As an Amazon store owner, if you are spending anywhere between 6 to 8 hours a day “running” your business, it’s time you seek assistance. Like literally look for an expert who can step in and save the day – an expert who can optimize the listings for you, analyze the competition, offer customer support, track the orders, upload the products, and do everything that you are doing at the moment, thereby giving you enough time to shift the focus off of your non-core activities. Luckily for you, that expert could very well be a virtual assistant (VA), and you need not hire someone in house, not necessarily.
There are for that matter, Amazon VAs available for hire, and all you need to do is to look for one who fits the bill. Easier said than done? Well, to some extent, it is. Because even if you do find a good one, it’s not easy to let go of the notion that you could always take the matters into your own hands. Also, with time and money involved, you can’t help but be a bit sceptical, especially if you have had a not-so-pleasant experience in the past. And guess what, it’s even more difficult for a solopreneur, because you can’t really trust just about anyone, letting them in on crucial business information.
But then, the benefits of opting for Amazon virtual assistant services far outweigh the apprehensions, if any. On that note, here’s what a VA, a good one, to be clear, can bring to the table:
1. Far less investment
A VA would work remotely, forfeiting the need for you to invest in furniture, office equipment, training etc. You can, in fact, simply set up an Amazon store, and hand it over to the VA, asking them to do the grunt work, if you will. They have the know-how to run an e-store, and can play an important role in making it successful, sans the inherent investment otherwise called for.
2. More time on hands
While the idea of hiring an in-house expert is tempting for sure, what goes into getting one on board is a far cry. It starts with you creating a job posting, involves interviewing a few candidates, before you can zero in on the ones who at least know how to avoid the listing optimization pitfalls, among other things, and waiting till eternity for them to finally get down to handling your store for you. On the other hand, a virtual assistant knows the drill, like already. They talk business!
3. Reduced expenses
At the risk of sounding trite, hiring in-house employees has its fair share of expenses involved. You have to, for example, take care of the insurance premiums, extend health benefits, and whatnot. Now, whether you should outsource every important task to an expert is a matter of debate, but yes, it does make sense to outsource Amazon listing service, and other related tasks to a VA, if not for anything else, at least to cut down on your expenses. On second thought, expenses or no expenses, having a Virtual Assistant by your side is anyway beneficial for your business, and so you should hire one at the earliest.
4. Higher profit
If you gather relevant information from various sources, including of course the manufacturers’ websites, and say, write rather crisp and informative product descriptions, wouldn’t such descriptions do you some real good? You bet! That’s exactly what a VA will do – put information to good use. Also, they’ll update the top selling products’ section, resolve the customer queries with regard to return & replacement policies, order delivery, etc., and edit and even resize the product images, if required – pretty much anything that could help elevate your sales on Amazon, and get you more profit.
5. Contentment
If and when the non-core activities take the centerstage, you have no choice but to let the core ones slip through the cracks. However, when a VA takes over the reins, you are in for a treat. They are often at an offshore location, agreed, but then you can work out an arrangement, wherein they operate in shifts in tandem with your working hours, encourage them to keep the lines of communication open, and preferably ask for a SPOC or a project manager, someone who can fill you in on the progress of your project. In short, you could have enough time to yourself, while the VA not only takes good care of store management, but also rights the wrongs that you may have unknowingly done.
Did you know that as many as 87% of the customers won’t make (read: highly unlikely) a repeat purchase, if you provide them with inaccurate product information?
So, if you have had to settle for half-baked product descriptions till now, losing out on potential customers, well, things could now change for good.
A word of advice
Before you get all worked up, and hire the first available VA, do make sure that you are clear on what you expect from one. As discussed, an Amazon virtual assistant could don several hats – help you with customer service, write a product copy, optimize sponsored ads, undertake or contribute to search engine optimization (SEO), manage your business’s social media presence, act as a fulfillment agent, and last but not least, do what an in-house graphic designer or a photographer would do, i.e. ensure that you have the best of photos up there. Take your pick, and make sure that the assistant you hire holds expertise in the specific domain area, or better still, knows it all.
As your store grows, and let’s hope it does real soon, you’ll find it rather difficult to keep up with the non-core yet important tasks. Now, you could either wait in anticipation, or hire Amazon VAs right away, to be able to invest your time where it’s better utilized – the choice is yours. That said, whenever it is that you look forward to outsourcing Amazon store management to an expert, simply write to us at mail@quiktekinfo.com, and we’ll connect you with one.
