by Foodbevy
Life as a CPG founder is hectic and full of challenges. If you find yourself with too much to do and not enough time to get it all done, then a Virtual Assistant (VA) may be right for you.
But wait!! Can I trust a VA? What can they even do for my business? Nothing can work without me, won’t I just be doing the same amount of work and paying someone else? Everything is so CPG specific, how will they know what to do?
I’ll be honest, these were my fears as I’ve literally been thinking about hiring a VA for 5 years, ever since I read Tim Ferris’ 4 Hour Work Week.
Guess what? This year I finally decided to do it because I was at my wits end with an ever growing to-do list and constantly feeling like I was falling behind.
What made the difference? Honestly I got a cold email from a VA Agency offering a free 4-hour trial and thought it was worth a shot. I was paired with a great VA and we’ve now been working together on a full-time basis for 4 months now and I couldn’t be happier.
Do you want a free 4-hour VA trial? Just shoot me an email (jordan@foodbevy.com) and I’ll send over an introduction to get you set up.
Now for the important part, let’s break down how to use a VA for CPG brands.
Virtual Assistants can be incredibly valuable members of your team who can help you manage crucial projects and/or take care of repetitive tasks.
The term VA is really a catch-all phrase that can mean any non-employee help for your business. They’re independent contractors who work with you on an ongoing basis.
Most VAs are generalists, but some have more experience in an area of business than others based on their previous experience. Here are some roles they can take on:
Virtual assistants (VAs) can offer a wide range of services to help Food and Beverage CPG brands improve their daily operations and customer service.
You might be wondering… great, they can do everything? But where do I start? Here are a few ideas:
VA’s can be located anywhere in the world, which is one of the wonderful benefits. There’s been a rise in digitally native, English speaking, and well-educated people in countries with lower costs of living.
US-Based Virtual Assistants – you can hire a virtual assistant in the US, similar to any other freelance workers. There’s a large labor pool of people looking for part or full-time work who would prefer to work remotely. Just know that you’ll have to abide by US Employment law when determining if they’re an independent contractor or employee.
International-Based Virtual Assistants – it’s common to hire VAs who live and work in countries with lower costs of living and wage requirements. These individuals are highly skilled, English speaking, and digitally native. Many of them will even work US hours so you can communicate with them in real-time.
You’ll pay them as Independent contractors, and as they’re not based in the US, you don’t have to submit a 1099 for them.
You can hire a VA through an agency or by finding individuals on their own. Here are a few places I recommend starting:
Great Admin: This is who I worked with to find my VA. E-mail me (jordan@foodbevy.com) and I’ll introduce you to get 4-free hours with a VA.
Staff Street
Fiverr
Upwork
As part of the rebrand of Good Food Brands to Joyful Co., my curation team looked at hundreds of new products to consider. We invited 100 vendors with 150 new items to submit product samples. That’s a lot to keep up with!
Grace, my VA managed all the vendor outreach, updated our Notion database with all the product details, and communicated with the vendors throughout the process on Faire.
I provided her with initial scripts to use, and she did the rest.
The best part about Grace is that she’s eager to learn the business and now takes a ton of initiative coming up with new ideas that are spot on.
Here’s what Grace has to say: “As a VA, I have freedom of time and ideas. Working remote for a full-time mom really is a big help. Not only in finances but also for the confidence in myself.“
In a world where hiring talented and dedicated staff has become ever so challenging and expensive, D’vash Organics has embraced the idea of hiring virtual assistants from overseas by utilizing companies such as Staff Street, Fiverr, and Upwork. D’vash has built a rockstar team by hiring talented VA’s in areas such as business development/sales support, e-commerce/customer service, and operations support. It is more critical than ever to be profitable and hiring virtual assistants has allowed D’vash to significantly reduce operating costs in order to scale affordably and efficiently.
For example, D’vash has been able to reduce their reliance on brokers by hiring an internal business development team which has not only added 5% back to our bottom line but has also allowed us to take control and build personal relationships with the retailers. In a world where buyers are ever so transient, we realized it was critical to develop our own relationships to succeed in the new world of CPG today.
Wildland Coffee is always evolving and looking for new ways to scale. Two years into the business, we’re still looking for that growth channel, so we decided to test our products (tea bag style coffee) in the hospitality industry.
For the first two months of this initiative, I would personally call hotels and ask them who made decisions for in-room coffee. This was a tedious task, but I was getting good feedback, and hotel leaders seemed to be interested. This simple task of asking for the right person’s contact didn’t seem like a great use of my time, so I decided to hire a virtual assistant to do this for me. I went onto Upwork and posted a job description for what I wanted.
Within a couple of hours, I got an inbox full of responses and one, in particular, that stood out from a woman named “Apple.” She had a team of 30 VAs that worked for her in the Philippines, and she had two that had experience with this type of engagement. After getting on a call with Apple and the VA that would be working with me, Shirley, I decided to give it a try. After all, it’s only $7/hour.
I trained her by recording 5 of my calls and giving her a script. Apple also gave me a VA to comb through Google maps and find phone numbers of hotels for Shirley to call. Shirley calls about 150 hotels a day (Monday-Thursday), and we’re sending about 20 samples per week. Once someone requests a sample, I fulfill it and do all of the follow-up and closing.
This is the script that Shirley uses:
Hey- I have a question but I’m not sure who to ask for… maybe you can help me or direct me to the right person?
My name is Jessica and I work for a coffee company where we put really good coffee into tea bags. It tastes like a drip coffee, but you steep it like tea. We’re looking to get the product into glamping resorts because of the ease and convenience. Is there someone I can send some information or samples to?
In terms of results, we’re still early in this initiative (2 months), so we haven’t seen any closed hotel partnerships, but Shirley is doing an amazing job calling and getting people interested, which is all she is paid to do. Overall, I’ve been very happy with my VA experience and would recommend it to everyone.
With the growing demands of managing a business, having a virtual assistant can provide you with the freedom to focus on important decision-making tasks while ensuring that your standard operating procedures are followed.
For example, here at FUN Sesames, we have what we call a “New Store Protocol”; it is the process on what our VA do every time we have our product available in a new store.
A virtual assistant can effectively execute these tasks with precision and attention to details, ensuring that each step is carried out consistently according to the established protocol. This can help maintain the quality and accuracy of the business process, contributing to improved customer experience and satisfaction.
Integrating a virtual assistant into your company can be a game-changer in terms of efficiency and productivity. By leveraging the support of a virtual assistant, you can delegate routine tasks and streamline your workflow, allowing you to focus on higher-level responsibilities as an entrepreneur.
To determine when is the best time to start using this service, I would suggest considering two factors:
In the FUN Hub, we are developing individualized protocols for each brand, enabling our virtual assistant to provide personalized support that meets the unique needs and preferences of each brand’s founder. For example, when reaching out to a store that has placed their first order, the VA could share specific attributes about the products if it would be beneficial to the conversation. This could help build excitement and potentially encourage the store to place future orders.
To follow up, the VA could reach out after 2-4 weeks, depending on projected product movements. The focus is on addressing any concerns and helping the customer, rather than being too sales-focused. Personalized protocols for each brand can build strong relationships and provide effective support.
Virtual Assistants are a valuable resource for CPG brands looking to streamline their operations and boost productivity. By choosing the right VA for your business and delegating tasks effectively, you can free up time and resources to focus on growing your brand and meeting the needs of your customers.
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