Our Review Of Prialto: 8 Pros & Cons

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‍A virtual assistant is a remote professional who works on a contract basis to offload tasks from your organization. Think of them as an extension of your team—only distantly located.

These professionals are highly skilled and experienced. More often than not, they are able to help with all sorts of duties—from basic administrative ones like email management, file organization, and customer support to niche ones like digital marketing, accounting, and IT support.

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Although the whole point of hiring a VA is maximizing productivity, it can backfire if you are not wary of the source you are hiring from. Recruiting a VA from a generic, virtual platform not only reduces your chances of hiring the right fit for your needs. The quality of the hired professional is also not guaranteed.

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This is where matching VA platforms emerge as a solid choice. 

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Why turn to VA platforms that specialize in matching?

There are several advantages of going for a VA platform that matches you with a VA:

• Since these companies set you up with an assistant who possesses the exact skills required for your needs, the chances of trial and error are substantially reduced. 
• When you get a VA that is tailored to your needs, you also get to enjoy the pros of personalization, which include quick problem resolution and efficient task handling.
• Again, since these VAs are aware of the complexity of the duties they will have to handle in your organization, they tend to be highly dependable. 

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What is Prialto? 

Prialto is a US-based virtual admin support solution for businesses. It was launched in 2009 to help fill the gap between the work opportunities available in the US and the underutilized labor present in remote regions of the world. 

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Prialto mainly provides managed VAs to handle basic administrative and executive duties in an organization. The platform claims all its professionals are pre-vetted and trained. 

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Prialto is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with service centers located across Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

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What does Prialto offer?

Prialto has three service packages—Individuals, Teams, and Enterprise. 

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Under each of these packages, you get a virtual assistant who can help with executive, operational, and sales tasks in a business. This primarily includes calendar management, CRM management, expense management, relationship management, sales support, data entry, etc. 

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Along with a VA, you also get access to a Backup Assistant and an Engagement Manager. The Backup Assistant takes over when your primary VA is unavailable. The Engagement Manager coordinates with you to help create processes and troubleshoot issues that you encounter with the VA.

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Apart from this, Prialto also offers virtual sales assistants for hire. They mainly specialize in prospect research, outreach support, travel planning, and so on.

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Prialto VAs can handle most state-of-the-art tech tools like Asana, HubSpot, GSuite, etc. As for the industries, they operate in insurance, venture capital, biotech, real estate, management consulting, accounting, startups, and nonprofits.

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What are the pricing plans that Prialto offers?

Prialto charges a flat monthly rate for its services. It is called a “unit.”

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Each Prialto unit consists of 55 hours of support per month plus some overflow time. A single unit is priced at $1,500/month. It contains access to a dedicated assistant, a backup assistant, and an engagement manager. 

• Individual: For solopreneurs, 1-3 units per month prove sufficient. This totals an average of 55+ hours of support in a month.
• Teams: For teams with 3+ members, 3+ units per month is recommended. That is 165+ hours of monthly support.
• Enterprise: For enterprises with 8+ members, 8+ units per month is ideal. This means you receive 440+ hours of monthly support.

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Apart from the flat monthly rate, you will also be charged $250 in the first month as a set-up fee. However, it can be waived with a 1-year agreement.

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Where are Prialto VAs from?

Prialto VAs are mainly located in the Philippines, Kenya, and Guatemala. The platform also has US-based professionals. 

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All of Prialto’s VAs are college-educated and thoroughly trained. They are also fluent in English. 

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How credible is the company?

Prialto is a moderately credible company. Although it has no written reviews on Trustpilot, its average rating is 3.5/5.

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How do I hire a VA with Prialto?

The process of hiring a VA with Prialto looks something like this:

1. Prialto will first assess your delegation needs and propose areas in which its VAs can assist you. 
2. Next, an implementation plan is created that highlights how the platform will support you.
3. Once done, Prialto will match you with a suitable virtual assistant for your business and set up your systems.

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What are some pros and cons of Prialto?

Upon assessing Prialto, here are some of its pros and cons we discovered:

Pros:

1. High-quality VAs: Prialto claims all its VAs are college-educated and rigorously trained with fluent English proficiency.
2. Fully managed: All of Prialto’s VAs are fully managed. So, as a business, you don’t have to stress about hiring, training, and supervising them.
3. Extra support: Apart from the VA, you also get a backup assistant and an engagement manager. This reduces workflow disruptions and maximizes productivity.
4. Dedicated VAs: Prialto claims to recruit dedicated VAs. So, you receive more personalized help.
5. Better timezone compatibility: Prialto’s VAs operate in US time zones. This makes it easier for businesses to coordinate with them.

Cons:

1. Pricing plans can be pretty steep: Prialto charges a flat rate of $1,500/unit/month for its services. It can be pretty costly for growing teams.
2. Lack of public reviews on major rating platforms: Prialto has no reviews on major rating platforms. This puts a question mark on its actual credibility. 
3. Lack of specialized VAs across other industries: Prialto VAs only specialize in admin and executive duties. This makes them unfit for handling niche tasks.

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Our review—what do we think of Prialto?

Prialto functions as a remote extension of your in-house team. With dedicated support, backup, and constant supervision, this platform ensures you don’t just offload your tasks but create an entire, effective delegation framework. 

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However, Prialto does not assist with all kinds of duties. Its VAs’ skillset is limited to managing surface-level admin tasks. On top of it, the platform’s pricing is also a bummer.

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Our verdict? Prialto can prove to be ideal for large enterprises with an overflowing to-do list that consists of day-to-day tasks, like handling customers, making calls, etc. 

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But if you are a small team or a business with complex, niche delegation requirements, avoid Prialto and look for a VA platform that specializes in those services.

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Hire a 1% Executive Assistant

Founded by serial entrepreneurs, Leverage Assistants is a white-glove service that helps you find 1% assistants and then teaches you how to build leverage with them. 

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If you’re interested in a strategy session to learn how to use an assistant, click here.

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Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.

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