Course Content

UNIT 1: WHAT IS A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT?

• What is a Virtual Assistant?

• Who uses a Virtual Assistant and why?

• What tasks can a Virtual Assistant do?

• What skills will a Virtual Assistant need?

• Issues to Consider When Setting up a Home Office

• What organisations are available to Virtual Assistants?

UNIT 2: HOW TO MARKET YOURSELF AS A VA

• Tips on where to Market your Business

• How to write a Marketing Plan

• Marketing in other countries

• UNIT 3: STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS - DECISIONS

• How to succeed with your business

• How to start up your new business

• Getting the right mindset

UNIT 4: STARTING A BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH

• Why start a Business from scratch

• Buying an existing Business

• Buying a Franchise

UNIT 5: RECRUITING STAFF

• How to Recruit Staff

• The Process of Recruiting

UNIT 6: DEALING WITH STAFF

• Introduction to dealing with Staff

• Paying Staff

• Training and Development

• The Law

• Discrimination

• Health & Safety

• Trade Unions

• Taxation

UNIT 7: FRAUD AND THEFT

• Protect your Business: Stop Fraud before it starts

• Theft of money

• Theft of inventory or equipment

• Theft of intellectual property

UNIT 8: THE BUSINESS PLAN

• Understand the function of the business plan

• Reasons for developing a business plan

• Identify sources to get help in developing a business plan

• Identify the type of information to include in a business plan

• Prepare an outline of a business plan

UNIT 9: CUSTOMER CARE AN INTRODUCTION

• What is Customer Care?

• Defining Customer Care

• Characteristics of effective Customer Care

UNIT 10: CUSTOMER CARE AND THE BENEFITS

• Increase in profits

• Customer loyalty and long-term profitability

• Fewer complaints

• Staff know what is expected of them

• More pleasant work environment

• Customer integration and specialisation

UNIT 11: CONSIDERING A POLICY AND PLAN?

• Who are our current and potential customers, their characteristics and needs?

• Staff interfacing with customers

• What tangible or intangible assets does the company currently have?

• Competitor Characteristics

• Improvements and additions to Customer Care and Service

UNIT 12: CUSTOMER CARE AND YOU

• The Right Attitude

• Looking and Sounding Right

• Having the Right Information

• Keeping Control

• Working within a Team

• Customer Complaints

• Answering the Phone

• A Checklist

UNIT 13: CUSTOMER CARE AND SERVICE PLANS

• Contents of The Plan

• The Advantages of Planning

• Objectives, Strategies And Tactics

• Forecast or assumptions of Outcomes

• A sample case on Customer Care Planning

• Company policies

• People make a Plan work

• Current Customer Care and Services

UNIT 14: BASICS OF THE INTERNET

• Internet Basics

• How the Internet works

• Internet Access

• Understanding Email

• About the Web

• Internet Safety

• Learning about Viruses

UNIT 15: CREATING A WEB SITE

• Introduction

• Graphic Design

• Web site Content

• Navigation

• Key points to remember

UNIT 16: MEETINGS SKILLS

• Introduction

• Why do we have meetings?

• Important things to know about meetings

• How to plan a meeting

• How to run a meeting

UNIT 17: INTRODUCTION TO CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

• What do organisations use conflict management for?

• Important things to know about conflict and conflict management:

• How to identify signs and stages of conflict

• How to build teamwork and co-operation

• How to manage and resolve conflict situations

• Outline for a Mediation Session

• Mediation Guidelines

UNIT 18: INTRODUCTION TO PLANNING

• What do you use planning and evaluation for?

• Important things to know about planning and evaluation

• How to ensure planning is useful and contributes to effective results

• How to plan - 8 basic planning steps

UNIT 19: INTRODUCTION TO PROOF READING

• Introduction

• What is Proof Reading?

• Tips on Proof Reading

UNIT 20: MANAGING STRESS

• Introduction

• What is Stress?

• Symptoms of Stress

• Causes of Stress

• How to reduce Stress

UNIT 21: MANAGING YOUR TIME

• Introduction

• Managing Time step 1

• Managing Time step 2

• Schedules

UNIT 22: SMALL BUSINESS BOOKKEEPING

• Introduction

• Three steps to keeping your Books

• Bookkeeping Systems, Software and Method

• Accounting terms every business person should know

UNIT 23: INLAND REVENUE REQUIREMENTS

• What type of Business are you?

• Registering as self-employed

• How to pay your Class 2 National Insurance contributions (NICs)

• Basic Tax Records you must keep.

Course Outcomes

At the end of this course successful learners will receive a Certificate of Achievement from ABC Awards and a Learner Unit Summary (which lists the details of all the units the learner has completed as part of the course).

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The course has been endorsed under the ABC Awards’ Quality Licence Scheme.  This means that Kendal Publishing (a partner of UKDLP) has undergone an external quality check to ensure that the organisation and the courses it offers, meet certain quality criteria.

The completion of this course alone does not lead to an Ofqual regulated qualification but may be used as evidence of knowledge and skills towards regulated qualifications in the future. The unit summary can be used as evidence towards Recognition of Prior Learning if you wish to progress your studies in this sector. To this end the learning outcomes of the course have been benchmarked at Level 2 against level descriptors published by Ofqual, to indicate the depth of study and level of demand/complexity involved in successful completion by the learner.