The virtual assistant (VA) market has experienced significant growth since the shift to remote work in 2020. Executives without offices still needed support, and the newfound openness to remote work made VAs an attractive option for anyone. From small business owners to executives at enterprise companies, many have found success in offloading their administrative work to a virtual assistant.
If you're realizing your need for remote admin help, you're probably searching for your next assistant.
There are dozens of options when it comes to hiring a VA. Before contacting a freelancer or virtual assistant service, ask yourself a few key questions that will help ensure your decision leads to a successful relationship. These virtual assistant FAQs will help.
1. What Will They Do?
One of the first questions to ask when hiring a virtual assistant is what actually needs to be done. Be sure to define what tasks you want them to handle clearly. While this may seem obvious, many entrepreneurs are actually unaware of how much time they spend on various tasks and struggle to delegate their ideas effectively.
Be clear and specific, as ambiguity can cause miscommunication and unmet expectations. Clearly define the tasks and results you expect. Common tasks performed by virtual assistants include:
- Scheduling meetings and calls
- Calendar management
- Email correspondence
- Light bookkeeping
- Sales follow-up
- Travel planning
- Expense accounts
- Invoicing and payment processing
Note that some of these tasks involve contact with customers, which means you will want a level of professionalism that matches your brand. Outcomes refer to the amount of time you expect each task to take on a daily or weekly basis.
2. How are They Trained and Onboarded?
Determining whether a virtual assistant is qualified and trained to perform the work you need can be a challenge, especially with freelancers. There is no formal degree or credential to certify these skills. It's important to understand:
- Do they have experience with your tools?
- Can they get up to speed on your processes?
- Can they help you get what’s in your head into theirs?
With freelancers, you take their word for it. Maybe they have references. Some virtual assistant agencies are little more than matchmakers, handing you a stack of resumes to choose from, but they may have done some due diligence for you.
Managed service providers are responsible for hiring, training, and overseeing virtual assistant providers, taking on most of the risk related to service quality. They onboard the virtual assistants with your tools before they start, ensuring they are prepared to work from day one.
3. Who Manages The VA?
Virtual assistants help save time by handling administrative tasks such as scheduling, expenses, travel arrangements, and data entry—all important yet repetitive and time-consuming. However, they require training and ongoing performance management within your systems.
Do you want to oversee another employee? When working with freelancers and virtual assistant agencies, you're in charge of managing the VAs. Managed services handle that responsibility for you.
With a managed service, you get a dedicated account manager responsible for learning how you work, training, and managing the VA to meet your needs.
4. How Much Time Do You Need?
Most virtual assistants bill by the hour, but few executives need 40 hours of support each week. However, most services require a minimum number of hours per month or week.
How much time do you need?
Most executives are unaware of how much time they dedicate to administrative tasks because they tend to multitask and don't monitor their time. It’s useful to outline the tasks you want to delegate before speaking with VAs.
This will help you estimate the hours needed and enable you to assess candidates, ensuring they possess the necessary skills and experience for the documented tasks. Additionally, it's important to understand how many other clients a VA may serve and the amount of time and attention they can dedicate to you.
5. Do You Have a Backup Plan?
Another important consideration when hiring a virtual assistant is what occurs if they become ill, take a vacation, or depart for a different role. Most independent contractors or VA agencies do not provide backup VAs, although this is a common best practice for managed virtual assistant services.
The backup VAs should be fully trained on your tasks and processes so that they can step in at a moment's notice without any lift on your part.
The nature of part-time work is that the workers are often:
- Not always reliable.
- Always looking for better opportunities.
- Serving other clients might be a higher priority.
We’ve all heard of (or experienced) the disappearing freelancer or contractor. They vanish, taking your time and money with them. The risk is exceptionally high with freelancers. Agencies can also experience turnover, and the contractors they hire may have clients through other agencies or work as freelancers on the side.
Managed services, on the other hand, mitigate this risk. Managers document all processes and train backup assistants who can step in if your primary assistant is sick, on vacation, or leaves.
6. What About Security?
Naturally, security is a common question to ask when hiring a virtual assistant.
Remote workers are increasingly targeted by hackers because home networks and computers often lack enterprise-grade security measures. If a VA uses a personal computer to access your systems, it’s essential to have security standards in place to safeguard your network and data from malicious threats.
Independent contractors and freelancers often lack business-grade security systems.
If you grant someone access to systems such as accounting, CRM, expense accounts, and credit card information, the stakes can be high. There's also the issue of the VAs themselves—do they observe best practices for security, and are they trustworthy?
Some services offer background checks, only allow VAs to have encrypted passwords (they never see your actual credentials), and can remotely revoke access if suspicious behavior is suspected.
Prialto is SOC-2 compliant. See what that means: Security at Prialto
7. Can You Scale?
If your business is expanding and virtual assistants are becoming indispensable, how do you integrate this service into your organization? Recruiting, interviewing, and hiring a new employee can take up to 40 days, and as the number of VAs increases, managing them can become challenging.
Companies in this position frequently rely on agencies and managed service providers as a more scalable solution for hiring and overseeing VAs. These providers gradually familiarize themselves with your business and processes, enabling them to identify suitable VAs to join your team more efficiently.
Related Reading: 6 Ways You Can Set Up Your VA Service
8. What About Pricing?
The cost of a virtual assistant typically depends on an hourly rate. As with many services, it’s important to consider not just the price but also the value you receive. For instance, a higher-priced provider that can handle more tasks for you might justify the additional expense.
Also, you need to look at additional expenses you might incur, such as:
- Computer
- Software
- Training
- Payroll taxes
- Your time training and managing
Related Reading: How Much Does Hiring a Virtual Assistant Cost?
9. What are Your Retention Rates?
This question is primarily for the virtual assistant agency, but it is important to ask. It relates to both the quality of the service the provider offers and the experience they create for their virtual assistants.
- A high client retention rate is one of the strongest indicators available of the quality of service delivered.
- A high retention rate of virtual assistants speaks to the value the business offers its employees or contractors.
High turnover rates are alarming in basketball and bad in business.
What Kind of Relationship Do You Want?
Ultimately, how you engage a virtual assistant has a lot to do with the kind of relationship you want to establish. Is it a short-term assignment for some not-so-important projects that you need to get done? Then a freelancer might be fine.
Are you seeking long-term support from someone who will continually add value to your team?
You should look for a virtual assistant company that is aligned with that goal. Managed virtual assistant services are built to acquire and grow institutional knowledge about the businesses they serve, and to scale as needs and capabilities grow.