FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my VA have experience working in the freight industry?
Not many VAs have experience in the freight industry, HOWEVER, most of them have relatable experience and have passed our freight transportation training course with a 75% total average or greater. We are confident that they can quickly perform for any freight company.
Will my VA also work for other companies?
Each of our plans include a dedicated virtual assistant (VA). You’ll work with your VA on a one-to-one basis, continually submitting tasks directly to this person. Your VA will grow to know you, your work, and your preferences all while learning to anticipate your needs without you having to repeat yourself.
I just signed up! What can I expect next?
First, welcome aboard! Your Client Success Manager will reach out to you within 24 hours of signing up. Next, you’ll complete a form that will help your CSM better understand of your personal preferences and working style. Afterwards, you’ll hop on an quick onboarding call with your CSM and your VA to discuss your needs to ensure that the two of you hit the ground running!
Do my hours roll over?
As a monthly membership service, our clients subscribe to us for the ability to retain a trained virtual assistant. While each plan offers a different level of service, as a membership subscription our plan hours do not rollover, and your membership fees are not tied to time specifically. You can however move back to part time service if it is not practical for you to use full time service any longer.
Will my VA be working on the weekend?
You can adjust a VA’s schedule to any consecutive 5 day period that you desire during any 4 or 8 hour period depending on your plan. We are confident that one of our qualified Virtual assistants will be able to meet your needs.
Will my VA be working on holidays?
Most of our VAs observe major U.S. and national holidays. In select cases you can still reserve your Virtual assistant for any of these holidays at 2 times the rate per hour.
- New Years Day
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving
- Day After Thanksgiving
- Christmas Eve
- Christmas Day
- Additionally your assistant will work a half day on the Wednesday preceding Thanksgiving and on December 30th.
Can my VA handle personal scheduling?
Absolutely. Your VA can coordinate meetings, schedule appointments, and manage your Calendar with ease. Simply share and grant your VA access to manage your calendar. It’s that simple!
You may need to provide added training on certain apps used for these processes.
Can my VA make purchases on my behalf?
Yes! Your VA can place orders, make purchases, and schedule payments safely and securely. You can read more about our security measures and policies here. To share credit card information, passwords, and other sensitive data, simply have your VA collect your information over the phone. This way, we can ensure your information remains safe. At My Freight Staff, we are committed to the security of your account!
Can my VA make outbound phone calls for me?
Sure thing. Your VA is happy to contact Shippers, Carriers, and brokers on behalf of your company. Note: this will be on the phone system you provide. If you have questions about how your VA can make calls take a look at our post about VoIP systems.
Can my VA accept in-bound calls as well?
Yes! Your VA can accept calls using the same VoIP system that they use to make Calls. There is very little difference between your VAs VoIP phone and your phone and your Clients wont know the difference.
Can my VA keep my inbox organized?
They can! Delegating your inbox to your VA to read, send, and delete messages on your behalf is a great way to stay on top of email and keep your inbox tidy.
Why should my company use a Virtual Assistant Instead of a physical Employee?
Most of the larger transportation companies already use virtual workers to reduce their payroll costs by more than half. This allows them to offer more competitive pricing and makes it very difficult for small and midsized companies to compete with them. Using an MFS virtual assistant allows you to build a more productive team while at the same time reducing costs. That gives you a major advantage over your competition.
Can I have someone work in my office?
Unfortunately, we only have virtual assistants at this point. We could not offer the rates that we do if the candidate was working in your office.
Are there any annual contracts involved?
Since most of our Clients are small and mid-sized companies, We don’t do any annual contract but we do have a 3-month lock in period. This helps companies that may not be financially ready to take on an additional worker think twice before starting. It also helps us to attract the best virtual assistants since they know we offer long term work. Overall, it helps us ensure that we can provide you with only the best workers.
How do I know the VA is going to be capable of doing the job?
Our VAs are trained and tested on essential freight transportation functions and only those that prove their ability are made available to you. Also, most of our VAs are college educated and have relatable experience that help them easily adapt to freight transportation functions.
How are you able to bill me only $7 per hour?
Our VAs are sourced internationally, allowing us to pay 2-3 times more than the average wage in their respective country ensuring that all MFS Virtual Assistants can easily take care of their families, are committed long-term and motivated to grow with your company.
How is their English? I'm worried about the English and the accents.
Before candidates go into our training, they are interviewed internally and if their English does not meet our minimum requirements, the don’t move forward. Also, the first quiz in training tests English skills and they must pass in order to proceed. You can log in on our website and see videos of each candidate to confirm for yourself how strong our VAs English is.
How do I know that my VA is actually working?
When it comes to prospecting, you would need to use a Voice over IP phone system and all of them allow you to pull reports on how many calls were made each day. You can even have the calls recorded so that you can confirm the quality of each call. For operations, It’s very easy to see that orders are being quoted, emails are being answered, tracking updates are being provided, etc. MFS also keeps track of each VAs work progress although we can’t see your personal information.
Once my VA finds a lead do they give them to other people also?
Any lead that your VA obtains is yours! You can have your VA follow up further on the leads or you can elect to take the lead and work it on your own. Your lead, your rules.
How do the payments work?
Basically, any hours that are completed from the first of the month to the 15th are billed on the 16th. Any hours that are completed from the 16th to the end of the month are billed on the first of the following month. Payments are made by credit card or ACH depending on your preference.
Do Prospecting VAs actually follow-up and close deals?
A prospecting VAs official job is to take a cold list and make the cold calls to sort out the warm and hot leads for you. This includes following up with leads to get them into that warm and hot group. However, our VAs receive $100 for any leads that they source that become new shipping customers. That being said, most of our VAs end up closing their own leads to make more money.
How does the commission work for a Prospecting VA?
If your VA finds you a lead or qualifies a lead that ends up becoming a shipping customer, they receive a commission of $100. After the $100 is paid on that particular customer, you never have to pay commission for that customer again. This keeps our VAs motivated to find you NEW shippers which stimulates the growth of your company.
In what country are your Virtual Assistants based?
We have Virtual Assistants based all over the world. We base these locations on the internet infrastructure, wage laws, formal education, and the strength of the English Language.
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