Last Updated on September 13, 2023
As business picks up and the orders are flooding in, you might need additional staff to help, but the idea of hiring more employees is daunting. You are aware of the costs you are already paying for your existing team. You also know that the cost of more workers will be exorbitant. Also, you have heard about hiring an affordable virtual assistant, but you are not very familiar with this idea, and therefore whether it will work for you. In this article, we explore how a virtual assistant can benefit you and your business.
Hiring affordable virtual assistants
By now, you have conducted a great deal of research. You have studied your accounts; you know what you can afford, and you know what you need. This can include the need for additional skills that your company lacks − or you may need someone to take over the low-level, repetitive tasks. It’s time to hire a virtual assistant.
This means that you will be hiring a person working remotely, in some cases from another country, to achieve the virtual assistant job duties assigned to them.
Since virtual assistants are remote workers rather than employees, their impact on your business expenses is much lower than that of an onsite employee.
Moreover, you forgo costs such as setting up a workstation, office space rental, and equipment and paying for employee benefits such as insurance, pension, car allowances, and bonuses.
With a virtual assistant, all of these costs are irrelevant and not applicable. This is how a company can onboard great talent at an affordable rate.
Understanding virtual assistant job duties
Some entrepreneurs or startups make the assumption that the cheapest virtual assistant is the best one to hire. This may be easy on your budget to begin with; however, issues can emerge over time.
A virtual assistant truly benefits a business over time. Therefore, you want to hire right the first time − but that means knowing what you are looking for. To solve this, making a list of all the virtual assistant job duties can be a good start.
From that list, you and your outsourcing expert would be able to identify the right type of virtual assistant for your present needs.
Over time, however, this can be reviewed; and changes can be made if these are demanded. That said, there will be two types of virtual assistants that you might need.
The two main types of a virtual assistants
As already mentioned, virtual assistants are remote workers. Through the aid of technology, they are able to conduct their tasks regardless of where they are located.
Moreover, there are two main branches of virtual assistants. The first type will complete non-specialized tasks, and the second will engage with your skilled tasks.
Non-skilled virtual assistants
Non-skilled remote assistants will mostly focus on basic admin tasks. This means conducting low-level duties such as data entry, customer-service-related work, and personal assistant tasks
Therefore, all tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming, and can be done for much less than you would charge yourself or pay any of your crew.
Even though you may believe that going for the cheapest virtual assistant is acceptable, consider the issues that might occur in the future.
For example, the service delivery might be slow, there might be communication-related issues, and the worker might lack the proper knowledge to positively impact you and your business.
Therefore going through an agency is a better route, especially if the outsourcing agency has a team dedicated to managing the virtual assistants for you.
Skilled virtual assistant
Virtual assistants are a superb addition if you lack skills in your company. You can easily onboard an affordable virtual assistant to fill that gap.
For instance, if you lack graphic design or video-editing skills, you can hire either a virtual graphic design assistant or a virtual video editor based on your needs.
In many cases, outsourcing to another country means that you can afford great talent you would otherwise not have been able to afford if hiring locally.
If your team is already working remotely, a virtual assistant will be a very easy addition to your team.
However, here too, you do not want to go for the cheapest. Your bank statements may reflect this choice; however, you could experience frustration, low-quality work, and a high number of replacements.
All of this can damage your brand. Opt rather for the secure route through an outsourcing service. This way, the applications can be vetted, and 98% of applications that will not work well can be discarded.
More so, the agency can manage the virtual assistants for you, including the payroll, which means less work for you.
Mix your virtual assistants
As your business grows, your needs will change. When hiring a virtual assistant, you are not stuck with an employee having to deal with labor unions.
You can simply offboard a virtual assistant when the services are not required. In other words, you can bring in the right skills or person to do the work that needs to be done as things change.
However, you alter the team of virtual assistants. For instance, you might want to focus on boosting your marketing. Therefore you would hire a virtual marketing assistant.
But there might be the need for more leads; consequently, you would hire a virtual lead-generation assistant. After a period, there might be no need for more lead generation.
You can then let the lead-generation specialist go, focusing instead on improving the customer experience by hiring a virtual customer service assistant
It’s time to get things done
The longer you wait, the more you lose. When ready, book your complimentary call with our outsourcing specialist. Let our outsourcing expert assist you will practical and cost-saving staffing.
Regardless if you require a dedicated virtual assistant or you need to delegate tasks, Aristo Sourcing is here for you.
