Personally, I would rather hire the person handing out flyers in the car park than a virtual service provider. There is still something to be said about being able to meet your writer face to face, arrange for the writing to be done, and know exactly where and how to directly contact your writer when needed.
These were some of the reasons why my business grew quite fast when I was just starting out. I was that person in the car park handing out flyers and entertaining student inquiries, which were done off campus after I had finished the distribution of the flyers. The professors never new because of the discreet way everything was handled on both sides.
Often times, my repeat clients would bring along a friend who had an interest in hiring my services. That told me the students were more confident placing a physical person in place of the name, something that cannot always be done online, even with the advent of video calls and conferencing.