Hiring a Trusted VA Isn’t Luck

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Hiring a Trusted VA Isn’t Luck

Trust is often a major concern when hiring the right virtual assistant. While you may find it lucky to have found a VA or received an introduction at just the right time, that is not enough to hire a virtual assistant.

Luck should not be involved anywhere in your hiring process. Meeting people and receiving introductions can involve as much luck and divine intervention as you like. Never forget the person you might skip on your due diligence is the person who may be the luckiest at your expense.?

Luck is Not a Strategy?

The comparison to conducting due diligence for employees versus virtual assistants is not only night and day, what it reveals is frightening. I am a firm believer in trusting your gut during the hiring strategy. However, your gut inclinations do not count as part of your due diligence strategy.?

There are three (3) steps you must take as part of your due diligence hiring strategy.?

1. Get Recommendations

First and foremost, when it comes to hiring a trusted virtual assistant, start with a trusted source. Ask around and get some recommendations. Find out why the person trusts the VA. How has the VA demonstrated trustworthiness???

2. Speak With References

Second, ask for references and speak with past clients, especially clients whom the virtual assistant performed the same type of work for. Any VA who is not willing to share this information may not be the right fit for you. References will often provide you with far greater insight into how it might be working with this particular VA. The bonus, which most clients don’t know, is speaking with references can solidify your decision to hire the VA.?

The timing of conducting reference checks is also crucial. Never conduct reference checks on a candidate before you have interviewed them and have serious intent to hire them. A trusted VA isn’t going to allow their references to have their time squandered for someone who hasn’t seriously interviewed them yet. Plus, it’s a waste of your time. Not to mention you might not have asked the references the same questions had you interviewed the VA already.

3. Conduct A Background Check

Lastly, conduct a background check. Background checks are standard practices in many companies. Just because your company may only be you, don’t skip this important step.?

Don’t rely on luck, rely on due diligence when hiring the right, trusted VA.

Being a Trusted VA?

As a virtual assistant, how can you get the potential client to trust you?

Well, first you don't focus on every potential client, focus on your ideal client. Then, you reverse engineer the process.?

If you haven’t figured it out by now, reverse engineering the process is one of my favorite strategies. The reason is that it provides me with answers to my most pressing questions. Answers I would not have come up with if I only looked through the perspective of my own lens.?

When you can see the client’s perspective you can see things more clearly. It’s the first step in anticipating the client’s needs which is the measure of a true assistant. Anticipating the client’s needs also breeds trust because it shows you two already think alike.?

Have Recommendations Ready

Who are your trusted partners? Ask around and get some recommendations. Find out why the person trusts you. Ask the person how you demonstrated trustworthiness.? Then ask if you could list them as a recommendation.?

Don’t rely on testimonials. If the client reads your testimonials and is satisfied, great. If that’s not enough, and for many of the best clients it’s not, being prepared will save you time and energy when you need it the most.

Communicate With References

Remember that anyone who asks for references should be genuinely interested in working with you. That means a proposal and/or contract have already been provided and this is one of the final steps before the contract is signed.?

Give your references a heads-up about the potential client, the work you will be performing, and why you think it’s a great fit. It’s a great way to get your references excited with you and eager to respond to reference checks. What you don’t want to happen is that you provide potential clients references and your references never respond. They may be swamped or on vacation, but the silence is a red flag for the client.?

Remember This Is Business

All these procedures are standard when hiring an employee. Most virtual assistants have already been through these processes as an employee. However, many VAs can be offended that a client would want to conduct due diligence on them instead of just taking their word for it. That’s naive at best.?

In fact, any client who will go through the extra steps of due diligence is far more committed to the process and working with you because of the time, effort, and energy, they put into their hiring and due diligence strategy. They are showing great business practices and that they are someone you want to work with.?

Never forget that trust is earned. Show your future clients you are ready to earn their trust.

Whether you're seeking to hire the right VA or want to be the right VA, I'm here to assist. Book a consultation to get started. ===>>>https://go.oncehub.com/thepva

Melissa Smith is the Founder of The PVA , a firm that matches clients with the right virtual assistants. She is also the best-selling author of two books, Hire the Right Virtual Assistant and Become a Successful Virtual Assistant .

Melissa has been featured by ABC, NBC, CBS, Entrepreneur, Forbes, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. News & World Report. Most recently Melissa was named Top Virtual Assistant Consultant of the Year, a Top 10 Most Inspiring Woman in Business 2022, one of the top 100 Dynamic Leaders, and a trailblazing female entrepreneur to watch in 2021.