The Ultimate Guide for Hiring Your First Amazon VA

The Ultimate Guide for Hiring Your First Amazon Virtual Assistant

The Ultimate Guide For Hiring Your First Amazon Virtual Assistant

The Ultimate Guide for Hiring Your First Amazon Virtual Assistant

    Selling on Amazon can be challenging!

    Even if you have one of the best selling stores in the niche, your trade-off doesn’t end there. Running an Amazon business takes your constant attention and also a truck load of tasks, as there’s so much you need to keep your eyes on.

    But do you have the time to handle all your Amazon daily routines? Or are you missing sales and losing profits without the most needed time to interact with your customers?

    If yes, it’s time to hire an Amazon virtual assistant.

    But, Who is an Amazon Virtual Assistant?

    The term virtual assistant is making rounds within the eCommerce industry for years now. An Amazon virtual assistant is a resource who can work remotely, yet effectively manage Amazon stores and ensure that your store is in great shape.

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    Depending on the skill and expertise, they can offload various time-consuming tasks in your schedule. From tedious tasks such as product listing to the critical ones, every eCommerce support task will fall under their expertise. And, you can hire them for part-time, full-time or for a particular project based on your business needs.

    Are you hesitant about hiring a virtual assistant? Is trust an Issue?

    In our discussions with our potential clients, we noticed many were hesitant about hiring an Amazon virtual assistant. They find it tough to trust a remote resource for their business critical tasks.

    How would I know a VA can actually perform for what I’m paying them for? How do I know they wouldn’t cheat on the hours? What if they flake out halfway through a project?

    If you’re someone with these questions in your mind, just like our clients.

    Relax, we’ve got your answers here.

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    Trust need not be an issue. Virtual assistants for Amazon are trustworthy, especially when you know how to take the right precautions while hiring them. It includes carefully reviewing the complete application and rigorously verifying the candidate’s information.

    To explain further, we have detailed the right steps needed to hire a virtual assistant for all your Amazon business needs.

    Steps to Hire the Right VA for your Amazon Business (Tips included)

    Pendown your Reasons to Hire a Virtual Assistant for Amazon:

    Before stepping in, you have to think about the top task that you need assistance with and why.

    For instance, if you’re delegating Amazon data entry, it might be because it’s repetitive nature might take up your time. And, if you’re planning to hire a photo editing expert. The reason might be that you or the team may not have the right skill set to do it.

    Setting this up right before the actual hiring process will help determine the tasks to be assigned to virtual assistants.

    Set Key Performance Indicators:

    Plan on how to evaluate your virtual assistant. This step can keep communications clear between you and your virtual assistant. Clarify –

    • The number of hours they need to work for you
    • The key performance indicators that they need to achieve in a month
    • The list of task they would be responsible for
    • The communication opportunities and possible constraints, and
    • The format and process for monthly reports

    Define the Scope of Work:

    The mistake most Amazon sellers make with their virtual assistant is that they expect beyond the scope of the project. If you have chosen an Amazon VA to perform product listing, you cannot expect them to help with marketing activities, and not copywriting.

    That’s when you need to set rules to bridge the gap between your expectations and the deliverables. It’s definitely best to define every minute responsibility and spell it out to avoid any confusion.

    Create your Job Posting:

    No matter the site you choose to source your virtual assistant, this step is an important part of the process.

    Our recommendation is to create a clear and crisp posting. The listing should have the detailed ideas of what you are looking for in an Amazon virtual assistant.

    Adding on a tip, it’s best when you include a key question in the posting. Also, expect the candidate to answer it along with the reply mail. This will make it much easier for you to sort the candidates who have read the complete job posting.

    Source the Right Candidate based on your Requirement and Budget:

    Once you are clear with VA’s responsibilities, it’s time to step into the real process. Find the right candidate as per your business and under your budget. You can connect with hundreds of virtual assistants for Amazon FBA through sourcing websites, independent consultants and Amazon virtual assistant service providers.

    Take your Time to Interview the Virtual Assistant:

    No matter how many attempts it takes before hiring the right candidate, make sure to evaluate his/her skills thoroughly. To know more about your Amazon VA, you can start a Skype call for a face-to-face interview.

    Furthermore, here is the list of questions you could ask an Amazon virtual assistant in an interview.

    • How long have you been working as a virtual assistant?
    • What are your skills and expertise?
    • Do you have any relevant certificates or diplomas?
    • Is there any experience you with my kind of product?
    • Do you agree to have regular feedback calls?
    • How do you deal with confidential company data?
    • What are the skills that make you stand out?
    • What are your working hours?
    • Are there times you would like to have time off, such as holidays?
    • Do you agree with my payment model?
    • What tools do you use?
    • What tools and software do you have experience with?
    • Do you consent to using a monitoring software?
    • Are there former clients who can tell me something about the way you work?
    • Do you have other clients?
    • Is there an area where you would like to improve?
    • What is important to you about your employer?
    • How much do you charge per hour or month?
    • Are there things you charge extra for?
    • Are you ready to sign a contract and NDA?

    Give A Test Run:

    Assigning a specific test task to complete will be good practice before hiring the VA. It can help you filter out the fittest and at the same time understand their delivering capacity and timeline. The test can also give the candidate a better idea about the service & quality you expect.

    Adding on another tip – Don’t expect the virtual assistant to bring out a revolutionary result in the test run. There is always time to train them based on your business needs when they’re on board.

    Not sure what to look for in the candidate?

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    Do you have concerns about the cost?

    Some entrepreneurs fear that hiring a virtual assistant might add an unnecessary cost to their business. They might even gamble on getting the work done with the existing staff numbers, or hire a full-time employee.

    But, the truth is, today’s virtual assistants are professional, independent contractors, and their services usually come with cost-cutting benefits, and not at unnecessary cost.

    Hiring a virtual assistant can help save as much as 78% on operating costs annually

    Moreover, the cost of hiring an Amazon virtual assistant varies depending on your need, the expertise of the VA and the location. You can expect to pay an Amazon VA starting $6/ hour to handle the admin, fulfillment and customer service task.

    And around $15 and above for someone with a specialized skill set for photo editing, market research, and marketing support.

    Do you still think it’s not the right time and you can do it all by yourself?

    For Amazon sellers who are unsure of when it is the right time to hire an Amazon virtual assistant. We would say that there is no such thing as a right time or a level form which you need to hire one.

    Additionally, for every individual seller the time at which you need external assistance might differ. That’s why, instead of waiting for the right time, you can ask yourself a set of questions to help decide if you are ready to hire your first Virtual Assistant for Amazon.

    • Do you think you are tired handling all the tasks involved in your business?
    • Are there important tasks that are slowly being neglected?
    • Do you think you’re spending every waking hour on tedious tasks such as product listing and account management?
    • Are you frustrated that you are not spending a valuable amount of time on new opportunities and brand promotion?

    If you have answered yes to any of these questions, then it’s time you need a virtual assistant by your side for support. And Now let’s help you find the right virtual assistant for your Amazon business.

    As one of the best Amazon Virtual Assistant providers, we understand the challenges for our clients while hiring virtual assistants. That’s why, to help you in the process, we have channelized the steps and included tips to make it easier.

    But, where can you find the right Amazon virtual assistant?

    Fiverr and Upwork are freelance websites that can help connect with freelancers from around the world. Meanwhile, Upwork can help connect easily with offshore virtual assistants. You can also find resources for long-term commitment and full-time assistance in this platform.

    Alternatively, you can opt for hiring your first VAs from virtual assistant companies that offer virtual assistant services for Amazon.

    Do you want to skip this step? And still want to build a team to boost your business?

    We can help –

    Vserve is one of the leading eCommerce back-end service providers in the US. In the past ten years we have emerged as a company that delivers time and cost-effective virtual assistant solutions to clients across the globe.  Our team of Amazon virtual assistants are expert problem solvers. Our VAs can also dive in to provide expert strategies that can boost your productivity and sales.

    All you have to do is sit back and relax while we bring in the best skills to your table.

    Do comment below for further details or if would like to add your point to this blog.

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