- Why Outsource To A Virtual Assistant?
If you cannot afford to hire permanent full or part time staff for your business, or perhaps you only need a couple of hours of “hired help” a week, then why not consider utilising a Virtual Assistant? The benefits of hiring a VA are numerous. There are none of the hidden costs of hiring permanent staff such as paying for holiday, sick and maternity/paternity leave, national insurance or pension contributions.
In these current tough economic times it seems senseless to have a paid employee sitting around twiddling their thumbs. With a Virtual Assistant you only pay for the work they actually do, no thumb twiddling pay involved or paying for time spent chatting at the water cooler.
Lets face it, if you are working on a task which is below your hourly rate, then it makes sense to outsource that task to a Virtual Assistant.
A good Virtual Assistant can help with anything from organising your emails to updating and maintaining your website. With today’s technology there are so many tasks a VA can perform without being present in their client?s office or even meeting face to face. Internet and the advent of cloud technologies has pushed this to the fore.
Many Virtual Assistants offer a pay as you go (PAYG) service or retainer packages. The benefit of utilising a VAs retainer package is that the VA usually provides a discount off of their usual PAYG hourly rate. This not only gives the VA a guaranteed income every month but also gives the added benefit to the client of receiving a discount on the full hourly rate.
- What Is A Virtual Assistant?
A Virtual Assistant (or VA) is a solopreneur who specialises in providing ongoing, one-on-one, collaborative-style administrative support.
Like other professional service providers, Virtual Assistants operate remotely from their own places of business and utilise today’s technology to deliver their services and communicate with clients.
Virtual Assistants are first and foremost administrative experts. Virtual Assistants sometimes offer additional, separate specialities that fall under creative and/or technical services.
Virtual Assistants come from a variety of business backgrounds, but the single-most important qualification the industry expects of its peers is at least five (5) years administrative experience earned in the real (non-virtual) business world working in upper-level capacities such as administrative assistant, executive assistant, secretary, legal assistant, paralegal, legal secretary, real estate assistant, office manager/supervisor, etc.
From this level of experience, a Virtual Assistant is expected to possess the skill sets, training and business knowledge which are the hallmark of a truly qualified Virtual Assistant.
Virtual Assistant Definition from the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce
- In terms of client confidentiality, is Arc Virtual Assistants happy to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement
We understand that client confidentiality is absolutely paramount in any organisation. We have no problem signing a client’s Non Disclosure Agreement. We operate our services with the highest level of professionalism, integrity and confidentiality. We would never disclose who we work for without your express permission.
- How are documents and files safe guarded?
Arc Virtual Assistants uses a secure online backup service for all client files. Encryption software is also installed on all computers. If required, correspondence via email may also be encrypted.
- How do I assign work to you?
All clients are provided with free access to a project management system whereby they are able to set up projects, discussions and upload documents.
- Do you have a disaster recovery system in place?
Data is stored via a secure online storage system, on a PC and on an external hard drive. The external hard drive is backed up daily.
In the event of power cut we have pre-charged laptops at our disposal.
In the event of broadband failure, we have access to USB dongles and we are also able to use mobile phone devices as modems..
- What is your turnaround time?
Subject to the scope of the project, we offer a 48 hour turnaround. If turnaround is required within 48 hours, time is charged at time and a half.
- How much do you charge for your services?
The majority of our services are billed at an hourly rate (in 15 minute increments) however some of our services, for example, our design services, are priced as a package. Our rates are as follows:
Standard hourly rate = £25
Monthly retainer fees
10 hours = £237.50 (minus 5% off of our standard hourly rate)
20 hours = £450 (minus 10% off of our standard hourly rate)
30 hours = £600 (minus 20% off of our standard hourly rate)10% of unused hours may be used the following month.
- Do you offer a free consultation?
We offer a free 30 minute consultation to all prospective clients. If you would like to make an appointment for a consultation either contact us via the website, make an appointment using our online appointment software or call us on +44 1279 882 588. We have agents waiting to take your call 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. Consultations are undertaken either over the telephone or via Skype
