Overview
Outsourcing is a game-changer for most e-commerce entrepreneurs – it is accessible, cheap, and effective. These benefits help entrepreneurs leverage other people’s skills to grow their Amazon business. Running an Amazon business gets more competitive but also easier as the years go by. With innovation and outsourcing, sellers become more efficient, and businesses grow consistently. An Amazon virtual assistant can be exactly what you need.
Today’s article will walk you through the basics and steps to effectively outsource anything from your amazon business. If you want to kickstart your journey in outsourcing, this guide is perfect for you.
How to Hire an Amazon Virtual Assistant
An Amazon virtual assistant is an expert in fulfilling different Amazon tasks remotely. They act as an extra hand for you to effectively and smoothly run your business operations. Here is a proven and tested step-by-step process on how to hire your Amazon VA.
Step 1: Define what you’re looking for
Start with finding the areas of your business you need help with. Through this, you can easily list the qualities and services you want for an Amazon virtual assistant.
Enumerate the different tasks in your operations and identify which are repetitive and take up so much of your time. You can outsource administrative tasks such as answering emails, calendar management, and more. You can also look for a specialist for specific functions like graphic design, listing optimization, and SEO, which needs more particular expertise.
Step 2: Determine your budget
The next step to hiring an Amazon VA is setting a budget. Determining your budget is a critical part of the hiring process since this dictates your capability to pay for an extra hand to help you with your business tasks. It is also vital that you stick with your budget to prevent disrupting your finances.
To help you with this step, we have a free VA budget calculator that you can use to estimate the costs of hiring a virtual assistant and how much you can afford for their service. The budget calculator can help you set a budget that will work for your VA and your amazon business.
Step 3: Make a job post
After finishing the initial and vital steps of the hiring process, you can now proceed to make a job post. A quality job post is crucial for you to attract the right target market. Make sure to include all the necessary details and requirements to avoid wasting time.
It is best to publish your job post on freelancing platforms like Upwork, Freeup, and Fiverr, where many potential VAs can see it.
Step 4: Interview candidates
From the pool of applications of potential Amazon virtual assistants, take the time to screen them through an interview process. The interview stage is essential in every hiring process, whether for a VA position or other roles. The candidates’ answers will determine if they are a perfect fit for the role or not.
Through interviewing the candidates, you get to know more about their personalities, work ethics, and culture. Ask questions relevant to the job and will enable you to decide whether to hire them or consider other applicants.
It would be best if you also took advantage of this stage to look for possible red flags in them. Common red flags in an unreliable applicant are not showing up on time, delaying the hiring process, and not taking accountability. Mitigate the situation immediately to prevent further issues in the future.
Step 5: Hire and onboard
Lastly, you can now choose who to hire and onboard on your team. Do not make the mistake of skipping the onboarding process if you want a harmonious working environment and an effective team.
Onboarding allows you to introduce the company culture and responsibilities needed to fulfill by your new Amazon virtual assistants. It is vital to ensure that you and your VAs are on the same page about the business goals and processes. You can also set expectations from here and establish the communication rules.
It is very beneficial if you already have well-organized SOPs for your VA to follow. It will save you time in training and getting them familiar with your operations.
What Amazon Tasks Can You Outsource?
The variety of tasks that you can delegate to your virtual assistants are wide. They can perform almost all Amazon tasks since it is their field of expertise. The tasks can range from tedious administrative roles to strategic marketing jobs–all these can be easily outsourced to an Amazon VA.
Here are more tasks that you can outsource to an Amazon VA or specialist to help your business grow significantly.
Product Research
A well thought and fact-based product offering is key to success in an Amazon business. So essentially, thorough product research is vital to achieving it. However, this task can take so much of your time since it requires extensive reviewing.
Your VA can help you with product research and can provide you essential data that will help you find ‘winning’ products to sell. They can also help with finding suppliers that will give you the best deal and high sales.
Listing
If you have been an Amazon seller for quite a while, you know how valuable it is to have a great product listing. This task ensures you appear on top of Amazon searches and reach more potential clients.
Delegate this task to your VA or to an expert in product listing. They ensure that the necessary description of the products are present, and they know the right keywords to use to attract your target market. They can also help come up with other strategic ways to improve your listings and gain more consumers.
Accounting/Bookkeeping
Outsourcing accounting and bookkeeping tasks are much cheaper than hiring a full-time accountant. You can easily task your Amazon VA to keep your books updated and records for easier accounting of your finances every fiscal year. You can also hire a freelance CPA to help you with taxes and other legal, financial matters.
Shipping & Freight Forwarding
Shipping and Freight forwarding are some of the technical tasks you need to fulfill as an Amazon entrepreneur. It requires proper calculations and planning for it to be efficient and to minimize the costs.
The task may seem easy but can get pretty confusing with the documentation and legal requirements. That is why a lot of sellers choose to delegate this role to their Amazon VAs. By outsourcing this task to an expert, you relieve yourself of the hassle of delays and mishaps in the shipping process.
Graphic Design
A great-looking visual and product pictures can benefit your Amazon business. Clients naturally prefer products with pleasing visual presentations compared to dull ones, so graphic design is instrumental in attracting consumers.
With the abundance of freelance graphic designers, you can easily outsource this task inexpensively and take your Amazon business to a higher level.
Conclusion
Having an extra hand to help you with business operations is an advantage. Your business is more efficient with delegation and outsourcing. They enable you to work on the strategic part of your business and give you time to come up with more plans to improve your operations.
It is undeniable that with outsourcing, managing an Amazon business becomes relatively easy. Start outsourcing today to experience the numerous benefits it will bring in your daily life as an Amazon seller.
About the Author
Connor Gillivan is currently an Owner of OutsourceSchool.com. He has been building businesses with virtual teams for the past 10 years and recently exited FreeUp.net in 2019. Connor regularly shares his advice on scaling companies online and has been featured on 200+ websites. He resides in Denver, CO.
If you have questions or insights to share, please feel free to post them via the comments section. Please also consider joining our Facebook Group where we discuss any questions you may have about running an Amazon business.
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