What does an executive assistant do. Would your business benefit from hiring an executive assistant?
An executive assistant acts as the centre of your business, they coordinate the incomings and outgoings of your business and ensure you are operating smoothly. As a business owner, you can have multiple channels coming to you as a constant flow throughout the day. An executive assistant captures these inflows, coordinates, organises and systemises them before delivering them to the next step in your business process. A similar process happens for your outgoings, an executive assistant drafts, edits and adds your personal touch to your outgoings, and manages the following up process.
An executive assistant is an crucial component for your business and can be the key to boosting your productivity, keeping you on track and coordinating your business activities. A few examples of this is qualifying and nurturing leads before they find their way to you - this can ensure only leads who are ready for your expertise land on your desk and your time is not wasted on prospects that will not lead to a sale. Another key area for an executive assistant is managing your calendar and appointments. Sometimes with the hustle and bustle of business, things can slip off the radar and appointments or follow ups can be missed. This could mean losing a big-ticket client to poor customer service or missing a deadline for an investor.
So what is it that an executive assistant does for your business?
An executive assistant will juggle tasks, projects, enquiries and anything else moving through your business. They will take your meeting minutes, notes, emails, projects and tasks and organise your information to ensure your data is cleansed and at your finger tips. An executive assistant will manage your calendar, CRM and project management software to ensure files are up to date, information on projects and clients aren't scattered through a thousand different mediums such as emails, chats, notes and programs.
An executive assistant will also often manage your internal records and data, edit and draft documents such as tenders, proposals, capability statements, letters, emails and more, to save you time and act as a sounding board. A part of this responsibility will often include administration duties such as email management, bookkeeping, research, transcription, customer service, filing, receipt management, and more.
Typical every day role of an executive assistant
The kind of tasks an executive assistant will undertake on a daily basis include:
First point of contact for customers,
Email management,
Calendar management,
Personal calendar management,
Reminder services, including daily and weekly agendas and appointment reminders,
Lead management, including qualifying leads,
Meeting minutes and memos,
Data control and data cleansing, including filing and receipt management,
Drafting and editing documentation and communication, such as presentations, letters, proposals, reports, and others,
Basic social media and website maintenance,
Managing customer relationship management, project management and databases,
Chat management,