you’re giving yourself more chances to sell.

The sad news is that seeking confirmation takes more effort than you think. Some people are only ever available during the time they’ve already set aside for you for the actual meeting.

Researching about prospects

Get a sales virtual assistant, to put together a short briefing note that contains industry numbers, deal size and other details before your calls with prospective clients.

Instead of scouring the web for additional information on your leads, you’ll be able to save your energy for building a professional relationship with them.

Finding more leads

As long as you set parameters, you can assign someone else to mine social media and other networks for a list of qualified candidates for your selling efforts. You can say that you want to talk only to entrepreneurs who are in their twenties but have at least 15 employees, for instance.

You’ll consequently save time while always having someone new to pursue.

Rescheduling your flights

You can be as picky about your airline or seat as much as you want. However, when you want to make it back home every night as your appointments run late, you’ll want to have someone make the necessary changes to your bookings for you.

You’ll be able to finish your meeting and get to the airport with minimal stress.

Sending out greetings

It’s crucial for any business to maintain contact with both potential and current customers. While there are many ways to achieve this, it can be challenging to make it personal and efficient.

A virtual assistant can help with crafting messages, finding gifts and sending cards. This ensures that you’ll be at the top of your prospect’s mind, especially during the holiday season.

Arranging lunch/dinner meetings

This includes calling the restaurant for a reservation and finalising the details with your contact. Booking a single appointment can mean exchanging significant amounts of emails and this is best outsourced to someone else, like a VA.

Handling CRM activities

Sometimes, when you get so busy with closing deals, you begin falling behind in managing your CRM tasks. The system is supposed to streamline your business processes and automate your everyday tasks—if set up and used correctly.

However, this takes time that you could be used for making a sale.

Answering your calls

The most disruptive form of communication these days are phone calls. More often than not, you have to halt your other activities when you answer, which is a problem when you already have plenty on your plate.

You don’t want to force prospects to leave a voicemail, however, so pass the job to your sales VA instead.

Taking meeting minutes

Noting down key takeaways from a meeting is important, but it’s hard to do when you’re leading the conversation. But then, recording the conversation for you to review later means double the time investment.

Your virtual assistant can take notes throughout the meeting while ensuring that no details have been missed.

With That Said…

Most salespeople are results-driven and high-energy. Having them spend time on monotonous tasks such as the ones listed above is a waste of their time and talent. So, find ways to outsource them through a sales virtual assistant.

We at Remote Workmate can endorse a qualified and experienced VA for your needs should you decide to work with us.