It's a common assumption that a graduate with a bachelor's degree in Modern Languages would become a teacher. Indeed, I do teach virtually, but today, I want to share a different journey I've been on over the last four years. It's not about teaching but about being a virtual assistant, working as part of teams, learning new working methods, facing challenges, and growing.
For around four years, I collaborated with USA Supply Source, a company that sells safety products, tools, home improvement, and electronics. Starting as an operational agent, my role was to provide support and customer service. I was part of a group of virtual assistants responsible for basic tasks such as checking order statuses and sometimes placing requested orders. These were tasks that didn't require a deep understanding of the business, but they saved the client valuable time. This was a new process for me, one that was all about technology and English and allowed me to grow professionally.
We started to create teams to offer 24/7 support to client services and tasks. At this point, we were a team of 4 people per shift, meaning we had 12 virtual assistants working throughout the day. These teams helped the client save time, enabling them to seek more deals. We knew that during the year, we had to cover three important seasons: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and special store-offered deals.
The first time we faced a major season, we experienced a significant problem with our system that prevented us from making automatic purchases on platforms. This meant that we were not producing due to our own issues. We had to find a solution within a day. When no developers, project managers, or facilitators had the answer, we turned to bilingual virtual assistant services.
We quickly assembled a group of around 20 to 30 well-prepared individuals with diverse skills that perfectly suited our needs. Initially, they were helping our tool to complete the purchasing flow with manual intervention. We managed to process a significant number of orders, making the decision to hire them for the season an excellent choice for the company and the business model.
Over time, the basic tasks evolved into more complex responsibilities that required more attention. This was not a problem for the virtual assistants because they were continuously prepared with lessons or courses given by the team leader. They were always ready to learn new skills.
The team started to handle checking emails, chatting for warranties, calling shopping centers, purchasing, and managing a CRM. Seeing their hard work, the client trusted the virtual assistants in Colombia and decided to hire more people to help with other responsibilities when the season was over. We grew to have 3 teams with a total of 30 people—all legally hired. It was a clear demonstration of the value that remote assistants bring to a business.
From this first experience, we learned to be prepared with at least 50 people for the next year. However, we found that the client needed to hire as many people as possible. The business was making profits beyond expectations.
For the coming year, we opened vacancies for bilingual virtual assistants to handle the season's demands. That year, the requirement of 50 increased to 100 virtual assistants, a win-win situation for all parties involved. This has been one of the most successful experiences I've had.
We learned that hiring virtual assistants could be the key to freeing up your time, increasing your profits, and making work easier and more efficient.
If you ever feel like it's time to make your work schedule more productive and take a break from those simple tasks that are consuming a lot of your time, consider hiring virtual assistants. They can keep your business running while you develop more strategies for continuous growth.
Ready to optimize your business processes and free up your time? Consider using SharkHelpers' virtual assistant services.
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