What to Look for in a Great Virtual Assistant

Every VA you encounter will tell you they are the best, me included! So how can you tell who is really the best and when to pass?

Here are 10 things to look out for:

Do they listen to you?

If they are spending all their time telling you how great they are, chances are they are trying to prove something. Instead, they should be listening to you, your challenges, hearing the pain points that you don’t mention or even know and THEN explain to you how they can support you with these

What have others said about them?

Check out their reviews, their recommendations on LinkedIn, etc.  People don’t spare their time to write positive things if they are not true.  But look deeper into these – saying that “Amy is a nice person” is great, but it doesn’t tell you how Amy can help you in your business. Look for specific examples – “Amy was able to set Xero up for us really quickly and then train us how to use it in a simple manner that we could all understand” is much more helpful. (Bear this in mind when writing recommendations yourself for people you have worked with).

Do they show evidence of being proactive rather than reactive?

This one is harder to show online, on websites etc but you should see evidence of this in case studies, reviews etc… If they are reactive – this may be fine if that’s what you are looking for in your support, but a great VA should be looking forward, seeing when issues may come up, dealing with them straight away and moving on, half the time you may not even know that things have been done!

They understand the tech available to support your business and will offer solutions to you. 

We have 1 client who struggled replying to emails, so we asked them how they communicated with their best clients. Turns out it was WhatsApp, but they hated typing messages on their phone. We showed them how to set up WhatsApp on their computer, but also how to send voice notes.  Voila, no more missed messages! Simple but effective.

They will have boundaries and stick to them.

I don’t mean that they will only work 1 hour a week. But if they finish at 5 pm, then they won’t reply to your messages till they start work the following day. Why is this being a great VA, I hear you ask? Shouldn’t a great VA be available when I need them? No. All that will happen is they will burn out or drop the ball as they are trying to respond to everything as soon as it happens, and this is not good for anyone! Believe it or not, it will help you create boundaries, which will help you too.

They will be honest.

If they can’t do something, due to time or lack of skills, they will say this.  No great VA will attempt to do something they are not sure they can deliver to a high level. It’s not worth it for them. They would rather bring in a specialist, deliver the task well and carry on doing what they are good at.

They will be strict!

See point 5 above! A great VA will say no when they need to, advise other options when appropriate and will push back if you overstep in both time and requirements. If they are managing your diary, for example, they will not book you in with back-to-back meetings and should factor in travel time when going to a face-to-face meeting or event.

They will want to learn.

Tech, systems, etc, is changing at a rate of knots, and any VA worth their salt will want to keep up to date with these so they can support their clients.  However, they should not try to master all systems.  You may find they only work with one task management system or bookkeeping software. But know that they will know as much of that system as possible. Occasionally, you may have to walk away from a great VA if they don’t have the tech skill you need.

They will be able to admit mistakes.

Nobody is perfect, not even me, much as I try to be! We are human, and many outside factors can lead to mistakes.  Owning up to these, and saying sorry is a strong skill to have, as is providing a solution to fix the mistake asap. As great as your VA will be, there will be times when something goes wrong. Handling this with dignity, humility and a solution focus is the sign of a great VA.

You get on!

Ok, this one is down to the individual, and it’s another one that’s hard to show online etc, but when you meet your potential VA try and make them laugh and see how they respond! 

You need to be able to get on with people that you will be sharing the innermost workings of your business with. 

This is often the game-changer – no matter how technically skilled they are, if you don’t get on with them, it’s never going to be a match made in heaven.

Do you have any other top tips on what to look for in a great VA?  Please do share them with us via email at amy@crescentva.co.uk