Answer1

Posted by Mica Harvey / Virtual Receptionist Services

Update: Answer1 has re-branded to Nexa. Please see my review of their site here.

 

Answer1 is a US-based virtual receptionist service based in Phoenix, AZ. The company has been in business for more than 30 years providing virtual receptionist services to small and medium-sized businesses all over the world.

Virtual receptionist services give business owners a cost-effective solution to having a professional sounding receptionist on the end of the line for their customers 24/7. Answer1 has a team of trained virtual receptionists waiting to handle your calls.

About Answer1

The company is headed up by CEO Parker Davis. Answer1 has been operating for more than 30 years, making them one of the longest established businesses in the virtual receptionist space.

Their mission statement is to “Help small and medium-sized businesses sell more, cut costs, and enhance their brand image.”

They do this by providing skilled and professional sounding receptionists to handle your business calls.

How Answer1 Works

When you sign up with Answer1 your account will be assigned a team of virtual receptionists to ensure you have cover 24/7 if that’s what you’ve requested.

You can provide customized scripts and greetings, so your customers will always get the same feeling when they call. Regular customers might even get to know the same receptionists.

You can then use an existing phone number or Answer1 will assign a dedicated one. Then all you have to do it let them know the hours you want to cover for and you’re ready to go.

Services

Answer1’s receptionists provide a wide range of services that can be handled down the end of a phone line.

To give you a better idea of how they can best serve your business, they group their services into the following core areas:

  • Virtual Receptionist Services – Call answering, message forwarding, and more.
  • Lead Qualification and Appointment Scheduling – They can integrate their software with yours to schedule meetings, confirm appointments, and more.
  • Customer Support – Their receptionists can provide IT support, ticking support, help desk support, and so on.
  • CRM Integration – Integrating your systems and processes with Answer1’s makes the workflow between their receptionists and your business smooth and streamlined.

Plans and Pricing

Answer1 has four different pricing plans. All of their plans have a $90 one-off set up fee and are based on the number of minutes you anticipate using in a 4-week period.

If you go over the number of minutes in your plan, you’re simply charged for each additional minute at the base rate of the plan.

A complete list of their plans at the time of publishing is as follows:

  • Entrepreneur – 100 minutes for $239 per 4 weeks ($2.39 per minute).
  • Professional – 200 minutes for $399 per 4 weeks ($1.99 per minute).
  • Executive – 500 minutes for $749 per 4 weeks ($1.49 per minute).
  • Enterprise – 500+ minute customs plans available upon request.

They offer a 21-day money back guarantee, so you have peace of mind should you encounter any problems in the first three weeks.

Answer1 Alternatives

Ruby Receptionists and Gabbyville operate on very similar business models and pricing structures. Both also offer a 14-day free trial if you want to try their service before making a decision.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Answer1? If so, please leave a review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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ReceptionHQ

Posted by Mica Harvey / Virtual Receptionist Services

ReceptionHQ is a virtual receptionist service provider specializing in handling calls, customer support, messaging, and all inbound telecommunications for businesses of all sizes.

The company has been operating since 2007, and their head office and their team of receptionists are based in Phoenix, Arizona.

About ReceptionHQ

receptionhq reviewThe company was founded by the current CEO David Atkinson. He founded the parent company Office HQ in Australia 14 years ago and launched Reception HQ in the US in 2007, and the UK in 2010.

ReceptionHQ’s target customers are businesses of any size. They provide a cost-effective solution to giving your customers 24/7 support on the end of the line.

Naturally, this can help you increase conversions and sales, and never leave a customer frustrated not being able to get an answer.

It’s also a handy way to screen all your incoming calls and only have certain calls forwarded to you, which they can do wherever you are in the world.

How Reception HQ Works

When you sign up for one of their plans you can provide scripts for their team to read from, use your existing number, or have them provide a dedicated number for your calls.

Then just let them know when you want your calls answered, how you want them to handle your messages, and they do the rest.

A nice touch is that Reception HQ says they value their receptionists as highly as their clients. They even include profiles and soundbites for a few of their receptionists on their site if you want to put a face to who’ll be answering calls on behalf of your business.

Services

Reception HQ’s receptionists provide a wide range of telecommunication services, including but not limited to:

  • 24/7 live receptionist call answering
  • Call transfers/forwarding
  • Messaging service
  • Email/text messaging communications
  • Customer support

Plans and Pricing

ReceptionHQ offers two types of pricing plans.

Their ReceptionistPlus plans are priced per call, and their MyAssistant plans are priced per minute.

A full list of their plans at the time of publishing is as follows.

ReceptionistPlus Plans

  • ReceptionistPlus – $15 per month for a pay-as-you-go plan with an extra $2 per call.
  • ReceptionistPlus 25 – $50 per month for 25 calls ($2 per call).
  • ReceptionistPlus 50 – $80 per month for 50 calls ($1.60 per call).
  • ReceptionistPlus 100 – $135 per month for 100 calls ($1.35 per call).
  • ReceptionistPlus 200 – $250 per month for 200 calls ($1.25 per call).

receptionhq pricing

MyAssistant Plans

  • MyAssistant – $40 per month for a pay-as-you-go plan with an extra $1.80 per minute.
  • MyAssistant 50 – $105 per month for 50 minutes ($2.10 per minute).
  • MyAssistant 100 – $160 per month for 100 minutes ($1.60 per minute).
  • MyAssistant 200 – $275 per month for 200 minutes ($1.37 per minute).
  • MyAssistant 500 – $625 per month for 500 minutes ($1.25 per minute).

When deciding which plan is most suitable for your business you need to carefully consider how many calls you anticipate Reception HQ answering on behalf of your business, and how long your average call is.

Any excess calls over and above what is included in your plan are charged at $1.85 per call or $1.65 per minute.

They offer a 7-day free trial, so you can try their service before committing to a plan. Always worth considering, especially if you’re comparing Reception HQ with another virtual receptionist provider.

Reception HQ Alternatives

Gabbyville and Ruby Receptionists are two of the US-based virtual telephone answering companies with great feedback worth checking out.

Their pricing is a little higher than Reception HQ, but they also offer free trials, so you can give them a try and make an informed decision on the value they’ll provide your business.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Reception HQ? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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UrbanTimer

Posted by Mica Harvey / India Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

UrbanTimer is a virtual assistant company based in Kolkata, India. The company was founded in February, 2016.

Although the company is a fairly new addition to the virtual assistant space, UrbanTimer was founded by two individuals with considerable experience in the industry.

About UrbanTimer

urbantimer reviewUrbanTimer operates out of Kolkata, India. All of their virtual assistants are based in their offices and managed in-house. The company puts each of their virtual assistants though “an extensive process” to ensure they are hiring fluent English speaking workers with a wide range of skills.

The company founders are Bikash and his spouse, Rima. Bikash is a former co-founder of MyTasker, and has a wealth of experience as an entrepreneur and as a virtual assistant himself. Heading up UrbanTimer, Bikash plans to offer an unparalleled service not found with other virtual assistant providers.

The company are “committed to help people save valuable time.” Meaning, by outsourcing your business tasks to UrbanTimer you can free up your own time to focus on other areas of your business.

Their target customers are busy professionals and entrepreneurs anywhere in the world. This also includes small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as large corporate organizations. Anyone looking to outsource tasks at a cost-effective price can benefit from their services.

UrbanTimer Founder Interview

Services

Getting started with UrbanTimer is straightforward. You sign up via their site for one of their packages, or you can contact them to discuss your requirements first.

UrbanTimer offers a wide range of services, including the following:

  • Administrative assistance
  • Social Media services
  • Research tasks
  • Customer service
  • Website design and maintenance
  • Content writing
  • Email management

If you have a specific virtual role in mind, they recommend contacting them to discuss your exact requirements.

Plans and Pricing

UrbanTimer currently have five different payment plans. Their plans start at $100 for 10 hours, with their largest plan being $960 for 160 hours. So, the hourly rates range from $10 an hour to as low as $6 an hour.

urbantimer pricing

Full Pricing Table (as of press time):

  • 10 hrs per month – $100 ($10/hr)
  • 20 hrs per month – $190 ($9.5/hr)
  • 30 hrs per month – $270 ($9/hr)
  • 50 hrs per month – $400 ($8/hr)
  • 80 hrs per month – $600 ($7.50/hr)
  • 110 hrs per month – $770 ($7/hr)
  • 160 hrs per month – $960 ($6/hr)

With all these plans, your Account Manager oversees the tasks you send and assigns the best fit VA to work on the tasks.

UrbanTimer also offers a dedicated full-time assistant (with backup) for $1,000 a month, and an “Infinite” plan offering you the chance to buy as many hours as want a month on-demand. You start by paying $15 an hour for the first 50 hours, then the rate drops to $10 an hour for the remaining hours you purchase.

The rates for the “planet”-named plans are definitely competitive in the industry, as is the on-demand offering. The full-time dedicated assistant rate is on par with what you may find at other companies.

If you are new to using VAs or want to sample their services, UrbanTime does offer a free trial. This offer includes 5 free hours of virtual assistant time over 2 days.

UrbanTimer Alternatives

As you know, there are several options for quality virtual assistant companies in India. Bikash’s last startup, MyTasker, is among the most popular and well-rated. You might also consider VA Talks or VMG BPO.

One thing I like to do is to contact two or three companies to compare services, prices, and communication before making a decision.

Your Turn

Have you worked with UrbanTimer? If so, please leave a review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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AnswerForce

Posted by Mica Harvey / Virtual Receptionist Services

AnswerForce is a 24/7 live call answering service with live web chat support. The company supports over 2,500 small and medium-sized businesses with customers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

About AnswerForce

Virtual telephone answering services allow individuals or companies of any size to have someone on hand to answer calls 24/7 at a fraction of the cost of hiring team members in-house.

AnswerForce targets small service businesses, franchises, and other service industry professionals. This includes businesses and franchised across home services, HVAC, plumbing, and more.

 

 

AnswerForce ensures that you have customer support available around the clock regardless of your business hours. This is particularly useful if you have customers overseas.

When you sign up for a plan with AnswerForce they assign a team of virtual receptionists to answer your calls using a customized script..

You choose when to forward your calls and leave the rest up to them. You can then track calls, minutes used, messages, and all your other stats via their web or mobile app interface.

How AnswerForce Works

AnswerForce outlines a simple 5-step process to seamlessly hand over your inbound calls, appointment scheduling, web chat, and other communications to their team:

  1. Choose your plan (more info on plans and pricing below or contact your sales representative).
  2. You will receive a number.
  3. You will be given a basic script with the option to customize it.
  4. Schedule a setup appointment.
  5. Start forwarding your calls and leave the rest to their team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTQjVwruykU

AnswerForce’s Services

AnswerForce offers a range of services to enable your customers to connect with a member of their team easily, and quickly.

Their core services are:

  • 24/7 Live Phone Support – with 24/7 virtual receptionists, your calls will be answered the way you prefer, every time. Never miss another call.
  • Live Message Relay – they’ll send your incoming call messages instantly through the AnswerForce App, SMS text, or email. The choice is yours.
  • Appointment Booking – they make it easy for customers to arrange
  • call-outs, book site visits, and more.
  • Live Web Chat – web chat gives customers another way to interact with your team 24/7 and have their questions answered quickly.
  • Lead Capture – Proactive receptionists will qualify and capture the information from your inbound calls so you can begin scoping the job.
  • Lead Response – their team can also place outbound calls to new contacts from webform submissions or your business software, in 5 minutes or less.
  • Lead Re-engagement – just like retargeting, the AnswerForce team can contact and qualify older leads who have shown interest in your franchise in the past.

 

They have some good reporting tools to keep you up-to-date. For example, you can check how many minutes you have left, the number of calls that have been answered, call recording, the ability to track when calls are coming in to determine the highest call volume time and days, and more via their desktop/mobile app interface.

AnswerForce Plans and Pricing

AnswerForce has many pricing plans available to suit every company size. Here are a few examples as a reference:

  1. Intro – $259 per month for 200 minutes + 50 chats, plus a $99 one-off setup fee and a charge of $1.80 per each additional minute used.
  2. Best Value – $359 per month for 300 minutes + 100 chats, there is no setup fee and a charge of $1.70 per each additional minute used.
  3. Basic – $349 per month for 250 minutes + 75 chats, plus a $99 one-off setup fee and a charge of $1.80 per each additional minute used.
  4. Standard – $649 per month for 500 minutes + 150 chats, there is no setup fee and a charge of $1.70 per each additional minute used.
  5. Premium – $959 per month for 800 minutes + 250 chats, there is no setup fee and a charge of $1.60 per each additional minute used.
  6. Enterprise– $1,179 per month for 1,000 minutes + 300 chats, there is no setup fee and a charge of $1.60 per each additional minute used.

*Pricing at time of publishing

Their rates are very competitive. All plans include 24/7 cover, live call transfer, instant message delivery, unlimited script updates, bilingual services (Spanish), video call software, and online account access.

All packages now include live chat answering too – both on your website and on Facebook messenger. So you can make sure that every enquiry is answered by a real person 24/7!

The Basic and Best Value plans also include appointment setting, custom scripting, CRM integrations, a web landing page, live web chat, click to call, eCommerce order entry, and web form lead response.

There is no charge for the first 30 calls under 30 seconds on all plans, any calls over 30 seconds are always rounded up to the nearest minute and billed this way and all plans are month-to-month.

AnswerForce Alternatives

AnswerForce’s pricing is a bit more competitive and all their plans come with live chat included in the packages with no extra cost. Although they don’t offer a free trial, they offer a month-to-month service with no contracts to tie you in. They also offer scalable solutions, so should you run out of minutes in a month, you can upgrade to a higher package to save on paying out–of-bundle rates and vice-versa if you’re using too few minutes.

Gabbyville and Ruby Receptionists are two highly rated virtual telephone answering services operating on a similar model. They offer free trials, so you can try before you buy so you can make an informed decision.

Your Turn

Have you worked with AnswerForce? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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TaskRabbit

Posted by Mica Harvey / In-Person Assistants, Project-Based Virtual Assistants

TaskRabbit is task-based outsourcing company with a local twist. They’ll handle virtual tasks like most of the other companies here, but their real specialty is in local, hands-on assistance.

TaskRabbit got its start in Boston in 2008, and has since expanded to several major cities, attracting millions in venture capital funding along the way.

About TaskRabbit

taskrabbit reviewThe company is essentially a marketplace between people who need stuff done, and people willing to do that stuff.

It can be anything really, from house cleaning to local pick-up and deliveries, handyman services, moving help, and more. The people helping you are called TaskRabbits.

How TaskRabbit Works

How it works is you post the task you need done, in as much detail as you can, and TaskRabbits bid on the job. Generally the lowest bid wins, but you can view their profiles and feedback ratings as well and pick the winner.

TaskRabbit is designed to help busy people save time and money, and it works.

In markets like San Francisco, TaskRabbit is a well-known go-to tool for errands and other odd jobs you don’t want to do yourself. The only drawback is it can be somewhat time-consuming to post each task one at a time.

(I tested it out for a handyman hire!)

Who Are the TaskRabbits?

As you might imagine, there is a greater demand for people trying to earn money doing other people’s tasks than those requesting the tasks themselves. That means a higher quality of service as all the TaskRabbits know there is a long waiting list of potential replacements behind them, waiting for them to screw up.

It also means the screening process to become a TaskRabbit is pretty robust. The application process includes an essay, background check, and a video interview. It’s all in the name of protecting client safety.

TaskRabbit Review

Plans and Pricing

Because each task is different, and can require different lengths of time and even physical exertion, there are no monthly plans offered like you see at Fancy Hands or other “purely virtual” assistant companies. The benefit of that is there is no recurring cost, and you can try out the service for a very low risk.

The company also has an option of setting an auto-award price, where if any TaskRabbit bids below your target price, they automatically get the job.

To give you a ballpark, I paid a little under $100 to have a handyman come out for an hour or two.

Virtual Assistant Assistant Bonus: Get $10 off your first task with this link.

All payments are handled through the TaskRabbit.com system, so you’re not handing over any cash in person.  To pay the bills, the company takes a percentage of every job.

TaskRabbit Alternatives

For real live in-person help, TaskRabbit is a great resource. The closest competitor is probably Handy, a slick app for booking cleaning and handyman services.

Your Turn

Have you tried Task Rabbit? If so, please share a review of your experience below.

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Atticus

Posted by Mica Harvey / Philippines Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

Atticus is a virtual assistant company based in the Philippines. They specialize in recruiting and supplying virtual assistants to entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized businesses all over the world.

The company started operations in early 2016. All of their VAs work out of their offices in Manila and are managed in-house.

About Atticus Solutions

atticus solutions reviewThe company is headed up by Managing Director Lester Tay, and Miguel Dy Buncio who is their Business Development Director.

Their business model is recruiting and managing virtual assistants in-house to meet the needs of their clients.

How it Works

When you sign up with Atticus.ph, a member of their team will arrange a call to discuss your VA needs and get a better understanding of your business.

They will then start recruiting VAs best suited to work with you and your business while keeping you involved in the recruiting process.

Once they find the workers you are happy with, they take care of human resources, administration, payroll, etc. All you need to do is communicate with the VA directly regarding your workflow.

Atticus says they carry out continual development and training with their assistants to improve the communication and working relationships with their clients.

Services

Atticus offers a wide range of professional business services you would expect from a virtual assistant provider. By this, I mean they can provide support for any business tasks that can be completed remotely.

In theory, recruiting staff to meet the requirements of each client should give them an advantage over other virtual assistant companies that use the same pool of staff, since they can hand pick the right workers with the right skills.

Although, it may also cause a delay while they are finding the right person. As they also manage staff in-house this limits the geographic area they can cover.

To give you an idea of some of the services they currently supply, Atticus has:

  • Developers
  • Back office support
  • Accounting
  • Social media marketing
  • Customer service
  • General virtual assistance

Plans and Pricing

Atticus do not have any set pricing plans or hourly rates. You need to arrange a time to speak with a member of their team and they will build a custom plan tailored to your specific needs.

When I pressed for a ballpark estimate though, my contact indicated prices start at $1,400 per month and up for a full-time assistant.

Atticus Solutions Alternatives

OkayRelax and TaskBullet are two highly rated virtual assistant companies based in the Philippines worth checking out if you want to compare quotes and services.

If you’re looking for a full-time team member and are comfortable doing the recruiting yourself, you might consider the popular OnlineJobs.ph job board.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Atticus? If so, please leave a brief review below to help others with their decision.

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Backup Office

Posted by Mica Harvey / Virtual Assistant Companies

Backup Office is a virtual assistant company with locations in the US and Central America. Their assistants work out of a small office in El Salvador.

All of their virtual assistants have either lived or studied in the US, so they have neutral English accents while also being fluent in Spanish.

About Backup Office

backup office reviewThe company was founded in 2017, with the goal of providing bilingual virtual assistants to help businesses cross Spanish and English speaking markets while offering a range of BPO services.

With the US being home to an estimated 41 million native Spanish speakers and bordering Mexico, having a Spanish speaking assistant available might just increase the reach of your business.

Another advantage of working with virtual assistants based in Central America is that their rates are more competitive than assistants based in the US.

Backup Office said they are, ‘’Saving up to 79%’’ for some of their clients using their assistants over hiring a staff of their own.

The hourly rate for one of their full-time assistants is around $9.80 per hour. That’s somewhere in the middle between what you would expect to pay for a US-based assistant, and one in the Philippines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWlVk8MElrk

Services

When asked what areas they specialize in, Backup Office said, ‘’Basically we can deliver all legal tasks that can be done through a computer and telephone.’’

Most VA providers say something similar, so it’s always a good idea to speak with a VA provider to check how much experience they have with the types of tasks you want to outsource.

To give you an idea of the types of tasks Backup Office commonly help with, they group their services into three categories on their site:

  • Virtual Assistance Services – Need help with those day-to-day business tasks crunching your time and keeping you from focusing on growing your business? Their VA’s will take on just about any task that can be completed remotely.
  • Creative Services – They have assistants skilled in graphic design, content writing, and social media marketing to bring some creative flair to your business.
  • BPO Services – Their team will work with you to create ad-hoc solutions to improve your business processes and maximize your productivity.

Plans and Pricing

Backup Office has three different pricing plans. Their Basic plan starts at $299 to have an assistant available for 1 hour a day, and their full-time assistants are available at $1,579 per month.

The hourly rate of their assistants is a lot higher on their Basic plan over their Premium and Elite plans, so definitely worth considering the latter options if you can keep an assistant busy for 2 hours a day or more.

A complete list of their pricing plans is as follows:

  • Basic – $299 per month for 20 hours per month ($14.95 per hour).
  • Premium – $799 per month for 2-4 hours per day (Approx $9.90 per hour).
  • Elite – $1,579 per month for 8 hours per day (Approx $9.80 per hour).

 

All their plans include a dedicated US phone number, unlimited calls within the US and Canada, a bilingual assistant fluent in English and Spanish, and phone, email, chat, and video support.

If any of their set plans do not meet your needs a member of their team can create a customized plan for you.

Alternatively, you can give their service a try before committing to a plan with their 7-day free trial.

No credit card details or signup required, just answer a few questions about your business and what you’re looking for in an assistant and a member of their team will call you to arrange a trial.

Backup Office Alternatives

One thing that struck me about Backup Office was how similar the entire operation seems to Uassist.ME. Uassist is a well-established and well-rated VA company out of El Salvador in operation since 2009. In fact, large sections of the site and business model appear to be directly modeled on Uassist.ME.

If you’re comfortable outsourcing further from home and are looking for more competitive rates, check out some of the virtual assistant providers in the Philippines or India.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Backup Office? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.

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MicroSourcing

Posted by Mica Harvey / Philippines Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

MicroSourcing is an offshore and outsourcing solutions provider based in the Philippines. They help companies start up operations in the Philippines by supplying modern workspaces and recruiting staff.

They started operations in 2006, and currently have the capacity to provide workspace for more than 4000 employees. To-date they have worked with hundreds of clients ranging from small start-ups to large multinational corporations.

About MicroSourcing

The company is headed up a leadership team comprising of CEO Sjoerd Krosse, CSO Philip Kooijman, VP of Global Solutions Charles Allnutt, VP of Talent Acquisition Jacqueline San Pedro, and VP of Human Resources Liza Inciong.

They currently have seven locations strategically spread across the Philippines, as well as regional offices in Australia and the US.

How Microsourcing Works

Setting up a team and moving business operations abroad is difficult to manage from a distance. MicroSourcing helps companies of all sizes by finding and managing offshore staff on your behalf and supplying the workspaces.

They also provide functions rooms, shared employee facilities like locker rooms, restaurants, and pharmacies in their locations.

For staffing solutions, MicroSourcing has more than 30 full-time employees dedicated to finding highly skilled workers in the Philippines capable of handling your workload.

Your staff are employed by MicroSourcing, so they handle all the legal paperwork which is one less thing for you to worry about trying to manage from overseas.

Services

MicroSourcing offer two main services;

  • Supplying office space for businesses setting up operations in the Philippines.
  • Recruiting and managing staff.

If you are looking for office space in the Philippines you can choose from any of their locations and the number of seats you want.

Their workspaces are fitted out with all the modern equipment your staff and business needs. They also have shared facilities for their employees as they are housing several clients under the same roof.

When you task MicroSourcing to find your staff in the Philippines they will find the number of workers you require with the desired skill sets and hand over the details for you to review.

You can choose the level of control and involvement you have in managing your staff. So, you can leave it up to MicroSourcing and keep at a distance, or be more hands-on with the day-to-day operations.

Plans and Pricing

MicroSourcing break down their costs into two elements;

  • Direct Employee Costs – The total cost per employee. This includes their salary, benefits, taxes, insurance, and so on.
  • Service Fee – There is a service fee to cover the support services they are providing, such as workspace, facilities, etc.

They don’t provide any set fees or pricing plans.

Each client is given a custom quote based on the services they require so you need to contact a member of their team to discuss your individual business needs.

MicroSourcing Alternatives

Microsourcing is for larger companies looking to leverage BPO (business process outsourcing at scale. If you need to ramp up a team quickly, I think it’s a strong option. Also worth a look are companies like TayStone or Helpware.

If you’re looking for full-time Filipino staff, then Virtual Staff Finder and Zen Virtual Assistants are two headhunting companies capable of finding any number of team members.

If you need to fulfill individual jobs or shorter-term contracts I recommend checking out virtual assistant companies like OnlineJobs.ph or Task Bullet.

Your Turn

Have you worked with MicroSourcing? If so, please leave a review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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Helpware.io

Posted by Mica Harvey / Philippines Virtual Assistants, Virtual Assistant Companies

Helpware is a virtual assistant provider and customer service support company. They help clients build and manage remote customer support teams and offer a range of tools to help businesses streamline their workflow processes.

The company was founded in 2015. Their operations teams are based in the Ukraine and the Philippines, and their management staff are based in California.

About Helpware

The company was founded by CEO Andy Steuer and Alexander Tereshchenko who is the current Head of Operations.

Helpware’s model differs from most virtual assistant companies. They only offer full-time assistants, no pay-per-hour, tiered hourly bundles, or job postings.

Specializing in customer support, back office, accounting, and marketing support, this makes sense as it allows you and your customers to develop a relationship with their assistants as they would a member of your staff.

Their target customers are fast-growing companies of any size looking to outsource any of their customer support, back office, journey mapping, or any tasks that can be completed remotely.

How Helpware Works

It’s a cost-effective way to start working with experienced professionals right away. There are no recruitment or training costs, and their staff will help you build a team with all the skills you need to complete your tasks.

In addition to the team members you’re paying for, you have access to Helpware’s core management team at no extra cost.

This means there is a Customer Success Manager, Team Leader, Project Manager, and Team Captain overseeing the work and supporting your working relationship with their operatives.

Services

Helpware provides general virtual assistants to carry out all those day-to-day tasks any busy business owner would happily see handed over.

They also specialize in supplying virtual assistants skilled in the following roles:

Customer Service Support

Helpware will collaborate with you to build a customer support team that understands your business, use the tools you use, and provide a seamless solution for your customer base.

Back Office Support

Their team members will help map your current workflow, highlight areas for improvements, and ensure your business is running optimally.

Marketing Support

Their team members are experienced with AdWords, Facebook advertising, and a range of tools and marketing software to help maximize the effectiveness and outreach of your marketing campaigns.

Accounting Support

They have qualified and experienced accounting experts certified in using Quickbooks, SAP, and other accounting software.

Plans and Pricing

Helpware currently has 4 different pricing plans depending on the type of assistant you want to hire. Pricing ranges from $1,800 per month for a general virtual assistant and $2,200 for a customer support operative.

All contacts are for 40 hours per week, and the minimum contract period is one month. Their full list of plans are:

  • Virtual Assistant/Data Entry – $1,800 per month.
  • Accounting Support – $1,900 per month.
  • Marketing Support – $2,100 per month.
  • Customer Support – $2,200 per month.

The pricing above is based on committing to a 1-year contract. Helpware also offers monthly and 6-monthly contracts but at a higher rate.

There is also a $400 set up fee for any of their plans.

I should note these rates are significantly higher and less flexible than many other VA companies. It’s clear Helpware is targeting a higher budget client base looking to leverage business process outsourcing at scale.

Helpware Alternatives

There is no shortage of virtual assistant providers in the Philippines and Europe where most of Helpware’s assistants are based.

The main difference between Helpware and most of the other virtual assistant companies is that they focus on integrating multiple full-time staff into your business.

If you aren’t ready to utilize a full-time assistant I recommend checking out Task Bullet or OnlineJobs.ph. They are a lot more flexible and allow you to pay for smaller bundles of hours, or per individual job.

Your Turn

Have you worked with Helpware? If so, please leave a review of your experience below to help others with their decision.

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HomeJobs

Posted by Mica Harvey / Freelance Virtual Assistants, Philippines Virtual Assistants

HomeJobs is an online platform that connects clients with home-based freelancers in the Philippines.

The company started operations in mid-2018, and they say they already have almost 1 million workers in their database.

About HomeJobs.ph

homejobs reviewHomeJobs is a team of 25, and the company was funded by a venture capital firm in the US.

Their target customers are individuals or businesses looking to outsource some of their business tasks to a remote worker in the Philippines.

How HomeJobs.ph Works

Freelancers join for free. After going through a verification process, they can write a profile detailing their skills and experience.

Customers, or employers, can also join for free with their entry level plan. Or you can pay to upgrade and unlock more features and see more of the worker profiles in their database.

You can then post a job detailing what you want done, and freelancers can send you proposals selling themselves as the right person for the job.

HomeJobs do not take a cut of the transaction fees between customers and freelancers. That means the rate you agree with a worker is the full amount they will receive.

(HomeJobs makes money from the two monthly paid plans from employers; more on pricing below.)

The downside to finding freelancers through a platform like this is that you need to manage them yourself, and you don’t have the security of falling back on their manager or the company that hired them for you.

The upside is that you have a lot more workers to choose from, and are more likely to find someone with the exact skills you need.

The rates are very competitive too. I saw some workers advertising rates as low as $1 per hour. Not that I’d expect much for $1 per hour, but it’s a small price to pay to find out.

HomeJobs Intro Video

Services

With almost a million freelancers in their database, it’s fair to say that you will find someone to do almost any task that can be completed remotely.

They have a long alphabetical list of skills to browse if you want to get an idea of the kinds of skills sets their freelancers have.

I saw everything from the typical social media marketing, SEO, and graphic design, to things like specific language coding and computer assembly specialists.

Posting Your Job

When I signed up for their Standard Job Post plan to make a free listing I was forced by a pop-up box to either share a link on my Facebook saying I use HomeJobs, or upgrade my account to a paid plan.

Kinda lame, but I get it.

I opted to share a link on Facebook and was then able to post a job.

From there, it was a quick process. All I had to do was select the skills I was looking for from a drop-down box, add a title and write a description of the work, choose the payment terms, currency, and set an hourly rate.

Note: When I tested it, the website was super buggy. Several links didn’t work at all, including the main call-to-action to “post a job” on the homepage. It seems like they’re still working out a lot of kinks.

Some parts of their website claim they have a million workers to choose from. Others say 500,000+. In either case, that’s an almost unbelievably high number to registered users to claim just months after launch.

Plans and Pricing

HomeJobs has three different pricing plans to choose from:

  1. Standard Job Post – Free – You can post one job at a time, but it takes 5-7 days to approve your job listing. You’ll only have access to a limited number of workers profiles to choose from too.
  2. Premium Job Listing – $24.99 per month – You can post one job at a time, but job listings are instantly approved and given a featured listing. You’re still given access to a limited number of workers profiles.
  3. Gold Package – $99 per month – You can post up to five jobs at a time, your listing is instantly posted, featured, e-mailed to workers, and you have access to their entire database freelancers.

If you’re willing to be patient you can go with the Standard Job Post plan and try their service for free. It’s unclear how they’re limiting which segments of their worker database to show your ad to.

HomeJobs Alternatives

Onlinejobs.ph is the nearest competitor, and offers a very similar job board type of service. They also offer a free plan if you want to try their platform before upgrading to a paid plan. In fact, the HomeJobs site and entire business model seems directly modeled after OnlineJobs.

If you’re not comfortable with choosing a freelancer yourself, you can go down the more traditional route of using a virtual assistant company with in-house staff.

TaskBullet and OkayRelax are two highly rated companies in the Philippines with a good deal of positive feedback and competitive rates starting at $6-8 per hour.

Your Turn

Have you worked with HomeJobs? If so, please leave a brief review below to help others with their decision.

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