Do you know what to look for?

Many virtual assistant companies claim to provide the best, most updated and techie services on the market. They promise to take dozens of items off an executive’s or business owner’s plate to free up their time for more revenue generating opportunities.

Sounds great! But is this really the case?

How do you know you aren’t overpaying, or worse…not getting what you’re paying for?

Here’s how to figure out if you’re getting the best value for a fair price…

1Start with your need

You’re looking for the best virtual assistant services, but what do you need a virtual executive assistant to do for you? We’ve created a very thorough How to Find the Right Virtual Executive Assistant infographic (decision tree) to help you navigate to the right company and service. 

2Decide what your need is worth

For an executive or business owner, the most conclusive way to go about this is to consider the costs of hiring an employee, which often deter businesses from hiring someone in-house despite increased business growth. That’s because the business must pony up the hard costs for advertising, screening, interviewing, hiring, training, benefits, taxes, IT infrastructure and support, facility costs, a work computer, and more while also absorbing intangible costs such as reduced productivity and lost opportunity. 

Generally, when you hire a virtual assistant, your costs will only be 50-75% of what it takes to hire an in-house employee.

The best virtual assistant companies will cover the costs associated with hiring, so you save both money and risk. 

3Don’t buy into the hourly rate lingo

Nearly all virtual assistant services out there charge by the hour. This can be extremely confusing, since it’s difficult to compare one company that charges $6.98 an hour (e.g. Tasks Everyday) with another that charges around $28 to $33 an hour (e.g. Zirtual). Even if you’re willing to pay the highest hourly price, you aren’t guaranteed reliable service — considering what happened with Zirtual. 

Confusing. Difficult. Time consuming. 

The hourly pricing leaves you with the responsibility for managing your usage and assessing the value of each hour. Who needs that hassle?!

4Pay a flat rate for a dedicated, managed assistant

Marketplaces provide a space for people to connect. Beyond that, you must do everything from searching and interviewing to onboarding and managing. At their best, Elance and ODesk are great examples of virtual executive assistant marketplaces that can work to the advantage of consumers.  

A few dollars an hour may buy you help with setting up a restaurant reservation or trolling for a good buy on Craigslist, but if you’re truly busy why would you even consider putting this amount of extra work on your plate? It certainly won’t save you time, which means you’ll be leaving a lot of money on the table just to nickle and dime yourself. 

Managed service providers are the best choice for intricate, relationship-based virtual executive assistant services that require an intimacy of knowledge and trust, which are in direct opposition to the anonymity of a marketplace.

A flat rate will go farthest for those busy professionals who simply don’t have time to slow way down to figure out what they can meaningfully delegate.

Managed services like Quickskill are passionate about helping members (e.g. clients) who know that the cost-effective flat rate is well worth the time we save them, which translates to new revenue generation and a much needed work-life balance.

You aren’t getting the most for your money when you’re charged extra for every process, project, and/or task that you’d like to delegate. You shouldn’t be charged extra by virtual assistant companies to customize processes for you. Period. Neither should you be pigeonholed into using systems that don’t serve your specific company’s needs. 

A flat rate should provide a consistent quality of service, back-up assistance, well defined best practices, and customized processes.

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