Do You Need an Assistant or a Transaction Coordinator?

As your client base grows, so should your overall operation. It's the nature of business, and trying to do everything alone could actually hurt you, and your business. Hiring a general assistant or outsourcing virtual transaction coordinator services are two options that can quickly grow your business without breaking the bank. The difficult part is deciding which option is a better fit for your business. Take your time to evaluate the pros and cons of each, and decide which would be better for the long-term growth of your business.

To help out with your decision, we have gathered some of the most prominent pros and cons of each.

General Assistant

Hiring a general assistant has become increasingly popular in the real estate industry. The benefits of their services are being realized across the country, and more agents decide to invest in one everyday. A general assistant can complete a diverse list of tasks for you—including social media scheduling, marketing duties, attending to your email, or making routine phone calls. Many assistants even offer a specialized skill set, such as graphic design, that you could put to good use.

When looking for a general assistant, you basically have a couple of choices. Hire someone in-house to work closely with you day to day, or outsource an assistant to work as you need them. Of course hiring someone in-house is the most comprehensive type of assistance you can get, but it also has the heftiest price tag, and you have to decide how to handle benefits, time off, sick days and more.

Outsourcing an assistant can be done in a couple of different ways. You could hire one independently, or find one through a contracting service such as Fiverr. One thing to be cautious about is the actual location of the contractor you choose. There are millions of virtual assistants worldwide, and many are found based out of China, the Philippines, India, and Europe. This geographical difference can cause issues with timing and schedule—be sure to work that out before you hire someone.

Pros of an Assistant

• Able to assist you in a variety of tasks.
• Affordable, depending on how much and what type of help you need.
• Can complement areas you are not strong in, such as graphic design.

Cons of an Assistant

• It may be difficult to find one who could bring any real estate expertise or experience to your operation.
• If you hire virtually, you could encounter language or time zone barriers.
• If you hire in-house, the price tag could become expensive after adding benefits.

Virtual Transaction Coordinator

Transaction coordinators can be extremely beneficial to any real estate agent. They handle the tasks that are often the least appealing to agents, and those that are not directly revenue generating. These types of tasks do not contribute to the growth of your business, and are therefore the lowest hanging fruit to be outsourced.

Virtual transaction coordinator services include managing insurance requirements, ensuring all paperwork is completed properly, opening escrow, and more. You can count on them to handle almost all of the paperwork related tasks for your transactions, but they do not stray outside of those tasks. It is important to realize that the responsibilities of a transaction coordinator are not as flexible as those of a general assistant.

Of course, you could hire an in-house transaction coordinator, or you can outsource. Hiring in-house, as with an assistant, is the more expensive way to go, but you do get someone by your side. However, if you get busy, they get busy—how do you scale? Hiring a transaction coordinator through Transactly's website is simple, and scales up or down with your business. Transactly's transaction coordinators go through a rigorous training program to ensure you receive the best possible service. They also come to Transactly with at least two years of experience in the industry, and many even have their real estate license. You know you will receive a partner you can trust when you choose to hire a Transactly transaction coordinator.

Pros of a Transaction Coordinator

• Gain a partner with years of experience in the real estate industry.
• Takes non-revenue generating tasks off your plate to allow you to focus on the things that help you make more money.
• Can give you, on average, 16 hours of your time back per transaction they assist you on.
• Hiring a service allows you to scale your help up or down with your busiest times.

Cons of a Transaction Coordinator

• Not a constant source of assistance in your office that you would attain from having a general assistant.
• If you hire in-house, you face a bottleneck during your busiest times.
• If you outsource with a service, you are not their only client, so your transactions will not be occupying all of their attention.

What Tasks Do You Want Taken Off Your Plate?

Ultimately, the significant difference between a general assistant and a virtual transaction coordinator is the type of tasks they can take off your plate. Both options will help you increase your productivity and efficiency, so it truly comes down to what tasks you still want to be responsible for.

• If you don't want to handle balancing your schedule, monitoring social media, or keeping in touch with your network, then a general assistant would be a good fit for you.
• If you want someone with industry experience who can reliably take care of your transactional paperwork, then a virtual transaction coordinator is what you are looking for.

Evaluate what kind of assistance would be most beneficial to you and your business. Then take action and invest in the help you need. You will be surprised at the relief you feel when some weight is finally lifted off your shoulders.

To view the original article, visit the Transactly blog.