• Ask other real estate professionals for referrals.
• Visit Gooder Group’s Rainmaker E-Central-trained list of VAs.
• Visit eRainmaker.com for a directory.
• Check out IVAA Directory at www.IVAA.org, the website of the International Virtual Assistants Association. Filter for “Real Estate” designation.
• If it’s important that your VA be available for occasional face-to-face meetings, limit your search to your geographical region.

Now that you’ve found a VA, how do you get started with a VA?

• After you have interviewed and selected a VA, let them guide you.
• Some VAs have specific “start-up” procedures, such as a no-fee one-hour consultation, others begin with a small project and go from there.
• Develop and agree on a specific list of tasks or projects to minimize misunderstandings. Be explicit and put in writing everything that needs to be done.

Whether you are working to find a VA, have had one for a while, or are just getting started using a VA, let us know how you found your VA.

• Rates vary.  Hourly rates range between $20 to $75 an hour, typically $35+ an hour. 
• Some VAs have a fixed hourly rate for all work, others have a range of rates, depending on the work to be done.  Some VAs offer discounts if you commit to a fixed number of hours per month, or for pre-paid hours.
• Most VAs will provide cost estimates for larger projects. Some VAs require an upfront deposit before beginning a large project.
• In addition to the agreed upon rate for completion of the project, you will be responsible for the VA’s out-of-pocket expenses directly related to an assignment – postage, long-distance phone calls, and shipping. 
• Ask for supporting documentation and receipts that indicate hours worked and expenses incurred for specific projects. 

As a freelance employee, costs for VAs can be flexible depending upon how you choose to use the VA. 

• Typically, long-term contracts are not required for projects paid by the hour.
• However, a commitment of time helps both you and the VA when planning workflow. 
• Make it clear up front if you need a VA who will work with you on an ongoing basis or just on a project-by-project basis.
• It’s smart to agree on a 30-to-60-day notification period for either you or the VA to call it quits.

Again, communication is the key to a good working relationship with your VA.  Share your experiences with hiring a VA. 

The big question is, since most VAs work remotely, “How do I manage a VA?”

• Most VAs are self-directed and used to working without supervision.  If you can handle that, you’re nearly home free.
• A detailed job description is essential.  Know and communicate exactly what you expect the VA to do. 
• Since you won’t have easy access to the work in progress, set benchmarks and milestones for well-defined portions of the work to be done.
• It’s important that you establish and agree on deadlines for an entire project or stages of a project.
• Keep lines of communication open, but do not hover.

No matter how you manage your VA, it’s imperative to communicate regularly with him or her.  VAs can help you manage your business when you manage the tasks you give your VA.  Share with us your experience with VAs.

Is the VA on my payroll?

• No.  The VA is an independent contractor, not your employee.
• You may have to provide access to your computer files and any special software that is required for an assignment. 
• You are not responsible for the VA’s office equipment, withholding taxes, insurance programs, fringe benefits, or OSHA or ERISA requirements. 
• Plan to send your VA an annual tax form 1099 indicating total payments for the previous tax year.

Should I look for a VA that has a real estate license? 

• No.  VAs are usually hired to cover routine online and offline administrative duties. 
• As such, they cannot promote the sale of real estate property, or be in direct contact with a customer. 
• VAs should not respond to requests for specific property information.

Virtual Assistants can streamline your business.  Visit Gooder Group’s website to preview a list of Rainmaker E-Central-trained VAs and contact them to see what they can do to help you. Share your experiences with us!

Here’s a quick list of some typical things VAs can do:

• VAs perform a variety of administrative duties or technical tasks, according to their skills/strengths and your specific requirements. 
• Ask about their specialties, and look for a VA that has strength in areas that are important to you.
• Online tasks might include creating virtual tours, maintaining drip marketing follow-ups, or updating e-mail lists or your website.
• Offline work can include a range of routine administrative tasks such as producing and mailing monthly newsletters, printing and mailing just-listed and just-sold postcards, and sending post-closing and referral thank-you gifts.

And, here’s a quick list of things that many VAs do not do:

• VAs are not consultants or business coaches, ad agencies, speaker booking agents, or tax advisors.
• You would not contract with a VA to perform the duties of a web developer (programmer), technology consultant or accountant, although some VAs will do routine bookkeeping, and some do website design.
• VAs do computer-based “process” tasks best, typically not highly creative one-time projects, such as brand identity, personal brochures, listing presentations.

VAs can do a lot for your business.  That’s not in question. Every VA has a different skill set; preview the profiles of Rainmaker E-Central trained VAs on our website to help you narrow your search for a VA. Share with us your experience using a VA.

• Are you feeling overworked?
• Do you have too many balls in the air?
• Are routine tasks taking up too much of your time?
• Are you trying to master specialized skills that take precious time away from your true business?

If any of these conditions describe you, it may be time to consider one very practical solution: Hire a virtual assistant (VA).  More and more rainmaker real estate agents use VAs as a cost-effective way to help with administrative overloads.

Here is how a virtual assistant is different from other members of your staff:

• VAs are not your employees, and they do not work in your office alongside your staff. Rather, they are independent contractors whom you hire to provide specific administrative tasks or specialized business services.
• VAs complete assignments from their own home offices, using the Internet, phone, fax, instant messaging and, sometimes, overnight mail to communicate and deliver.
• VAs are not on salary. They are paid hourly or by project, as agreed.
• No training – on-the-job or otherwise – should be necessary.

If you are thinking of hiring a VA, be sure to check out our free service to help you find a Virtual Assistant.  All VAs listed on our site are trained in Rainmaker E-Central.

Let us know how VAs help your business!  Share your experience with us and our readers.

A recent study covering January through June 2009 by Return Path, discovered that 21% of commercial, permissioned emails sent are not delivered to the recipient’s inbox.  About 3.3% is sent to a junk email folder and a shockingly large 17.4% is not delivered at all.  Email deliverability is highly dependent upon the recipients Internet Service Provider (ISP) who all have differing levels of predicting what is spam, what is legitimate and where (and if) the email should be successfully sent to the recipient’s inbox.

What does this mean for your email marketing?

If you are currently mailing to 1,000 people, it’s safe to assume that up to 200 of those people are NOT seeing your message!  Those 200 people could be working with you.  What is the value of each of those people behind one single email address who

• buy a home with you,
• sell their home with you,
• both sell and buy a home with you or
• refer new home buyers or sellers to you!

Thousands, upon thousands of dollars a year!  Why do you let bounced emails and undelivered emails languish when it means leaving your earnings on the table?

How can you increase your email’s deliverability and avoid increased non-delivery of emails?

1.  Don’t always assume that if you don’t get a bounce from an email address that it was delivered.

2.  When emails aren’t delivered, take the information returned to you seriously.  Investigate what non-delivery or error messages you get for each email address that is returned to you.  For some of your leads, you may have no other way to contact that person except their email address.  Remember that when that address doesn’t work, you’ve lost that lead…and their current and future business…AND all their referral business too!

3.  Carefully create your email marketing lists.  Take time to gather more than an email address from all your contacts.  Be sure you get permission to email to recipients BEFORE you send marketing email.  Review your lists often and don’t send marketing messages too frequently.  Additionally, make sure the marketing message is relevant to your recipient.  Segment email lists by type to make sure you are not asking first-time home buyers to sell their homes and sending relocation information to clients who just bought a home and are more likely to be inclined to send referrals your way.

4.  Take any feedback, questions and complaints about your email marketing seriously.  Address any unsubscribe problems promptly.

5.  If you don’t have the time or technical expertise to handle your email marketing list, hire a virtual assistant with experience in the field to take care of this important task for you.

Share with us your best practices for managing your email marketing lists.

Perhaps your business to-do list is growing faster than you can cross things off it. Maybe your to-do list is manageable, but you’d rather have more time for other things in your life. Or, you just would prefer to hand off certain tasks to streamline your business.

If any of these situations apply, you need to find a Virtual Assistant (VA). Gooder Group provides a list of Virtual Assistants who are trained in Rainmaker E-Central online marketing system . You can even request a quote from VAs you select, up to five who will respond directly to you.

If you need more info on how a Virtual Assistant can help your business, be sure to read “14 essential "Frequently Asked Questions" that should be asked by anyone hiring a virtual assistant. ”

If you use a VA, let us know how it has improved your business. If you are a VA, contact us for the date of the next Rainmaker E-Central training session.