Today, businesses are looking for innovative ways to be more competitive and keep growing. Keeping costs low and boosting sales are the two mantras that are being adopted by corporate honcho’s worldwide. 

One of the rising trends that are being increasingly adopted in the current scenario is remote working. While remote working has its challenges in terms of accountability and maintaining an organization’s work culture, it promises immense benefits if adopted correctly. Being available to guide the team members, similar to a physical office is one of the best ways to go ahead, if you want to set up a remote workforce.

What’s also making news in these competitive times is the use of virtual assistants to manage the small, recurring but crucial tasks that take up too much time for business owners and managers.

Virtual assistants handle small, recurring, and crucial tasks to increase productivity. Moreover, hiring a virtual assistant is less expensive as compared to hiring an employee. You can also save a lot on overhead costs since they are not required to be present physically in an office. 

Many companies offer virtual assistant services, making it difficult to choose the professionals who are best for your business from such a sizable pool.

In this blog, we’ve compiled a list of the best virtual assistant service providers to assist you in your search. But first, let’s define who a virtual assistant is and what their job role entails. 

Who is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is a trained professional who works from the comfort of their own home or office. It’s the same as hiring an employee but with far more flexibility.

Depending on their and your schedules, they may finish their work during regular business hours or at different times throughout the day. They can complete several tasks for your company. They may also assist with more complex tasks typically completed by professionals across industries like marketing or finance.

Your needs will determine the services a virtual assistant offers to your business. Almost all virtual assistants are capable of doing administrative and general tasks.

Virtual assistants can perform the following tasks, among many others:

• Manage inbox
• Manage calendar 
• Schedule appointments
• Data entry 
• Online research
• Coordinate projects
• Customer support 
• Manage tools like Dropbox and Google Drive
• Organize to-do lists
• Maintain client communications 
• Assist in event planning
• Schedule appointments and meetings
• Maintain Databases
• Reply to customer queries
• Maintain records for eCommerce
• Update and maintain CRM
• Create presentations
• Check daily reports /performance parameters set
• Record minutes of the meeting 
• Support HR Functions
• Arrange gifts for clients
• Coordinate between various departments
• Record expenses

Their services are simple:

• You hire a company.
• You gain access to an assistant who can complete multiple tasks on your behalf.
• You’ll find yourself with much extra time in your workday.

What You Should Know Before Selecting a Virtual Assistant

Be Specific With Expectations

Establish your business’ unique needs first. Often, you are aware that you require a VA but are unsure of their precise purpose beyond a few jobs. Do not fret, though! Over a few weeks, you will find plenty of tasks to take off your to-do list and give to your assistant. 

Determine the Qualities You Want

Instead of focusing solely on a candidate’s past employment history, the interview process should comprise questions about how they will respond in various situations. 

For example, what would they bring to a team if they were on it? 

How would they react if something unexpected happened? 

Select a communication method and strategy

Adopting a platform and communication style that you both adhere to is among the most important ways to keep lines of communication open. Communication is essential in any relationship; therefore, establishing a process that works for you is crucial. 

Take a Test Run

Since virtual assistants are frequently employed on a month-to-month basis, a trial run or probationary period is simple to set up. A brief test example makes it simple to judge a VA’s attention to detail and critical thinking. The VA can gradually be introduced to routine tasks as well. 

Look for someone familiar with your industry

The ideal virtual assistant know that to assist you in connecting with your audience, they must comprehend the nature of your company. Thanks to this understanding, they can learn about your strategy and contribute in the most valuable ways.

Hiring a virtual assistant is quite similar to hiring any other employee you want to add to your team, with a few minor adjustments. Once you establish a process that you and your assistant are clear on, working with a virtual assistant will change your business and allow you the time to focus on tasks that will make you money.

Coming back to the topic at hand, let’s discuss the top virtual assistant companies worldwide.

Top three virtual assistant companies worldwide

Wishup

Wishup is a pioneer in virtual assistance services. It helps entrepreneurs and small business owners focus on their core tasks and grow their businesses, while its virtual assistants take care of all their administrative and everyday tasks.

It hires only the top 1% of all applicants and trains them in over 200 skill sets. Wishup serves 500+ small businesses in the US and has an average service rating of 4.8. It offers Virtual Assistants, Bookkeepers, Software Developers, and Software Testers who work remotely for companies in the US.

It offers the option of full or part-time virtual assistants depending on the clients needs. Hiring a VA is comparatively easy with Wishup; you can get one on board within a day. 

Benefits of hiring a Wishup virtual assistant;

• Stringent selection process, so you get to work with the top 1% of talent
• VAs are trained in 200+ skill sets
• No-questions-asked replacement/refund policy
• Onboarding a VA takes less than 24 hours.
• There are both offshore and US based virtual assistants available.
• Contracts, insurance, liabilities, and employee benefits are managed by Wishup.

Fancy Hands

From its headquarters in the United States, Fancy Hands provides dedicated virtual assistance to clients worldwide. This straightforward and open virtual assistant service is ideal for those who require regular assistance but do not want to deal with the hassle of a lengthy contract.

Fancy Hands offers two different types of requests. One is a Standard request for 20 minutes of work. These requests work best for projects requiring extensive back-and-forth communication or for research. 

Aside from that, there are Active requests for ongoing tasks. These requests may be carried over to the following month if not used.

Users can also request repetitive tasks scheduled daily, weekly, monthly, or weekday. In addition, users will receive an email from Fancy Hands one day before the request giving them the option to skip or cancel it.

Like most virtual assistant services, Fancy Hands bills a small monthly fee based on the overall volume of requests; however, the business also provides discounted annual rates. In addition, a dedicated virtual assistant can be requested by users, who will be charged per minute and with whom they can communicate using any tools they choose.

Working with Fancy Hands does come with two drawbacks. First, they charge by the minute for their live requests, and second, that the standard requests more extended than 20 minutes require authorization.

Zirtual

For business executives, Zirtual provides specialized virtual assistants with US bases. Because of its relationship-based business model, customers can build enduring relationships with their dedicated assistant, or ZA.

With Zirtual’s flat-rate, monthly, and annual plans, there is no need for a lengthy commitment.

Because of their administrative and technological expertise, its virtual assistants can handle administrative tasks more effectively and quickly, freeing you up to focus on your expertise. Furthermore, all virtual assistants are American citizens with college degrees who live in the United States. 

Based on their prior knowledge, expertise, and interests, Zirtual’s assistants receive additional training in what clients require. 

The skills include scheduling and managing meetings, events, travel, PowerPoint presentations, expenses, and invoices. They also include managing social media, web research, content management, content creation, and website upkeep.

The assistants have completed ongoing training in various tools. After the selection process, you can begin using a virtual assistant within a week.

Wrapping up

A virtual assistant is the key if you want to boost business productivity while saving on your hard-earned money and time.

Once you are ready to welcome a virtual professional into your business and life, follow these steps to hire one:

Determine your needs: What do you need assistance with? Create a list of tasks you want to delegate to a virtual assistant.

Select a VA platform: Look over the virtual assistant platforms mentioned above and select one. A free trial is available on some platforms (like Wishup). Register on their website and schedule a free consultation to get started.

Hire your virtual assistant and collaborate with them: Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to explain to them what needs to be done and how you want them to go about doing it. You won’t have to deal with all the hassles associated with onboarding and training because these professionals are already qualified.