How much should I charge for my VA customer support job?

by Tenzho
3 replies
Hi Warriors,

There is a guy want to hire me as their Virtual Assistant to manage his new Fiverr-like site customer support. Basically the job is handling customer support ticket.

So below is the message he sent me.

Hello,

I am in the process of setting the site up for launch now. Once we have things going I would like to bring you aboard. The site will have a FAQ for most common answers but I know I will need your service. Please send me a break-down of your weekly rate, to include the hours you would be available to handle the sites customer support. Based on that please include what you suggest we should indicate to our members is the turn-around time for reply's.

Also, let me know if and when need-be you will be able to bring on-board additional staffing for 24-7 coverage.

Thanks,
#charge #customer #job #support
  • Profile picture of the author Griffin Smith
    I would charge him for every successfully closed support ticket.

    Definitely on a ticket per ticket basis.

    Trying to hold yourself accountable as a freelancer on an hourly basis is a tough game and IMHO it will always end bad.

    The best kind of value you can provide is to give him an outline of what type of support structure he'll need and how many tickets you'll be able to handle weekly.

    As well as showing him what your outsourcing plan will be.
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanmilligan
    Banned
    Mine asked to be payed $100 per week, so I told him if he could live up to the high quality work he has prmised I would pay him $150.

    He does great work, so I happily pay him the $600 per month.
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    • Gather details about his business' products and services, current customer
      volume and projected customer base growth margins. Get details about support ticket frequency percentages from similar businesses. Analyze these details and list down relevant things that will affect your daily customer support tasks.
       
      You'd know at this point these things:
       
      = Possible problems and issues his customer base could encounter...
      = The number of hours and days you need to learn relevant things so you can properly help his customer base with their probems and needs...

      = How much time you need to develop training materials for additional support agents...

      = How much time per day is needed for you to provide quality support services to his initial customer base...

      = How long before you need additional support agents to help you out...
      = How to find and test qualified additional agents...

      = How many hours and days would be needed to hire and train these additional agents...

      = How many additional agents would you need by then...
      = How many hours they should work per day...


      As a friendly reminder: You need to gather, analyze and formulate the things above and what I'm about to say below, since this could most likely be your livelihood...


      Once you gather and analyze the things above, you can then:


      = Calculate the money you need per day to sustain you and your family's daily needs...
      = Calculate the time you can spend per day, working as an agent and completing some of the other things above...
       
      = Calculate the number of days you can work per week...
      = Factor in insurance and benefits, since you won't most likely be offered benefits and insurance by your client, because you'd be his independent subcontractor...


      Now, you'd know the most suitable monthly rate for your needs. If you think, based on what you know about your client's business, budget for labor overheads and ROI projections: You can customize the time and number of days you'd be working as an agent for his business, since, if he can't afford to pay you what you need per day, then you should find other opportunities that you can do to earn what you need on a daily basis, or to earn more than what you need, so you can invest a part of your savings in other profitable ventures...
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