Virtual assistants: the hack to growing your Amazon store

This is a guest post written by VAA, an 8fig partner.

The future is eCommerce. Day after day, another entrepreneur starts an Amazon store, and there’s no stopping this growth. How can we possibly turn away from the shift towards a more convenient mode of shopping? We’re at the peak of trade and business, and it’s only going to grow from here. So when demand increases, are you ready to supply?

It’s crucial that you find ways to catch up with the fast-paced world of Amazon, especially if you’re an 8-figure seller in the making. As Amazon is always updating its features to become more and more efficient and relevant, you’ll need workers who are ready for that. And these workers must know how to traverse the cyber world of eCommerce well.

What Are Virtual Assistants?

If you’re the owner of a growing business, it’s wise to delegate tasks that are either too technical, abundant, time-consuming, tedious, or routine. Virtual Assistants (VAs) can help you with all that!

Depending on their skill sets, VAs are capable of doing a wide range of administrative tasks and more to lighten your workload. A VA can be a handy partner in one way or another across your business — be it in social media management, CRM (customer relationship management), content creation, website maintenance, sales, customer support, client success, bookkeeping, inventory, and other delegable areas.

VAs are today’s business must-haves because of their efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and flexibility. You can even run a startup with a VA as your right hand!

What Can VAs Do for Your Amazon Store?

Amazon VAs are like a magic wand for your Amazon store—they can do almost anything necessary to run your seller account.  But of course, you’ll need to be specific on what areas you need assistance with. Let’s divide it into three categories: easy, difficult, and skill-specific.

Easy Responsibilities:

• Adding/Removing Listings
• Feedback Management
• Social Media Management
• Customer Service
• Product Research
• Organizing Reports

Difficult Responsibilities:

• Listing Optimization
• Appeals & Plan of Action
• Ad Hoc Cases
• Product Launches
• Shipping Recommendations
• PPC

Skill-Specific Responsibilities:

• PPC Advertising
• Bookkeeping
• Video Editing and Graphics
• Inventory Management
• Content Management

What to Do Before Hiring VAs

Outsourcing manpower requires a significant amount of information. So before hiring a VA, you need to keep in mind a couple of things.

First, take a look at your current operations.

• Which area do you need most help with?
• Which tasks can you delegate to maximize efficiency?
• Which role can you let go so you can focus more on executive duties?

After determining what kind of help you’re looking for, the next step is to specify the tasks.

• What tasks do you intend for your VA to handle?
• What are you willing to train the VA for?
• What skills and experiences do you expect the VA to possess prior to hiring?
• What other qualifications are you looking for in your VA?

From this information, you can create your own set of guidelines for which your VA must strictly adhere to. The more specific your instructions are, the easier for your VA to deliver your needs.

Onboarding and Training

Since you’re outsourcing work when you hire a VA, you’ll have to either provide the appropriate training or hire a pre-trained one. In any case, every VA is a paid worker in whom you invest a significant portion of your time, energy, and finances. So you need to ensure that your VA is qualified and ready to work at your pace and meet your demands.

Hiring a pre-trained VA can give you more sustainable results because time and skill are of the essence in the eCommerce industry, particularly in the Amazon space. Therefore, you can expect to pay more for pre-trained VAs, but you can also expect more from them.

Where Can You Hire Pre-Trained VAs?

With the tightening competition in the world of eCommerce, outsourcing VAs has become more common than ever. A logical consequence is the surge in the number of freelancers grabbing opportunities to work for Amazon sellers. However, there’s no guarantee of the credibility of a VA unless he or she is affiliated with a company that standardizes the qualifications of their VAs.

As a seller whose time and finances are precious and should be expended wisely, it’s a good idea to hire your VAs from highly reputable companies, like Virtual Assistant Academy (VAA).

VAA locates, screens, and trains highly dependable Amazon VAs to match them with the specific needs of Amazon sellers like you. If you hire from VAA, you’ll save both the time and energy it takes to do the long, rigid recruitment process yourself. VAA already has you covered – all you have to do is talk to them.

You can choose from a wide range of VAs depending on the skill set you’re aiming for. VAA offers you the following VA services, among others:

• Amazon Expert
• PPC Specialist
• Social Media Expert
• Creatives Experts
• Executive Assistant
• Wholesale Expert

Take a look and check if the service you’re looking for is available at VAA.

Things to Keep in Mind During VA Engagement

Here are some important things you need to consider once you’ve decided to engage the services of a VA.

Hours & time tracking

Take note of the total number of hours you’ve previously agreed upon with the company. VAs are paid hourly for their work, so you should allocate tasks that are completable within that time frame. You can also arrange time-tracking and task completion directly with the VA.

Holidays

Before they start working, it’s a good idea to discuss holidays and vacations with the VA so you know ahead of time when they will be available to work and when they expect time off. Once you’ve established that, be cognizant of these non-working days for your VA.

Salary payment

VA providers usually have a preferred mode of receiving salary payments. If you hire from VAA, you’ll only have to pay as you go and only for what you need!

Get More Done by Hiring a VA Now!

The secret to a successful Amazon business is delegating tasks. When you delegate, you get to focus more on scaling your business, especially if you’re aiming to be an 8-figure seller. But remember, delegate only to trusted and competent VAs.

Many successful eCommerce sellers can attest to the efficiency of delegating your tasks to VAA’s Amazon Experts. So don’t hesitate to hire an Amazon VA now! VAA is waiting for your call!