Amazon VA: How to Hire The Right One Successfully
Herlene Somook
So, you’re planning to hire an Amazon VA.
The question is, how do you find the one for your business? And are you ready to trust someone else to run the business for you?
We at Real Amazon coaching talked to Amazon FBA virtual assistants and asked them what you should be looking for.
What is an Amazon VA?
Amazon FBA virtual assistants are highly-skilled freelance professionals who can help you take care of your Amazon FBA business.
Most of the time, an Amazon VA works remotely in the digital space.
As a virtual assistant, they can do almost anything that you need them to do.
These can range from tasks such as data encoding to designing tasks, and even increasing traffic and sales.
But don’t think that Amazon virtual assistants only do the general stuff.
Tons of Amazon VAs have expertise in specific and niched service that can get you the results you need.
What are the key responsibilities of an Amazon VA?
An Amazon VA can handle the tasks that you need to do for your business. And it can be as specific or as general as you prefer.
Here are some of the basics according to seasoned Amazon VAs.
Product research
An Amazon VA can help you do the tedious parts of running the business. And one of those parts includes market research and data analysis.
Product research is about analyzing market trends and selecting winning products.
The idea is to find a product that you can get at a cheaper rate and sell for a competitive price. This will help you get a good profit margin in return.
This can be done manually or with tools like Jungle Scout and Helium 10.
Either way, you’ll need to have an assistant to analyze the results. You can also have a VA that can help you strategize which products to go for that will generate good results.
Check out our tips on how to find the best products to sell for your Amazon business: https://goteamreal.com/best-products-to-sell-on-amazon/
Product sourcing
An Amazon assistant can also make supplier outreach much easier. Your assistant can collect a list of potential suppliers that fits your needs as a business.
Some traits to look for in a supplier include good communication and language skills. It’s also important to see if they’re comfortable with your price range.
They should also be cooperative and eager to start a partnership with you.
The goal is to have a long and lasting relationship with your sourcing agents. And your VA can help you choose the best one based on your research results.
Check out these tips from Edesk.com on the basics of product sourcing.
Inventory management
Losing your inventory can harm your Amazon ranking.
The right VA can help you maintain your stocks at an optimum level. They should have a good understanding of how the system works.
The job requires someone who has precision and strong attention to detail. And you want someone who understands how it impacts the business.
Product listing management
Product listing management is an important task that Amazon FBA virtual assistants do.
They can ensure your listings have the right content and correct attributes to get results.
These tasks include optimizing your listings and making sure your store has SEO-optimized content, product photos, and descriptions.
They can also create informative product titles and descriptions that catch and entice people to buy.
Amazon FBA virtual assistants can also do the keyword research required to improve product descriptions.
They can also help in extracting and monitoring data from competitors. Doing this ensures you check potentially harmful product listing issues like avoiding blocked and inactive listings.
Administrative Tasks
As an Amazon FBA business owner, you’d know how tedious it is to run an Amazon store.
And one of the things that you need to make sure of is to meet all the standards that your platform sets.
A virtual assistant can monitor product reviews and ensure a high product rating. They can also flag fake reviews for removal.
They can also take care of tracking customer feedback and relaying them to the correct stakeholders to improve customer experience.
Virtual assistants can also take care of email autoresponders that answer customer transactions. These can include tasks like order placement, account signups, and follow-ups.
Your assistant can also take care of all the necessary reports you need to track your growth and progress.
Check out more of the basic tasks that virtual assistants can do for you: https://20four7va.com/virtual-staffing-101/36-tasks-ecommerce-virtual-assistants-can-do/
Top Specialized Skills for Amazon FBA Virtual Assistants
There are also highly skilled Amazon FBA virtual assistants that you can hire to get to your desired results much faster.
These freelance professionals have a great understanding of how to market your Amazon FBA business. They also have the experience and expertise to increase your success.
Here are some of the specialized skillsets that Amazon virtual assistants have.
PPC Specialist
Pay-per-click management is the process of managing ad spend for your Amazon store.
The goal is for you to increase visibility while minimizing costs and overall expenditure.
Amazon PPC advertising handles the challenges of growing your revenue through paid advertising.
PPC specialists create efficient campaigns based on high-level insights from your current numbers.
They also set realistic goals and establish clear strategies that increase your profitability.
Product Listing Copywriter
There are tons of benefits of hiring an Amazon product listing copywriter.
For one, a well-written product listing can increase your sales conversion and improve organic ranking.
Effective product listings can also reduce your ACoS and drive your sales velocity up.
It’s not enough for you to show what your products can do. It’s also important for you to make buyers know that your products are exactly what they’re looking for.
And great copywriting skills can do that for you.
Check out our podcast episode about copywriting and increasing sales conversion below.
Hiring a copywriter for your product listing can give your market the information they need to make you stand out as a brand.
You also get to stay on top of the trends and stay up to date with Amazon’s algorithm.
Here are more reasons to hire a product description copywriter for your business.
Amazon FBA Specialist
While you can hire a virtual assistant that you can train, there is still a huge difference in hiring an expert to manage your store.
Experience is golden, and when you hire one, it will mean more time and savings for you.
Hiring a competent specialist will know what to do with Amazon’s ever-changing interface and technologies.
They would know how to implement these changes and use them to improve your business.
As an expert, they can read into related trends and apply this information with a strategy that will boost your results better and faster.
It takes specialized skill and knowledge to make sure that your SEO and ranking is on point. And a seasoned Amazon FBA specialist can get you to top the search results.
They would know how to make your site and store rank on Amazon’s search engines. They can improve your process and get people to visit your store.
Whether you hire for part-time or full-time work, the right VA can launch a stable business and career that will last you for years.
5 tips on how to hire the best VA for Amazon
It’s always a challenge to find the best candidate as your VA.
And it takes more than professional skills to run an Amazon store successfully.
Here are some of the characteristics of a virtual assistant you need to look for.
Insatiable curiosity
The VA you should choose should have this willingness to learn and keep on learning.
You need someone who would want to go out of their way to discover new things.
It helps for your virtual assistant to be familiar with updates from Amazon. You would want to have a person that will see outside the box.
Your VA should also be able to adapt and apply what they learned quickly.
They can point out things you don’t notice or give you ideas on how you can promote your products inside Amazon and other platforms.
FBI-level research skills
You need someone who can be focused enough to do their work efficiently and effectively.
It’s a plus if they are well aware of how to use business tools like Amazon Seller Central, Helium 10, and Jungle Scout.
Your VA also needs to learn how to discover opportunities for potentially profitable product niches.
They should also be able to help you validate product and create sales forecasts based on the
Reports and existing data in your Amazon store.
Getting someone who can give you accurate data can let you make the best decisions for your business.
Keen eyes for detail
A good VA for your Amazon store should have a keen eye for details.
The ideal assistant can help you see trends and have the foresight that you need.
Ideally, they can put out fires before it burns you. They can spot challenges and problems before they blow up.
The good ones have their proven system set up. Having a system helps them lessen mistakes and increases efficiency to tenfold.
Excellent communication skills
Most VAs or independent contractors have a collaborative mindset and excellent communication skills.
Virtual assistants usually handle communications between you, suppliers, source agents, and customers. But most importantly, they should be able to make the experience seamless for everyone.
Having good communication skills mean less hassle for you and more time to focus on other things you need to do.
Analytical and decision-making skills
As an Amazon FBA business owner, things can get pretty overwhelming quickly.
You would need someone to make sure that the mundane tasks are taken care of.
The person you choose should have good decision-making skills. They should be able to decide on their own.
The goal is for you to have someone who can run the business even when you’re not around.
They should be able to come up with solutions to basic challenges. They can decide how to approach negative feedback or customer complaints.
Your VA is also your frontliners when it comes to dealing with customers. They are your first line of defense and the first ones people to talk to for questions.
That’s why you need someone who is quick-witted. They need to have a good knowledge of your product and have a good sense of critical thinking.
How to hire an Amazon VA
Now that you know what tasks an Amazon VA can handle and the traits they need to have, the next thing to do is find out where to hire one.
There are different platforms you can visit to get access to the best Amazon VA candidates. And you can get one that fits your budget and requirements.
Platforms like Upwork, Guru.com, Freeup, and Hubstaff Talent provide a good start.
These websites provide an easy way for you to find a good match. You can also set the hours and limit the budget for your VA, especially if you’re starting out.
All you need to do is create a job post with your task requirements and post it inside the platform.
Once you’re done, you can start sending invites and review applications. You can also see previous jobs and feedback to help you decide which one to get.
LinkedIn is also a great way to find virtual assistants for your Amazon business.
As a professional social network, you can check out Amazon professionals and their expertise. You can even see their backgrounds and recommendations from other people they have worked with.
Facebook is also a good way to connect with Amazon virtual assistants and experts.
There are tons of groups you can join to be connected with the right one you can trust.
Whichever platform you choose, make sure that you come up with a clear and concise list of goals and tasks for your VA. This way it’s easier to set the performance reviews and results.
Conclusion
Hiring an Amazon VA can do wonders for your Amazon business.
To do so, you need to be clear and concise with what you want and need.
Did we miss any tips on how to hire the right Amazon VA? Share it with us below.
