A virtual assistant can be a great asset to any digital marketing agency. But for many agencies, they're just not sure how to get the most out of them. A great way to get the most out of your virtual assistant is by leveraging their skills in different ways. The possibilities are endless.
In this podcast with Azhar Siddiqui, we present a Q/A interactive session of our clients with our Chief Growth Officer, Jeff Fisher.
You'll learn ways that will help you maximize your use of your VA so that they are as productive as possible.
A virtual assistant can be a great asset to any digital marketing agency. But for many agencies, they're just not sure how to get the most out of them. A great way to get the most out of your virtual assistant is by leveraging their skills in different ways. The possibilities are endless.
In this podcast with Azhar Siddiqui, we present a Q/A interactive session of our clients with our Chief Growth Officer, Jeff Fisher.
You'll learn ways that will help you maximize your use of your VA so that they are as productive as possible.
Azhar Siddiqui 0:02
Alright guys, so we kind of wanted to do this with our clients and you know, just talk about how to have a conversation, have a guided conversation on how to get the most out of the virtual assistant that you guys have with us. Some of you I think Nelson's on the call, you guys have already, you know, have the, you know, the virtual assistant count more than one. I know, Rudy, you're looking for your second person right now. So it's a great conversation I think, to have on, you know, when you have you start building out even one person when you when you're having this person, sometimes we as agency owners, we get so busy that running our businesses, that you know, we hire this person, and we think that you know, this person is okay, so I've hired this person, give them an intro to the business and things like that. And, and I've done this, I recently hired Khizer(Executive Assistant to Azhar at RepStack), he just joined our call as my executive assistant. And what happens is that, you know, like, for the first few days, maybe I gave him some instructions and things like that. And after that I went, I was traveling to Miami, and I just didn't have any time to train him on an ongoing basis. And so, you know, on our part, like on repack side, what we're trying to do is that we're trying to, like, the type of person we bring to the table, where like this is one of the most important things that we look at is that this person should be proactive, you know so that this person can be always two steps ahead of their client because you know, they shouldn't be sitting out in a silo and just waiting for you guys to give them instructions on what to do next. But it is extremely important that you know, if we can take that time out, anytime we're onboarding a new person, we can take that structured time out, especially in the first few weeks, and the first few months, I think, you know, just like, the more we put in, the more we get out of this. So that's going to be, I think, an extremely important part of this conversation that we're going to be having today. And we put together a presentation for you Khizer, can you drop the link to this presentation in the chat for everyone to download. We'll also be, we're recording this. And we'll also send out a replay to you guys as well. So you guys have the workbook with you right now. We'll share that link as well. Jeff, anything you'd like to add before we get started?
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 2:44
Yeah, the way I want to run this particular session is more guided by your questions, rather than just going down this, you know, this sheet because that we can do that. But we're here to actually help you get the most out of your VA. And so I'd like to customize the answers to each of you. And whatever issues you have gone. Nelson, I've never met you. So, Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack), I'm the chief growth officer here. And I've been doing digital marketing coaching for the last five years. So we'd be happy to see how I can help you. But Rudy, I understand you're getting ready to hire somebody new.
Rudy 3:23
Yeah. So I switched the floor to a concrete coating. So that was the best decision I ever made. So now that we're kind of growing a little bit, I didn't like I'm kind of searching out for somebody who's kind of really good at SEO, mostly, and website design. So that one is a big one for me, I want to be. I'm not trying to be particular with it, per se. But I know that with SEO if it's not done right, it can be months of damage and repair. Right? So usually, I wouldn't be as specific with this position. But I'm trying to be quite picky with this one, because I need somebody who can just kind of understand the concept of it for the most part, and maybe have even done it so that they can run with it a little bit, right? Because right now I don't have all the systems in place for that, right. So that's kind of where I'm stuck on it. I need somebody who can kind of help me grow with it. Like, you know, I mean, so if I said I don't know anything about SEO and you know, go do some SEO, what would be the first thing that you would do if you didn’t even barely know what SEO was, what would be the first thing and if somebody says I don't know, that's a concern for me if they said well, I would go to YouTube where I would go buy a course or I've asked you if I could buy this course or whatever. You know, I'm saying like somebody who can just take the reins a little bit. It's kind of what I need.
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 4:53
I think you need to change your mindset there. Okay, SEO is way more important than somebody that barely knows anything, go watch some videos because there are so many different people doing SEO in so many different ways that are successful. And then there's a whole bunch more that are not being successful because they kind of did exactly what you just described. They hired a virtual assistant, and then they said, You are now an ex SEO expert because you can read and watch videos.
Rudy 5:25
Okay, no, That's not what I meant.
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 5:27
That's what you said...
Rudy 5:30
Okay, that's not what I meant. I'm just saying if that was the worst-case scenario because obviously, I do know how to do it, right. So I can train that. Right. And so I mean, I was looking for somebody who is able to think for themselves is what I meant not like holding their hands along the way, every step of the way. But somebody can be like, Okay, well, you know, Rudy's clearly busy, so I'm gonna go build some citations.
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 5:58
Yeah.
Rudy 5:59
Do you know what I'm saying?
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 6:01
Yeah.
Rudy 6:01
I'm gonna go down this checklist and do this today.
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 6:04
But how do you build citations?
Rudy 6:07
You just use a program, you can go through "BrightLocal".
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 6:12
Okay...My point is if you don't have a process, and this person doesn't know what a citation is...
Rudy 6:23
Exactly,
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 6:24
..what are you expecting to get? What is the result you're hoping to gain? But I wouldn't get any route, remember Rudy's? You just said Rudy is busy and not available. Okay, so for those that haven't been coached, by me, I mean, I can be a real hardass here because Rudy has to get the right answer from me, not the answer he necessarily wants, which is to hire somebody relatively inexpensive and hope they get it, right.
Rudy 6:55
That's not what I'm trying to do, either. But like, here's a perfect example. My other VA, right? She, you know, we went through training so that I know already, I already know there's going to be at least 30 days worth of training, right? And I'm fine with that. Right? But I don't I still don't want to have that person who's sending me messages every day or every other hour saying okay, what do I do next? I don't know what to do next. Because like the VA I have now I've trained her and she gets it. She understands it. She's gone. Sometimes it's two days before I even talk to her. But we're having a training session this afternoon. on something else that
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 7:34
Okay so, why aren't you having her train the 70 or 80% of this position, and then you only have to worry about training the last 20% of the nuances that would be my biggest recommendation.
Rudy 7:49
Okay. Okay. Love it. This is awesome. I'm glad I joined that this morning
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 7:57
No problem this is why we're having it because we want to make you more out of your virtual assistants that you're hiring more impactful to your business Alright, let's jump over and Nelson you have any questions that I can answer specifically here today?
Nelson Yecora 8:15
Hey, good morning guys and Jeff Nice to meet you, unfortunately, no I mean it's been very very good feedback from the other you know, a team that's on the call I mean I pretty much don't have a digital marketing platform so the VA that I have is has changed I'm on my third VA with the company started with Athar (Chief Operations Officer & Co-Founder at RepStack) back in November. And the one that I currently have right now, you know, basically has taken on more of an executive assistant role so I've got her doing multiple projects, just learning my business learning to really kind of take over for me since I'm also running multiple automotive dealerships as my full-time job. So this company that I have, are helping me with is more of a side business that I manage for my family, so you know what I can suggest if, since it seems like I may be the old man out here on the call as far as November having had an experience with repstack I see that repstack has grown in a positive way of providing, you know, not only us, you know, as business owners, you know, more resources and more opportunities to get our VA is, you know, obviously more acclimated with with our individual businesses but, but something that I see that is being proactive on your guys's end is, hearing the feedback, you know, and getting a VA to, you know, learn other tasks and skills that will not only help them in their own personal journey, but of course with me and my business and so forth on and so, I would just suggest that, you know, like Rudy's doing having, you know, we have weekly staff meetings with RBA, and you know, we were constant communicating through Basecamp, which is a format that we use to keep communication. And I just feel that you know, that you got, you got to continually throw things at them and challenge them. What I have noticed with three VA is different personalities, all three of them female, that you know, one of the frustrations that I had early on was, they weren't, you know, the Think outside the box, they weren't, you know, their personalities were not that so I had to, I had to, of course, understand that mentality and kind of help them work on that mindset. And it's worked out well, once you understand, you know, they're almost kind of almost robotic, in the sense that you know, that you give them a task and they're, you got to be pretty specific on what that task is, because they're gonna, they're going to follow whatever you tell them to the tee. So they're not, they're not you, they're not going to think outside the box, which I noticed early in my relationship with the three V's that I was working with. So other than that, I'm just glad to be you know, you know, part of you know, the journey with you guys, and I'm glad to see that you guys are providing us and your VA has more resources. I mean, you know, like to think of them as partners company within a company and I treat a treat them like that I give them a lot of visionary mindsets, you know, journey, topics and conversation so that they feel that they're part of something like what Rudy, you know, says I, you know, I tell my VA the same thing, you know, I want you to see this company, go from here to here, and, and I want you to be, you know, feel that you're part of that, you know, that growth. So that's pretty much all I have to say for right now.
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 11:54
So let me just ask you a couple of questions, if that's okay, so you do this part-time, the, what's your building part-time,
Nelson Yecora 12:02
um, it's a full-time business, it's a tax preparation company, and also a debt elimination company. So, we also have some financial services. We have basically three verticals, So I don't want to say part-time, because I manage the company from an investor Managing Partner standpoint, full time, but I don't do the day-to-day work of a company I opened up for my son five years ago. So he primarily, you know, during tax season, which right now we're in the offseason, he's the one he and another tax preparer that I have on staff, they're the ones that basically do the day to day stuff, I can't, I'm pretty much just operating the account and marketing, you know, helping with the business side of it. So that's what I meant by part-time.
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 12:51
Okay, so here's an exercise you might want to try and I would have your son do this as well. It just takes an hour to sit down with a notepad and draw a simple line down the center. And on the left-hand side, I want you to write what I need to stop doing. And on the right-hand side, what I love to do, make that list, and then figure out how either the current VA or another VA can help get rid of everything on the left-hand side that, you know, either don't like to do or shouldn't be doing but still are. Okay, it makes sense. And it's always amazing, I do that exercise every year. And every year, I get rid of more stuff than last year. I didn't think I could do but because I'm constantly training my team, all of a sudden, I'm like, Oh, so and so can do that task now. And I've forgotten that I've actually moved them that far. That's why my observation for Rudy is he doesn't even recognize how far he's moved his young lady already. And there's no reason not to give her an assistant. And that may be the case with the one that you have, especially if that list is on the left-hand side of things that you shouldn't be doing or paid to do, or whatever the case is. I just hired an executive-level administrator in my recruiting business, my full-time business as I do executive recruiting. And we just went through that exercise last week. So I have a goal every week to take three things off the left-hand side and trainer on doing it. So that list eventually goes away and then we'll start over again, right. What if you don't do it intentionally? It never happens. Jono Long, what's going on?
Jono Long 15:00
Hey man, my VA is great. I just missed you, man. I haven't seen you in a while. So I just thought I'd be here and get to see you and your recliner
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 15:09
Hasn't changed man.
Jono Long 15:11
Asad is my VA, he's incredible. We are in a little bit of a transition that I think this would be where I could get some input from you. We... I kind of, well, not kind of... I decided back in July just to move away from the restoration niche. The PPC was just if these guys don't spend 5000 a month on Google ads, it's a waste of time, we kind of discovered, and hardly any of them are willing to do that. So it was just a struggle. So we kind of laid out, you know, what would Jono be and what world would Jono be the best at dealing with? And what world do I know the best and, and the whole team, you know, in my team there, there's a Catholic, Protestant and a Muslim and they were all like, Jono, you need to be working with churches and nonprofits. So there was some wisdom in that. And so we've decided, so our new agency is going to be called Faithworks Marketing. And so we're going to be targeting Main Line churches, evangelical churches, I guess you would say just that's the world I came from. And then faith-based nonprofits, which we already have nine of them in my legacy agency. So we're moving them over,
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 16:38
Here's my first piece of advice, set the nonprofit list aside, okay, and just work on the churches to start, because the messaging is different. So, you're trying to merge two niches in one business, and you're not realizing it. Along those same lines, your VA every week has four hours of data management on their schedule, where they're working on your data. And what I mean by that is the first week, have them export your list and sort by email addresses, and grab everyone that says info app, or sales app or, you know, some generic mailbox and have them start working to get a more specific one. Because every time you buy a list, you know, 25 - 30% of them are those generic emails, and you accept them in the beginning, and you should get them into your sequence, get those emails going out, okay. But then if you're spending that four hours every week, improving your list, I just showed you a way that you can use it on Facebook, you're going to get better deliverability inside, and also simultaneously when they're doing those reads that research. You know, it's not that hard to create two to three questions for them. That basically, is this prospect better than a dream-100 we already have, keep working your data keep getting better, every hour, that you know, you have somebody and if you have somebody invest eight hours, and you take whatever list they got done and you review it and spend an hour that nine-hour investment is gonna pay off down the road.
Jono Long 18:34
Gotcha.
Jeff Fisher (Chief Growth Officer at RepStack) 18:34
Yeah, just keep if you just keep working with that old data. I mean, it's gonna pay off but not at the same rate. You know, so, something to consider.
Jono Long 18:45
Now that's good. That's good stuff.
Azhar Siddiqui 18:48
All right. Thanks, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this. We'll be back next month, the first Wednesday of every month.
We'll be here to answer VA questions for you.