Virtual Assistant Services

If you’re an SMB exec looking for a virtual assistant, you can now find all kinds of options for how to engage one or more VAs for your business. Let’s look at four different types of virtual assistant services and what they offer (or don’t) for SMB executives.

1Freelance Virtual Assistant

You can hire an individual virtual assistant as a freelancer working from home using a job board or community platforms like Nextdoor. You aren’t really using a service in the traditional sense, and it is really more like hiring an employee.

You have to vet, interview, train, and manage the freelancer you choose, including providing payroll, taxes, and other overhead.

The pros of this option are:  

• If you hire locally, the VA can visit the office when needed and perform in-person tasks such as deliveries.  
• The cost may be lower due to the lack of a service provider “middle-man.”  
• You have the opportunity to build a long-term relationship.  

The cons of hiring a freelance VA are similar to the risks of any freelance hire. Most have to do with the time it could take for you to train and manage another employee when you’re trying to save time and the quality and reliability of the worker.

Drawbacks include:

• The time to train and equip with your technology and processes.  
• More management overhead on your part.  
• Uncertain quality and reliability.  
• The freelancer could leave at any time.

2Virtual Assistant Marketplaces

Virtual assistants are also available through gig marketplaces like Fiverr. Most but not all VAs available on these marketplaces are offshore, and the price can be appealing. Upwork, for example, offers prices as low as $10 per hour.

The pros and cons of using a marketplace are similar to hiring a freelancer, except that marketplace VAs usually have many reviews and samples from clients to help you vet their quality and reliability. Marketplaces can be ideal if you have sporadic support needs and only need one-time tasks done now and then.

Benefits of virtual assistant marketplaces include:

• Low hourly rates.  
• Immediate access for short-term assignments.  

• Ability to review past work.  

The risks of engaging virtual assistants through a marketplace, if you want to have a weekly hourly commitment, are similar to those of hiring a freelance VA:  

• Time to train and equip with your technology and processes.  
• More management is needed on your part.  

• Uncertain quality and reliability.  
• The worker could leave at any time.

3Contract Virtual Assistant Agency

Contract virtual assistant agencies have arisen to take some of the risks out of hiring a freelance VA. The agency vets and recruits the VAs in advance and enables you to select the person with the right experience for your needs. That makes the risk of quality and reliability significantly lower than hiring on your own.

Still, once you select the VA, they typically work as a 1099 employee or pay the agency.

Benefits of a Contract VA agency include:

• Better vetting and more certainty of quality and reliability than directly hiring freelancers.  
• Faster hiring than recruiting yourself.  
• The VAs could be local in some markets if that is important.  

The cons of a contract agency are similar to those of a freelance VA. The risk of shoddy work or lack of reliability is lower in most cases. Some agencies don’t guarantee that you will work with the same VA—they farm out work based on the agency’s utilization priorities.

It challenging to build a relationship with someone who can get to know you and your business.

Cons for a contact agency are:

• Any training and management are up to you.  

• Could leave at any time.  
• May not have a dedicated VA. 

4Managed Virtual Assistant Service

With a managed virtual assistant service, the service provider hires, trains, and manages the VA as its full-time employee, eliminating the need for onboarding and oversite on your part. Typically, an account manager is a bridge between you and the VA, ensuring promised service levels and quality.

The account manager documents all processes and trains a backup VA to be ready to take over if the primary VA is absent or moves on. The account manager also helps you to optimize the service to maximize productivity continually.

The benefits of a managed VA include:

• Faster hiring than recruiting yourself.  
• No training or performance management on your part.  
• Backup VA ensures continuity.  
• Guaranteed service levels.  

With a managed VA service, the service provider takes much of the risk of delivering a quality VA service. It depends a bit on how an engagement is structured—your risk grows with the length of a contract. That said, if a particular VA doesn’t work out, a backup is ready to take over.

The cons of a managed VA service include:

• It won’t be the cheapest option.

If price is your greatest concern, a managed virtual assistant service may not be the best option.

Also, if you only need occasional project-based support, you’ll be paying for the time you don’t need. But if you want to offload ongoing tasks to a VA with a team of trainers and managers behind them and an account manager who guides you on how to best utilize your VA team, it can be a great choice.  

Quickskill offers a managed virtual assistant service. For more information about what it’s like to work with Quickskill, download our guide.