Important Considerations for Hiring Amazon Virtual Assistants

Millions of products are sold on Amazon, with more business owners joining the platform each month. When you sell on Amazon, you are in a constant state of competition, trying to grab the customers’ attention while also managing a lot of tasks. An Amazon virtual assistant takes care of many redundant tasks to focus on your core business functions. 

Amazon virtual assistants have experience managing the day-to-day tasks of your online store. They ensure that your store doesn’t miss any significant opportunities to increase sales and add to profits. 

If you think your ability to manage the small tasks is hampering your business’s progress, it is time to an Amazon virtual assistant. 

Who is an Amazon virtual assistant? 

An Amazon virtual assistant is a person who manages your online store on the world’s biggest retail marketplace. A reliable resource works to effectively manage your store and continuously remove any bottlenecks adversely affecting your business growth.

Expert Amazon virtual assistant services take care of the time-consuming tasks for you. They optimize your product listings and perform administrative tasks. 

You can hire an Amazon virtual assistant on a part-time or full-time basis. Some companies also provide services on a project basis as per your specific business requirements. 

How to Confidently Hire Amazon Virtual Assistants? 

Clients often find it hard to trust the services of a VA for AMZ. They are not sure if they can trust someone working for their organization as a remote resource. 

Some of the questions that businesses have in mind for VAs are

How am I going to know if my VA will perform all the tasks against the compensation?

How will I determine if the hours they are logging are correct?

What if the VAs stop working after completing only half of the project? 

If you are wondering how you are going to answer these questions, we have got you covered. 

Trust must not be something stopping a client from hiring a professional Amazon FBA virtual assistant. However, you need to follow suitable precautions when hiring a VA. The process must have a thorough review of the application and verification of the application’s credentials as a VA. 

Let us look at the steps that you need to hire Amazon virtual assistant as per your specific business requirements. 

Steps for Hiring the Right Amazon Virtual Assistant for Your Business 

Step 1: The Reasons

Write down the reasons for hiring a VA for your AMZ business. 

Step 2: Tasks to Perform

Note the tasks you want a VA to perform for you and if you will save any time or benefit from outsourcing it. 

For example, if you have multiple products, you may need someone to upload the images. Because if you have to upload many photos frequently, you will need a VA with expertise in image upload data entry. You may not have the skills to speedily upload images because you may require a data entry expert. 

The steps mentioned above will streamline the hiring process for you, clearing tasks to assign to the virtual assistant. 

Step 3: Set KPIs

KPIs help you better evaluate the performance of an Amazon virtual assistant. They also assist in clearly setting up expectations between you and your VA.  

Some of the KPIs you may like to define before hiring an Amazon virtual assistant include the following. 

• The total number of hours the VA will work for you each week. 
• KPIs that they need to achieve each month. 
• Essential tasks that they need to perform.
• Frequency and format of the reports they require to submit. 
• Possible ways to resolve any misunderstanding or conflict that may arise during the work. 

Step 4: Scope of Work 

A virtual assistant for Amazon needs to perform a certain number of tasks for a specific project. You have to create a job description for your Amazon virtual assistant before they start the work. For instance, if your VA has to do product listing optimization, they will focus on the text-only unless you have hired someone with expertise in graphic designing. For most cases, you require a separate VA for product listing text and image creation. 

This initial groundwork sets up the expectations for the quality and quantity of work. Make sure you do not miss any critical responsibility they need to perform to avoid confusion later. 

Step 5: Job Description 

Finalize the job description for hiring an Amazon virtual assistant for your online store. The job description is a critical part of the hiring process. Ensure that your posting does not have any ambiguity so that there is no chance of miscommunication. 

The best Amazon virtual assistant providers read each job description carefully before applying for a role. Then, add a question or ask job applicants to add something to their “email subject” to ensure that each job applicant has thoroughly read your job posting. This approach reduces the time you need to shortlist candidates. 

Step 6: Finalize Your Hire for Amazon Virtual Assistant 

Once you know what responsibilities your VA needs to perform, you need to start the process. Find someone who fits your budget and business requirements. There are different agency websites, consultants, and Amazon virtual assistant service provides to choose from. 

Step 7: Job Interview of a Virtual Assistant for Amazon FBA 

Analyze the skills and experience of the VA critically, not leaving out anything important. You can also schedule a Zoom or Skype call for a face-to-face job interview. 

Here are some of the job interview questions that you may consider asking an Amazon virtual assistant. 

• What is the total experience of the VA in years? 
• What are their core skills and expertise? 
• Did they undergo any formal training or have any certificates or diplomas? 
• What experience do they have with a product selling on Amazon? 
• Are they open to regular feedback calls? 
• How do they handle confidential company data? 
• Do they have any extra skills to bring additional value to their role? 
• What are their current working hours? 
• Do they need to take time off like holidays? 
• What will be the payment method? 
• What tools do they use for the job (experience)?
• Do they agree to use monitoring software? 
• Can they provide any reference to a former client who can endorse their work? 
• Are they serving any other clients? 
• Is there a particular area of expertise they want to improve? 
• Why should they be considered for this role? 
• What value can they add to their work and employer? 
• What are the charges of the Amazon virtual assistant on a per hour or monthly basis? 
• Do they charge extra for any additional tasks or chores? 
• Are they okay with signing a contract or NDA? 

Step 8 (Final Step): Test Job 

Before you onboard, the Amazon virtual assistant, give them smaller tasks to test their skill and professionalism. You can provide these simple tasks to several shortlisted candidates to find the one that best delivers to your expectations.

Bonus Tip:

Don’t expect the Amazon virtual assistant to do miracles for you in a test task. Sometimes, you may need to provide them with additional training before delivering results as per your expectations. 

Cost Concerns of Hiring an Amazon Virtual Assistant

Sometimes entrepreneurs worry about the cost of hiring a virtual assistant and may consider it as an extra expense to their venture. They may consider relying only on the current staff members or even hire a full-time employee to manage their work. 

However, the modern expert Amazon virtual assistant is a thorough professional. They work as independent contractors and charge for services against the benefits they offer. Today’s VAs focus on delivering value for money services. 

When you hire a VA, it can give you savings of up to 80% on costs you usually incur on managing day-to-day tasks. Amazon virtual assistant services customize their offering as per your specific needs. The charges start from $6 an hour, including handling customer support, fulfillment, and administration functions. 

Sometimes, a seasoned Amazon virtual assistant may charge $15 or even more per hour depending on their skills in market research, graphic designing, and marketing support. 

Are you still considering doing it yourself instead of hiring professional Amazon virtual assistants? 

Amazon sellers who are unable to make their minds should consider hiring an AMZ VA. Would you mind not waiting for more tasks to accumulate before you can outsource them? Delay is only going to make things difficult for you to manage. When you are ready, it is time to hire VAs to manage your e-store on the world’s biggest e-commerce retail platform.

If you are still unsure, here are a few questions you need to ask yourself. 

• Does it become challenging to complete the most critical tasks on time? 
• Do you feel overwhelmed managing small tasks like product listing optimization and account management? 
• Are you unable to find enough time to focus on the big picture of your business, like branding or introducing new products? 

If the answer to all the above questions is a “yes,” it is time to hire an Amazon virtual assistant. So let us now focus on the process of hiring the right Amazon virtual assistant services. 

The best Amazon FBA virtual assistant providers know the challenges their clients face. So, let us have a look at where to find VAs. 

The top two freelance platforms Fiverr and Upwork, have many freelancers offering their services as VAs for AMZ. You can use these freelance platforms to hire the services of an offshore Amazon virtual assistant. There you can also find assistants who can offer long-term commitment. 

Or, you can also consider hiring VAs from the Amazon virtual assistant companies to provide you with virtual assistant services for Amazon. 

Author Bio:

AmazinEcommerce.com is a leading Amazon FBA consultant offering its services to clients across the globe. AmazinEcommerce.com is a premium Amazon FBA Private Label & Wholesale Consultancy assisting in managing your AMZ store including private label, micro-private label, listing optimization (SEO), product photography, 3D rendering, videography, EBC / A+ Content, PPC, Packaging, Design (including Store Branding), and reinstatement of suspended AMZ accounts.