Most onsite assistants tend to be generalists. That is, a "Jack (or Jane) of all trades, master of none." There is a way however, to have them become much more valuable to you by almost immediately "extending" the level of skills they can bring to your business. Here's how it's done.

Michael J. Russer (international speaker and leading voice for the use of Virtual Assistance by business professionals) covers in his worldwide workshops the concept of "repurposing" existing onsite help by integrating what they do with additional help they can find from Virtual Assistants and Consultants. Here are some examples of how onsite and virtual teams can work together very powerfully, and all to your benefit.

I called on Cheryl Allin of VirtuAllin Administrative Services to learn more about the services she provides to RE/MAX of New Jersey's IT Manager, Mark Schilling. She assists Mark in areas such as online marketing support, maintenance of the pay-per-click programs, and creating tutorials for internal training. When I talked with Mark, he mentioned how pleased he is working with Cheryl and what a benefit it has been. In addition to supporting the New Jersey RE/MAX team, he's also the RE/MAX balloon pilot. He gives the "view from the top" new meaning! He is also recommending Cheryl to their agents for virtual assistance in helping them with their RE/MAX New Jersey individual agent Web page. Oh, did I mention that Mark is supporting more than 2000 people? I think Cheryl could be a very busy VA if all the agents take Mark's advice - hire a VA!

Johnnie Davis of Virtual Assistant, Inc., worked for RE/MAX Island Realty for more than 10 years as an onsite assistant. A personal long distance move resulted in a long distance virtual relationship with Bobby Sandell and Eric Dollenberg at their Hilton Head, South Carolina real estate office. Now, Johnnie virtually supports the Websites of the team and works closely with their new onsite assistant, Lindsey Schrader. Lindsey and Johnnie work together dividing up responsibilities to make sure that Bobby and Eric's business needs are covered. They have created a division of labor that seems to work out nicely, balancing onsite vs. offsite responsibilities.

In talking with Eric, he acknowledged this is a new area for them, but stated, "Johnnie is doing a great job working as a virtual assistant and supporting their Web efforts to grow their business." They all have a strong desire to move their real estate business from a traditional model to something more technology related.

As a Virtual Assistant and consultant to "The FieBIG Team" I have enjoyed working with the onsite staff, Sarah, Lisa and Pattie. Tim Fiebig, owner/broker, has a team of agents and onsite staff that work together in Castro Valley, California. The Virtual Training Center team (which is my company) working with Tim has partnered with his full-time staff to initiate a number of projects, create the documentation and then pass it off to the onsite team members. The first project was to work together to create a "News Release" form and list of publications. Pattie, or one of the other members, completes the NR form and sends it to me so we can write the Press Release and send it out to the publications on our list.

Our most recent project was to design a new REALTOR.com site and update a second one, create documentation and pass on the maintenance of 'Featured Properties' and 'Open Houses' to Lisa and Sarah. And our current project involves reviewing Tim's Web marketing strategy, his Web sites, and improve the process for responding to the online leads. It is truly a team effort to make it successful. I have really enjoyed working with Tim and "The FieBIG Team" and look forward to new projects.

What seems to be the common theme for VAs working with onsite staff? Technology. All the Virtual Assistants that I talked with provide support to the technology part of the real estate agents' business. There are a lot of traditional support roles that are managed virtually, but the majority of the work seems to be in the area of technology. That really does make sense since the business of a VA revolves around the technology and we can provide valuable insight and experience to help an agent build a successful business using the World Wide Web and technology.

All of the agents that I talked with, as well as the VAs, stated that one of the primary benefits of having a VA work with the full-time onsite staff was the ability of the VA to manage the overflow. This is especially true if the agent is working with a VA that has a team to manage the volume of work. I know for my business, it's important that I have VAs with specialties to help my agents in a pinch. Johnnie mentioned that she is able to help on a lot of the items that would otherwise be placed on the 'side burner' because agents and onsite staff are busy dealing with the daily crisis situations that arise. Cheryl said that one of the benefits of a real estate professional hiring a VA is that "they know they have me on call 24/7.... They get a partner who's more concerned with creating dynamic results than leaving at 5:00 p.m. to beat rush hour traffic."

Communication is the key to any successful relationship. This is especially true of the virtual environment - most of us will never meet face-to-face. I talk with a lot of agents and VAs every month and there is only a handful that I will ever meet in person. Cheryl mentioned their primary method of communication (99%) is Instant Messenger (IM). Mark utilizes ICQ while Amanda, their onsite staff, utilizes AIM - so Cheryl utilizes Trillian which allows her to IM across all formats. Their final 1% communication method is email. Johnnie and "The A Team" utilize email, IM, phone, and fax to keep their lines of communication open. The "FieBIG Team" and PJ are big fans of email; but, PJ and her VA team members use IM to communicate extensively.

As I reflect on what I learned as I talked with Real Estate Professionals, Virtual Assistants and onsite staff members, I would say:

1. Be sure to "introduce" the members of the team to each other and clearly identify the "sandbox" for each member. It is important to understand who does what and where the responsibility for a project will sit.

2. Document the tasks, create forms or include written procedures to make sure a process is followed. This is also beneficial if one of the team members has to take over for someone else. A business is always easier to run with a team if everyone can play by the same rules.

3. Establish an effective method of communicating. It can be Instant Message, email, weekly conference calls or an Intranet. It is critical to the success of a real estate business and the success of the team that everyone understands how to communicate the status of a project, who is managing what project, and how it will all get done on time.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned in managing a team that is both virtual and onsite, but as an agent there are many benefits. Hiring a VA to help or adding a VA to your onsite team can save you time and help you grow your business and turbocharge your existing onsite staff so they are that much more valuable, and of course, profitable, for you.

P.J. Babcock is our VA CORNER columnist and one of the founders of REVA Network. You can visit her website at Virtual Training Center and contact her via e-mail at pj@vacentral.com

(NOTE: Mr. Internet, his company and staff receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors or service providers. Also any virtual assistant or consultant profile found in this publication is not to be construed as an endorsement of their services by Mr. Internet or his company.)