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Do you own a business and do you sell products on the Amazon marketplace? If so, then no doubt you know how complicated it can be to run your ecommerce store. There is always something that needs doing; whether it's writing product descriptions, answering customer questions or updating listings and tracking information. The list goes on! It can be very time consuming and exhausting for one person to keep up with all of these tasks without any help.
Luckily there are many virtual assistants available who specialize in helping Amazon sellers manage their online shops more easily by taking care of some—or even all—of those tasks for them! So if you're wondering what hiring an Amazon virtual assistant could mean for your business, read on...
What Is An Amazon Virtual Assistant?
In terms of Amazon, an Amazon FBA virtual assistant is a person who works on a remote basis for your Amazon business. They can work on a full-time, part-time, or a task basis. There are many tasks that a Virtual Assistant can carry out, and these are dedicated virtual assistants provided by Amazon, which help sell products in a smooth and error-free process.
For example, tasks like admin tasks, content creation, product sourcing and the like can all be done by an Amazon Virtual Assistant.
Do you need a Virtual Assistant?
Well, if you have a Virtual Assistant on your team, they can be of great help. They can help you carry out monotonous tasks like doing some admin work on a computer. They are your team members working remotely for you, which helps grow your business through the Amazon platform.
What Can A Virtual Assistant Exactly Do?
As we saw earlier, you can use virtual Assistants to complete mundane tasks, which will take much of your productive time. Now we will see some of the functions which Virtual Assistants can accomplish:
Product Sourcing
You can use a Virtual Assistant to do Product Sourcing for you, as it takes a lot of time to do that. You may have to take time to train them in that as it is a difficult job, but it’s worth the effort.
Customer Service
Customer Service is one of the simple jobs which a Virtual Assistant can handle as it does not take a lot of your time.
Admin Work
Admin Work is the easiest and the most critical work which a Virtual Assistant can do, and it is because it just involves a set of repetitive tasks that don’t generate a profit. For example, you can easily create a video showing a Virtual Assistant how you reconcile a shipment.
Related: How to Get Free Samples on Amazon?
Tips for hiring a Virtual Assistant
There are many tips that we can use to hire a Virtual Assistant. Let’s discuss some of them:
Think Before You Start
An important thing to keep in mind is deciding what you want a Virtual Assistant to do before hiring them. For that, you need to be specific. You can think of some of the questions: (a) What sourcing methods will you get them to do? (b) How long do you want them to work? (c) How much is this going to cost you?
Know Where to Hire From
It’s often recommended to hire people from the Philippines as many have got good Virtual Assistants from over there. There are also numerous websites where you can find applicants for your Amazon FBA tasks.
Job Post and Low Wages
You can easily find templates for job posts and put them out there. But the position should be generic so that you can avoid people looking specifically for Amazon FBA jobs. Many have succeeded in finding virtual assistants from Asian countries like the Philippines that have lower rates due to the lower cost of living.
Providing Training To Virtual Assistants
There are three options that you can use to train Virtual Assistants. They are:
1. You can train them yourself
2. Pay for private training elsewhere
3. Or hire a pre-trained Virtual Assistant
If you have the time and resources to train the virtual assistant, this is a good option. Also, since they are receiving training, you may find their rates lower. On the other hand, hiring a third-party may be a good option if you don’t have time to train by yourself. Of course, this will be an additional cost. Lastly, a pre-trained virtual assistant will be able to start work immediately but you can expect a higher rate.
Managing a Virtual Assistant
Payment
You can use payment modes that incur lesser fees on currency conversions. If you try paying your Amazon FBA virtual assistant with these methods,, they will be happy and appreciate it.
Holidays and Customs
It is good to be aware of Holidays and Customs so that there won’t be any confusion. You can Google a calendar for public holidays wherever your team is based.
Expectations Understood
You should make sure that everything is clear with everyone in your team so that there won’t be any misunderstandings down the line. For example: Are they full time? What are their deadlines? How will you communicate?
Feedback
If there should be continual improvement in the business, then regular communication with your team is essential. You could ask them questions and allow your team to be able to talk to you freely.
Conclusion
Hiring a virtual assistant is an excellent way to lower your load and grow your FBA business. It’s also the perfect opportunity for you to utilize some of these great tips we’ve given, like outsourcing tasks that are time-consuming or repetitive, hiring people who can help with social media management, etc. If you want more information about how our team at Simpl could be helpful in this area (or any other!), just get in touch! We love helping new sellers set up their FBA businesses so they can focus on what matters most - selling products online.
Next article: Top Funding Options For Amazon FBA Businesses
