Digital tools enable entrepreneurs and their staff to optimize their business practices, enabling them to scale faster and operate more effectively. Your executive assistant might be handling all of your administrative tasks. Still, if they aren’t using the proper executive assistant tools, then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to support their success, and in turn, yours!
Gone are the days of brick-and-mortar offices and scribbling in daily agendas. The world is going digital, and while you may look back fondly on the ‘good ol’ days,’ progress is key if you want your business to thrive in the modern world.
Some small business owners run into barriers when onboarding their assistants onto new software tools or struggle to find assistants who already know how to use them. After all, the tools are likely new to you as well.
At Wing, our virtual assistants are trained to use the newest, most advanced business optimization tools so they can jump in and get to work. Hiring a Wing Virtual Assistant means you don’t need to spend time on training or even researching software since they can assess your practices and see what will benefit your small business the most.
Executive assistant tools for project management
Small business owners often struggle to keep everything organized, especially when they’re scaling their business. There are so many moving parts to running a business, and, let’s be honest, no one can keep track of it all in their head. That is why effective project management is so important.
Luckily, some fantastic project management tools are available that can help you and your team manage all your business tasks. Some of our favorite project management tools include ClickUp, Monday.com, Trello, Asana, and Notion. But your Wing virtual assistants can adapt to any tools you already have, or even suggest ones you could use.
Most project management tools have free plans, with upgrades if you want to use additional functionalities. Some features to look for when choosing a project management software include:
- Collaboration – allowing you to add multiple users to your account so that your entire team can access the platform.
- Task management – enabling you to create and assign tasks and subtasks to different users, including due dates and status updates.
- Smooth communication – you should be able to send messages to your team members on the platform and also make comments on projects to discuss their progress/give feedback.
- Time tracking – enabling your team to track the time spent on different projects so you can manage your staffing budget.
- Project monitoring – you should be able to view your upcoming in different ways, such as calendar, in a timeline, or a task list.
- Integrations – most project management software will allow you to integrate with other tools like CRMs, accounting tools, email, Google, and more, with will help keep everything streamlined.
2. Scheduling tools for assistants
As the face of your business, you’re going to have meetings and appointments. But there’s nothing worse than realizing you have a Zoom call starting in 1 minute, but you weren’t aware of it. Additionally, if you’re in a meeting, you might end up missing a call from someone trying to book an appointment. That’s where a high-quality scheduling tool comes in.
When used effectively, software tools like Calendly, Zoho Bookings, Timezone Ninja, and even Google Calendar can be game-changing. At Wing, we offer a virtual receptionist service where high-qualified virtual assistants can take care of all your scheduling needs and ensure you never miss a call or meeting again. They can even schedule your personal appointments. Our VAs are proficient at using many different scheduling tools, so you can easily transition from your current scheduling process to a more efficient one.
3. Tools for office administration
And then we come to office admin. These are all the little tasks that don’t fit into any other category. You likely have a VA or executive assistant doing your admin for you, but if they aren’t using software tools, you’re not optimizing their productivity. Typical office admin tasks that your VAs will be doing include database management, keeping track of expenses, note-taking during meetings, editing emails or reports, maintaining folders or documents, and more.
Some great executive assistant tools for office administration include Dropbox, Smart Receipts, Microsoft Office, and, of course, Google Suite.
4. Organization tools for assistants
Organization is pivotal to the success of your business. Locating important documents, keeping track of your to-do list, communicating with clients, etc., all contribute to maintaining a professional business reputation.
Imagine jumping on a meeting with an important client and forgetting what you discussed last time or losing a file they sent you. It’s not a good look. On top of that, if you can’t keep track of what you’re supposed to do each day, it’s easy to fall behind, become overwhelmed, and end up burning out.
Organization tools will help you take back control of your business and make your days stress-free. Some great organization tools include Todoist, Shift, Evernote, and Cabinet. These software tools allow your VA or EA to keep every aspect of your business organized.
One of the most important things to look for in executive assistant tools for organization is something that streamlines and links different accounts and software tools so that they speak to each other. That way, you can hop between accounts and tools seamlessly without needing to log in and log out each time.
5. Executive assistant tools for content creation
One of the first tasks many small businesses outsource is content creation. As a business owner, you need content for just about everything: your website, social media, email newsletters, ads, and the list goes on. No matter how experienced a content writer is, there is always room for error.
Posting typos in Facebook ad copy or using grammatically incorrect sentences on your website will instantly reduce your reputability. That is why content creation tools are so important. Software like Grammarly and Hemingway will allow your executive assistant to edit content to the highest degree to ensure it’s 100% perfect before it’s published anywhere.
On top of written content, you’ll also need visual content. Having your executive assistant create the visual portion of social media posts and ads is an optimal situation unless you want to spend thousands on a graphic designer every time.
Using the right tools can make anyone a designer and enable your VA to create beautiful visual content using preloaded templates. Some great visual content creations tools include Canva, Adobe Spark, Xara, and Unfold.
When choosing executive assistant tools for visual content creation, look for software with the largest variety of template options. For example, Canva has templates for Instagram posts, business cards, LinkedIn banners, YouTube channel art, logos, and more!
6. Social media management tools
Creating your social media posts is only one part of the process; managing your social media channels is a whole other story. Staying active and consistent on your social media channels is essential if you want your business to succeed. If someone lands on one of your social profiles and sees that you’re always posting new content and engaging with followers, then it builds a sense of trust in your business. The opposite is true if you aren’t consistent.
Posting on social media can often fall by the wayside as you prioritize other aspects of your business first. It can quickly become a chore or something you don’t put much effort into, but that can be detrimental to your business.
Outsourcing social media management is one of the best things you can do to support the success of your business. Wing’s social media assistants won’t only craft your posts for you, but they will also use social media management tools to ensure you’re consistently publishing content.
The best social media management tools out there include Buffer, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, StoryChief, Later, and HubSpot. They all offer various management options and integrate with multiple different social media channels.
7. Employee engagement tools for executive assistants
Creating a positive company culture has always played a vital role in the smooth running of businesses. Employees who are satisfied in their job will perform better and are more likely to stick around for the long run.
This is even more important now, as so many people are working remotely, and many of your staff could be located on opposite sides of the globe. Having group lunches, taking the team to an event, or going for a group camping trip are not really an option. Instead, you need to find ways to engage employees digitally.
Luckily, there are software creators who anticipated this problem and created some fantastic tools for supporting team engagement, regardless of location. While you could have your executive assistant organize some Zoom games, these tools are much more advanced and provide a wider range of functionalities.
For example, Scavify lets you create an interactive mobile scavenger hunt that all your employees can enjoy. Donut is a tool that acts as a virtual watercooler where all your staff can connect for virtual coffee, peer learning, and DEI discussions. And Mood Meter lets your team track their moods daily, generates reports, and has features to help build strategies to shift their feelings if they desire.
Your Wing EA will be able to set up any or all of these executive assistant tools for you and even manage them, so your team is happy and thriving.
8. Executive assistant tools for Internal communication
You need an effective way to communicate to team members spread across several cities or even countries. Teamwork makes the dream work, but only if you’re able to actually collaborate on projects and tasks.
There are many reasons why you may need to communicate with your team. You could want to schedule full team meetings to discuss wider topics like new products, branding, or a shift in the company’s direction. You may also want to speak one-on-one with staff about a specific project. Or, you might just want to leave a short piece of feedback on a project saying, “good job!”
Emailing back and forth is extremely inefficient. Messages can get lost, or someone may not check their inbox right away and take hours to get back to you. Internal communication tools enable you to communicate with your team members in real-time.
Your executive assistant will benefit tremendously from using tools like Zoom, Slack, Discord, and Time Zone Ninja as methods of communication over email or telephone. They offer extra functionalities like meeting scheduling, video chat, call recording, etc., that are super useful.
9. Event planning tools for executive assistants
Virtual events are all the rage now, with many businesses having virtual retreats for their teams or online mixers for top clients. Manually trying to plan this all out is very inefficient, even if your virtual assistant is doing it for you.
There are some fantastic executive assistant tools for event planning out there. With these, you can streamline the whole process, from launching event websites to registering attendees and speakers. Check out platforms like Sched, Attendease, and Circa, which all offer similar functionalities.
You can also discuss the details of your event with a Wing virtual assistant, and they will help you choose the platform that is best for you.
Increase your business productivity with a Wing Assistant
Optimizing your business processes has to be done if you want it to keep thriving. With so many reliable executive assistant tools out there, it can be overwhelming to figure out what’s the best fit for your needs. A Wing Assistant can help you identify areas of your business that you can optimize with new software and help you implement them. Get started with a Wing Virtual Assistant today!
Kandice is a content writer & strategist with over 5 years of experience in digital marketing. She specializes in SEO-optimized content for the SaaS and tech industry. She’s a digital nomad, currently based in Mexico, and is passionate about helping other business owners and freelancers increase their productivity when working remotely. When she’s not behind her computer you’ll find her at the beach snorkeling, playing volleyball, doing yoga, or cooking up a delicious vegan meal.
