Are you a virtual assistant? Are you under pressure to offer call answering services? If so, read on!

Virtual assistants are one of Paperclip’s strongest referral partners

Virtual assistants – also referred to as virtual receptionists, virtual PAs, virtual administrators and virtual secretaries in the UK – are one of Paperclip’s strongest referral partners. Many Paperclip clients have started their journey with us thanks to a call from a virtual receptionist.

Whenever this subject crops up in conversation at networking events, the person I am speaking with is invariably surprised. There is a misconception that virtual assistants and telephone answering companies like Paperclip are in competition with each other. I would like to correct this view.

It is difficult to offer virtual assistant services or be a virtual receptionist and offer telephone answering services. I speak with a degree of authority on the matter because, just over seventeen years ago, I started Paperclip to offer virtual administration services; although it is so long ago, the term hadn’t been invented at that time!

Almost from my very first client, I was frequently asked whether I could provide call answering services. It was only after two or three years when I had built a team of five, including myself, that I took the plunge and instead of saying ‘no’ decided to offer call answering. Since then, Paperclip’s turnover from telephone answering, telephone appointments and reservations, outbound calls and call centre services has become dominant.

Why should virtual assistants be wary of offering telephone answering?

So why, having made the transformation myself from virtual receptionist to call answering services, do I think virtual assistants should think long and hard before offering call answering?

These are my seven principal reasons:

Skill set

In my experience, most virtual assistants are extremely well qualified. They have a skill set that often includes book-keeping, diary management, transcription, social media and more. These are the skills they enjoy delivering for their clients.

Adding value

Not only are they the skills most virtual receptionists enjoy delivering, but they are also the services that deliver the greatest value-added for their clients. An effective virtual PA should be able to charge more for, for example, diary management and social media than for call answering.

Investment

To deliver truly effective call answering requires an up-front investment in telecommunications and call management software. Compiling reports and justifying the charges incurred by clients without the combination of the correct hardware and software is a nightmare. If a virtual assistant has one client: not a problem. With three, four or more the challenge begins!

Workflow

You don’t have to be a virtual receptionist to know that answering the phone disrupts your train of thought and makes you less productive. Virtual assistants make their living completing administration tasks for their clients. Breaking off to answer the phone has a huge impact on both efficiency and effectiveness.

Lifestyle

The majority of virtual assistants are sole traders or sole employees of their own limited company: it’s how I started out. In my experience many virtual assistants set up in business for one of two reasons: they want to be their own boss, or – and I am aware I am in danger of claims of stereotyping here – their family situation, in particular childcare, which means they are looking to build a job that flexes around their other commitments.
I initially founded Paperclip because I wanted to be my own boss and then, finding myself unexpectedly a single parent to two boisterous children, discovered it was a godsend for the school run!

Quality

Whatever the reason for starting out, all the virtual receptionists and virtual assistants I know thrive on delivering great customer service. It’s what wins them their next client.

The disruption of call answering, as outlined above, has a detrimental impact on quality; unless, like Paperclip, your core service is call answering. With a small portfolio of clients, virtual assistants can’t afford to let quality slip.

Common sense

If you are working as a lone virtual assistant, or even in a team of two or three, it is difficult to guarantee a level of service for call answering. Paperclip’s systems, training and staffing patterns have been refined over the last decade with the sole purpose of answering all calls within 5-10 seconds. It’s what we do. Even with our focus, skills and knowledge we occasionally miss our target. Most of our clients want us to provide telephone answering from 8am to 6 pm; many of them require telephone answering on Saturdays too. It is impossible to maintain that level of time commitment as a sole trader, or even a small team, for longer than a few weeks without imploding!

Society of Virtual Assistants

I am not a lone voice in the belief that being a virtual assistant and telephone answering don’t mix well. Caroline Wylie, who leads the Society of Virtual Assistants, wrote in a blog from July 2019 entitled ‘Offering call answering as a VA’:

‘The first thing I’ll say about answering phones: You cannot do it properly as a solo VA.’

Paperclip referral partners

As I mentioned at the start of this blog, virtual assistants – for the reasons outlined above – are one of Paperclip’s strongest referral partners.
When a virtual assistant’s client requests call answering they are faced with a dilemma. They want to be able to offer a solution for their client, to retain their goodwill but don’t want to ‘open the door’ to a competitor. Paperclip has built its reputation with its virtual assistant referral partners by never crossing that threshold. A virtual assistant with a call answering referral opportunity will call me, discuss their client’s requirements, and then we decide collectively the next steps to take. I am an advocate for transparency and always advise any virtual assistant that links up with Paperclip to tell their client it is Paperclip that is providing their call answering services.

As you would expect, Paperclip’s virtual assistant referral partners receive a financial ‘residual income’ and/or a referral bonus should their client become a Paperclip call answering customer.

An invitation to virtual assistants to find out more about Paperclip

If you are a virtual assistant or offer virtual receptionist, virtual PA services and have clients that are asking about call answering, then it would be great to talk. Moreover,  I would like to invite you to visit the Paperclip office and see how we deliver effective call answering to our clients, both small and large.

I have a huge admiration for those setting out on their journeys as virtual assistants. I remember those days with great affection. Every day an adventure, every decision a new one. Good luck.

In the meantime, if you have any questions relating to call answering don’t hesitate to give my colleague, Louise Bellwood, a call on 01246 418 181.

I look forward to speaking to you soon.