When seeking to hire a virtual assistant, busy entrepreneurs and executives frequently question us, “What’s the difference between working with a virtual assistant firm where you receive a dedicated VA versus a company that takes a “task-based” approach, passing out your assignments to several assistants?” The huge distinctions between them will determine which one is ideal for you based on your company’s particular requirements.
There are a few different alternatives open to you whether you want to bolster your company’s staff with the help of a freelancer or a task-based VA company.
A freelancer will, of course, be committed to helping your company while they are under contract, but there are a variety of business models for organizations that offer online virtual assistant services, each of which has advantages and disadvantages.
Performing the Tasks
Let’s start by analyzing how effectively the two categories of virtual assistant services perform in terms of doing all the jobs you require.
Task-Based – Advantages: If you pick a firm that divides your responsibilities among a VA team, you may benefit from numerous specialties and talents as your provider may handle a variety of jobs by allocating each one to a VA with the appropriate strengths.
Task-Based – Disadvantages: On the other side, not every VA has the appropriate abilities. This means that you never meet the virtual assistant who is working on a task for you. The virtual assistant agency could have the precise skill set you need, but you might not like the way they go about things.
If such is the case, you will also have to deal with the trouble of speaking with the VAs’ management and attempting to get a different VA assigned—but what if you don’t like the replacement?
Dedicated VA – Advantages: When you are allocated a personal, dedicated virtual assistant, the procedure often starts with several interviews, allowing you to communicate with a number of VA candidates and choose the one you prefer to work with. This usually gives your relationship with your virtual assistant a stronger foundation moving forward.
Dedicated VA – Disadvantages: The sole negative is that, barring exceptional luck, your selected VA will be better at some activities than others. As a result, you may be required to have more than one virtual assistant on standby, particularly if some duties call for extremely specialized knowledge. As you will be charged for each VA you deal with, this might potentially raise your expenses.
Availability Of Virtual Assistants
Along with having access to the necessary expertise, you must be confident that your virtual assistant will be there for you when you need them. Again, each of the two strategies we’re looking at here has benefits and disadvantages in terms of availability.
Task-Based – Advantages: The advantage of using a task-based approach is that you have access to more resources to finish your job. If required, your company may even be able to allocate a couple of VAs to your responsibilities in order to do various tasks for you simultaneously. You can even get chores completed overnight or during the holiday season if the company offers 24*7 virtual assistant services.
Task-Based – Disadvantages: Obviously, you won’t be able to choose which VAs are allocated to your work, and this is especially true when it’s busy. As a result, there’s no assurance that your jobs will be given to VAs with the necessary expertise.
Dedicated VA – Advantages: You may pre-agree on a timetable of accessibility. Aside from unavoidable illnesses or crises, you will always be aware of your VA’s availability and have ample time to plan a stand-in when required.
Dedicated VA – Disadvantages: The one drawback to having a dedicated virtual assistant is that you can feel a big difference when he or she has to take a break from work. Working with a stand-in who presumably won’t feel the same connection with you and your company at those times when he or she is unavailable may be pretty unnerving and unproductive.
Which Model Will Fit You the Best?
Some businesses use remote virtual assistants. Others have their employees work out of a central office location.
Both of these online virtual assistant service providers could be able to give you a single devoted virtual assistant who, absent illness or holidays, will work full-time (or part-time, as you desire) for your company. Alternately, your service completion may be divided among several VAs, combining your responsibilities with those of other clients.
We’ve chosen to outline what we think are the benefits and drawbacks of each choice in order to aid you in determining if the pooled method or a personal virtual assistant would suit you better.
Hire a Dedicated VA if:
- Instead of a broad range of skills, you just need one specific expertise.
- You have procedure manuals, training materials, and task checklists with clear definitions.
- You have the time to give instruction, direction, and oversight.
- In the case of VA absences due to illness or vacation, you can get a backup.
A virtual assistant agency may be a good choice if:
- Checklists, manuals of procedures, and training materials are not available.
- If your virtual assistant support isn’t there, you’ll need a backup because you don’t have time to manage your VA.
- You don’t want to recruit many people personally, but you need access to a wide range of abilities.
Hope this helps you come to a conclusion. Make sure that you have mentioned all your requirements whether you hiring a dedicated VA or a task-based VA agency to avoid making delegation mistakes.