I’ve said it before and I have to say it again: hiring virtual assistants for your Amazon FBA business is a literal game-changer!

From saving you time, energy, money and even helping you to make more money in the long run, hiring virtual assistants to help or manage various aspects of your business will free you up to concentrate more on the growth of your business and taking it to the next level.

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How to get the most from your virtual assistants

So you have your virtual assistant team all set up and ready to go, but you want to ensure that they all know what they’re doing and can work efficiently and effectively without you. 

Sophie’s company, Resource Worldwide, has placed virtual assistants for over 100 different businesses around the world as well as working closely with them in her own e-commerce business, so she certainly understands how to get the best performance from her team.

Use the following five tips to help you to manage your VA team effectively, ensuring that everyone is happy all-round…

1. Be clear and concise on tasks

It sounds so simple but this is one area that many people can easily go wrong in. You cannot assume that your virtual assistants can read your mind or will know exactly how you want a particular task completed.

Particularly at the beginning when a VA has been newly recruited, ensure that you are outlining tasks word for word, even if it all seems obvious. Yes, you’ll need to invest this extra time at the start of your journey with them, but what you’ll find is that over time your VA will begin to understand your way of thinking more thoroughly and will be able to take their own initiative moving forwards.

2. Print out Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

It is super beneficial to get your virtual assistants to print out a copy of the KPIs in the area of your business that they are working in and pin it up in their working space so they always have it in view. 

For example, with sourcing assistants, make your KPIs really specific such as including what a profitable product is and what makes a winning deal.

If your virtual assistants always have these KPIs in view, they’ll be more likely to continue to work towards them and of course, ultimately achieve them.

3. Use an online task management tool

Using a task management tool really helps with organisation, and with you - and your team - always being in the know of what they should be working on, and what others are working on, too.

Tools such as Asana or Trello are great! These are task management boards that allow you to organise, define and assign tasks to specific team members and set dates and deadlines for which they need to be completed by. Definitely invest in a tool like this when managing a team to keep you all efficient and organised.

4. Use great communication tools

Communication is key in business, especially with your employees - and it’s important to ensure that your methods of communication are easy, quick, accessible and effective. 

Rather than using email for daily communication, use an online business communication platform such as Slack, which allows you to send and receive instant messages to and from your virtual assistants.

Another great tool is Loom, which is basically video messaging for work. This allows you to easily record and share videos with your team where you need to demonstrate something physically or show them how to do something online or on the computer. Sophie utilises Loom in order to provide feedback to her virtual assistants, which is a fantastic way of doing things.

5. Do regular reviews with your team

Once again, doing regular reviews with your virtual assistants is crucial at the beginning of their work journey with you.

Sophie recommends doing daily reviews at the end of the day, asking your team members how they got on that day, reviewing what they did and offering feedback, support and advice where needed. She also records short videos via Loom for them to watch at the start of the next working day, with advice on what and where to improve during the day ahead.

You won’t need to conduct daily reviews forever, but they are especially important when you’ve just taken a new VA on board. You’ll find that over time they’ll be able to work much more independently; the extra support at the start will definitely pay off in the long run.

Teamwork makes the dream work

We all know how important a team is when it comes to striving for success in business, and the world we live in today has opened up so many opportunities for creating the best team possible for your business.

I know without my virtual assistants, Life Success Engineer and my Amazon businesses would be nowhere near what they have grown to become today. This is why I understand how essential it is to ensure that everyone in my team is happy, organised and knows exactly what they’re supposed to be doing. Teamwork truly does make the dream work - my own businesses are proof of that!

I hope you found these tips on how to get the best performance from your VAs super useful and I hope you’re able to implement them to ensure you get the best out of your team, too.