Everyone knows that being an attorney is one of the toughest and most stressful jobs out there. Not only are there countless legal complexities to contend with, but there are also long, long hours. As a result, the related strains and stresses can have a negative impact on both your business and health.

Therefore, it’s important that you find a solution for you and your law firm. But where do you start? Hiring new employees is far from easy. And finding world-class employees is even harder. Add in the fact that finding room in your premises for more staff is a logistical nightmare and you have a real problem on your hands. Solving this problem, however, is far from impossible. Pineapple Staffing has the answer and it lies with a virtual legal assistant. 

What is a Virtual Legal Assistant?

You will already know what a legal assistant is. They are an indispensable part of any good law firm. But what exactly is their virtual equivalent? Well, a virtual legal assistant is exactly the same in all but location. Part of the growing trend of virtual workers (40% of US workers are expected to be freelancers in 2020) a virtual legal assistant works from their home. All they need is an internet connection, a PC and a desire to succeed.

It’s a setup which allows a virtual assistant to help attorneys in a number of ways. Paperwork duties can be outsourced, reception tasks can be routed through a softphone and proofreading services can be provided. In fact, if your in-house legal assistant is capable of completing the task then so can a virtual legal assistant. It may sound good to be true, but this is one of those rare occasions where the hype is justified. More importantly, employing a virtual worker is one of the most important steps in growing your business.

5 Ways a Virtual Legal Assistant Can Help You Grow

The main objective of any business is to provide their clients with an excellent service and, at the same time, to grow. With around 163,000 individual law firms in the US it’s not easy to generate growth. The sheer amount of competition makes achieving any level of growth difficult. But, with a virtual legal assistant on board, this is a little easier. And here are the five ways you can achieve this growth:

Time Management

It’s estimated that attorneys spend close to 20 hours each week on administrative work such as completing court filings and legal research. This is a significant amount of time and will limit the time that attorneys can meet with any potential clients. Without time available to take on new clients your law firm will be unable to grow. But the presence of a legal virtual assistant means this administrative workload can be delegated. Time is immediately freed up and attorneys can put this valuable commodity to use by growing the firm. 

Cost Effective

With a virtual legal assistant you only pay for the work they deliver. So, if they complete four hours’ worth of work throughout the day then that’s exactly what you pay for. This is in sharp contrast to in-house employees who are paid for their entire shift regardless of production. And this is most keenly put into focus when you discover that the average worker is only productive for just under three hours a day. The potential cost savings are clear to see; it’s with these labor savings that your firm can then invest in technology and services to drive growth.

Enhanced Productivity

Many employees at legal firms will finish their working day at 5pm, but this doesn’t mean that all operations should cease at this point. There are, after all, 24 hours in a day. And the legal world is one that never sleeps, so this is where a virtual legal assistant can step in. Willing to start their shifts at any hour necessary, virtual workers allow your law firm to become a 24/7 organization. Such an enhancement in availability guarantees that you can stay on top of workloads. It provides a huge boost in productivity and one that no business can ignore.

Safer Scalability

Growth is made possible by scalability, but this is a process which is far from predictable. Taking on permanent employees will work as part of a growth plan, but only if everything else falls into place. If it doesn’t then you will need to deal with severance packages and a disrupted budget. By employing a virtual legal assistant, though, you benefit from more control over your future plans. Not only are you granted the chance to tread more carefully with employment strategies, but you also know that transition periods will be less stressful.

Reduced Labor Costs

Budgetary limitations play a major factor when it comes to growing a business. And the costs of your staff can play a major factor in your potential to grow. First and foremost are their salaries. But this is not the only cost concern to consider. There are also taxes, health insurance, sick pay and compensation packages to factor into the equation. It’s estimated that each employee will cost their employer 1.25 – 1.4 times their annual salary. With a virtual legal assistant, however, there is no requirement to deliver these cost benefits. This means that there are more finances available for growth.

The Importance of a Virtual Legal Assistant

A virtual legal assistant is much more than a convenience. Naturally, they won’t be taking up precious real estate in your premises, but they have much more to offer. Growth, more than ever right now, is crucial to safeguard against the future. With growth comes a certain level of security to help you weather future storms. But growth isn’t as simple as working hard. You need to make sure that your law firm knows how to work hard and plan well. Without good planning you will lack any foundations to build upon.  A virtual legal assistant is the perfect way to start putting these foundations into place.

Once installed, your virtual employee will be able to get to work straightaway. Remote workers offer a seamless transition from traditional employees into a streamlined, modern form of employee. And it’s this model which grants your law firm the opportunity to grow. Cost savings, of course are at the heart of any growth and a virtual legal assistant guarantees these can be achieved. Likewise, the enhanced productivity and improvement in time management will also help to stoke the fires of growth. Finally, the involvement of a virtual legal assistant in your law firm presents you the chance to develop scalability with the minimum risk.

By now you will understand the importance of a virtual legal assistant. But you’re not alone. Pineapple Staffing also understands how crucial virtual assistants can be. And that’s why we want to connect you with the very best that are available. We do this by applying our knowledge and experience in this sector to source world-class employees. Taking advantage of these skills and talents is straightforward and pain free. Most importantly, it could transform your law firm into the business you’ve always wanted it to be.

 

 

 

If there’s one certainty in business then it’s that your customers will have questions. After all, making a purchase is not a decision that should be taken lightly. There will be numerous questions which need answering. And these questions will pop into the heads of your customers all throughout the day. But will your business be available to answer them?

Most organizations keep to the standard opening hours of 8am – 5pm; these hours allow a good proportion of customer queries to be answered swiftly. But what if a customer has a question they want to ask at 7pm? Or 9:30pm? Or even 2am? It would be nice for them to receive an answer, but it’s unlikely when the office is empty. Thankfully, it doesn’t need to be this way. All you need to do is embrace the world of virtual live chat.

It’s a form of customer service which is powered by virtual assistants and is rapidly gaining popularity in business. You may even have seen the trademark popup message on websites where a friendly assistant asks “Hi! How can I help?” But have you ever considered how these services work? And, more importantly, what can virtual live chat do for your business?

Working with Virtual Assistants

The key to success with virtual live chat is to work with fantastic virtual assistants. And, here at Pineapple Staffing, we understand the importance of virtual assistants. They can quickly become an invaluable asset for your company, but what exactly are they? Well, for one thing, they are creating headlines in the world of employment. Virtual assistants have experienced this growth in popularity thanks to the following factors:

• Cost Effective: Virtual assistants tend to work on a project or hourly basis. Therefore, you are only paying for the time spent on a specific task. You can then use these cost savings to invest in other areas of your business. And, don’t forget, a virtual assistant does not require sick pay, holiday leave or medical benefits, so the savings can be significant.

• Enhanced Productivity: There is a marked difference in productivity between a virtual assistant and an in-house employee. And this is all down to the levels of dedication invested by virtual assistants. An in-house employee has a certain degree of job safety due to their contract, but this is not a luxury for a virtual assistant. Instead, they need to consistently deliver high quality work on time. And this is why virtual assistants are renowned for such incredible productivity.

• Increased Flexibility: The remote nature of virtual assistants means that you can pick potential employees from anywhere in the world. All they need is an internet connection. And this means that there is a massive pool of workers to choose from. In turn, this level of availability allows your business to benefit from 24/7 coverage. This flexibility enhances your competitive edge and ensures that crucial tasks are completed with ease and on time.

The benefits of a virtual assistant, in any capacity, are clearly an exciting prospect for any business. But how exactly can they help with virtual live chat?

Virtual Assistants and Virtual Live Chat

The most important benefit of virtual assistants, when it comes to virtual live chat, is their availability. The possibilities afforded by working with virtual workers guarantees that a 24/7 service can be provided. Therefore, your business can continue to reap the benefits of virtual live chat at 6am just as effectively as at 6pm. This makes for a highly lucrative prospect and is one that all businesses should consider.

Virtual live chat, however, is about much more than just availability, so let’s take a look at the other benefits it can deliver:

• Cost Effective Communication: The traditional method of live communication has, for decades, been the telephone. But the costs associated with phone contracts and equipment can swallow up large portions of your budget. Virtual live chat is much more cost effective. Initial outlay on software is minimal and unlimited chat-time is available for a fixed cost.

• Speed: Customers want their questions resolved as quickly as possible. And, sometimes, this can be as simple as providing a link to some information e.g. a web page detailing a specific product or a knowledge database. But providing a link over the phone isn’t easy, some URLs are close to impossible to dictate. Virtual live chat provides the perfect environment for solving this predicament; URLs can be sent within seconds by virtual assistants. And this minimizes the time taken to solve what would otherwise be labor heavy endeavors.

• Convenience: Customer service should always be accessible and convenient. Virtual live chat ticks these two boxes with ease. Providing live chat to your customers allows you to connect them with support teams instantly. For a customer, this is much more preferable to queuing in a physical location or being stuck at the end of a long telephone queue. Best of all, virtual live chat is available on a wide range of devices to guarantee availability to all.

• Higher Conversion Rate: The cumulative effect of all these benefits is an increased conversion rate. The general consensus is that consumers love the in-depth information on offer and that it is available instantly. Not only are the chances of conversion significantly increased, but your customers are more inclined to return. It’s a highly powerful strategy for businesses to take advantage of and one that should not be passed up.

As you can see, the benefits of virtual live chat are numerous and powerful. These benefits are strengthened even further when they are in the hands of highly skilled virtual assistants. So, how do you go about implementing such a service?

 

 

Entering the World of Virtual Live Chat 

The good news is that connecting a virtual assistant with your business is simple. All they need is an internet connection. With this in place, a virtual assistant can use their PC, laptop or tablet to seamlessly integrate with your business. But, for virtual live chat to succeed, you need to make sure that you are working with the best live chat companies.

There are many live chat platforms available, but the ones that are best positioned to get results are:

• LiveChatInc: Established nearly 20 years ago, LiveChatInc provides a comprehensive customer support package. Their platform is one which strives to cut costs and increase sales. And it does this by providing a lightning quick service which allows one chat agent to talk with several customers at once.
• Olark: Detail is crucial when it comes to dealing with customers and Olark embraces this concept. Not only does it allow chat agents to quickly respond to customer queries, but it also allows live chat insights to be applied. This maximizes the chances of answering customer questions correctly and increasing conversion rates.
• Drift: Converting website visitors into customers is one of the main aims of virtual live chat. And Drift is keen to establish this outcome by fostering a better sales environment. It does this by directing the correct chat agent to each conversation e.g. a sales expert towards a potential purchase and a customer service rep for a general enquiry.
• Intercom: Growing and managing your business is the core objective of Intercom. Using team-based frameworks, your virtual live chat team can collaborate on customer queries. This empowers them to make the best decisions. And this leads to more conversions. More importantly, it allows your organization to deal with more customer queries than ever before.

 

A One Stop Solution

Virtual live chat represents a powerful tool for your company; it’s essential for growing your business and providing your customers with a world class service. There are few organizations that would argue against increased conversion rates, so integrating virtual live chat should be considered a priority. But, for your live chat solution to be effective, you also need to be working with the very best virtual assistants. Pineapple Staffing has you covered when it comes to virtual hiring. We can connect you with the virtual assistants you need to make your live chat a success.