3 Questions You Need to Ask a Potential VA Before Hiring Them
You have big plans for your business, but you know you can not accomplish everything by yourself.
And you should not have to! You can find a great Virtual Assistant dedicated to helping you every step of the way, but it can be a daunting task.
How can you make sure you hire the right person for your business? Asking a potential VA the following questions will help you make the right choice.
What experience do you have handling these types of tasks? The first question any business owner should ask a potential VA is about their experience.
There is no point continuing the conversation if this person can not help you with the tasks you need completed.
Find out if the potential VA has performed these tasks before in their own business or for clients.
If knowledge of a special program is required to complete your projects, be sure they know how to use it.
Ask them for references or samples of their work.
Seeing a completed project that is similar to yours or getting feedback from other clients can go a long way in helping you trust the expertise of your potential VA.
What are your fees and payment policies? If you are comfortable with the experience of the potential VA, you will want to find out about their fees and payment policies.
This is extremely important as all VA's are different and you do not want to end up with surprise charges later.
Many VA's will offer a monthly retainer package at reduced rate from their regular hourly rate.
This means that you are agreeing up front to hire them for a certain number of hours each month.
If you are planning on having your VA work on a regular basis, this may be your best bet, but be sure to find out if there are a minimum number of hours required to qualify for this arrangement.
Also, find out what happens to unused hours if they are not needed for the month.
Do they carry over to the next month or do you lose them? What about if more hours are needed to complete certain projects for the month? Are you notified beforehand so you can approve overtime, or will you get a surprise invoice after the fact? Do not forget to find out when your potential VA expects payment.
Some VA's will require payment before services are rendered, while other VA's will send invoices on certain days of the month.
Take note as to whether there are any extra charges for rush projects or late payments.
What is your availability? If you find the potential VA meets the previous criteria, you will want to find out about their availability for you.
How much time can they devote to your work with the rest of their workload? If they can only devote 5 hours per week to your projects, you need to evaluate whether or not that will be enough time.
You also need to find out when they are available for assignments and phone calls.
You do not want to send a project to your VA at 4pm that needs to be done in an hour if they only work until 3pm.
Keep in mind that you may be in different time zones.
There are other questions you may want to ask a potential VA depending on your business needs, but these are the main ones you will always want to find out about no matter what the project is.
And you should not have to! You can find a great Virtual Assistant dedicated to helping you every step of the way, but it can be a daunting task.
How can you make sure you hire the right person for your business? Asking a potential VA the following questions will help you make the right choice.
What experience do you have handling these types of tasks? The first question any business owner should ask a potential VA is about their experience.
There is no point continuing the conversation if this person can not help you with the tasks you need completed.
Find out if the potential VA has performed these tasks before in their own business or for clients.
If knowledge of a special program is required to complete your projects, be sure they know how to use it.
Ask them for references or samples of their work.
Seeing a completed project that is similar to yours or getting feedback from other clients can go a long way in helping you trust the expertise of your potential VA.
What are your fees and payment policies? If you are comfortable with the experience of the potential VA, you will want to find out about their fees and payment policies.
This is extremely important as all VA's are different and you do not want to end up with surprise charges later.
Many VA's will offer a monthly retainer package at reduced rate from their regular hourly rate.
This means that you are agreeing up front to hire them for a certain number of hours each month.
If you are planning on having your VA work on a regular basis, this may be your best bet, but be sure to find out if there are a minimum number of hours required to qualify for this arrangement.
Also, find out what happens to unused hours if they are not needed for the month.
Do they carry over to the next month or do you lose them? What about if more hours are needed to complete certain projects for the month? Are you notified beforehand so you can approve overtime, or will you get a surprise invoice after the fact? Do not forget to find out when your potential VA expects payment.
Some VA's will require payment before services are rendered, while other VA's will send invoices on certain days of the month.
Take note as to whether there are any extra charges for rush projects or late payments.
What is your availability? If you find the potential VA meets the previous criteria, you will want to find out about their availability for you.
How much time can they devote to your work with the rest of their workload? If they can only devote 5 hours per week to your projects, you need to evaluate whether or not that will be enough time.
You also need to find out when they are available for assignments and phone calls.
You do not want to send a project to your VA at 4pm that needs to be done in an hour if they only work until 3pm.
Keep in mind that you may be in different time zones.
There are other questions you may want to ask a potential VA depending on your business needs, but these are the main ones you will always want to find out about no matter what the project is.
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