Question 1

How do I make outbound calls for my client? What are the 'rules' here?

Accepted Answer

We believe it is important and helpful for all of the team to be happy making a reasonable, but limited amount of calls from your mobile, as part of your day-to-day work in supporting a client, providing that your phone contract has sufficient inclusive minutes. However:

• We don’t expect you to call internationally. You shouldn't be doing this from your mobile - be careful!

• We don’t expect you to make more than a few calls here and there. You shouldn't be making large volumes of calls from you mobile - we recommend you discuss the client taking out an account with a VOIP provider in this case.

• It’s important to remember that you aren’t supporting your client as their 'virtual receptionist', and so you shouldn’t be handling their incoming calls. Again, we can recommend providers here for you to work in tandem with.

Alternative Solutions

If you need to make international or high volumes of calls for your client, it's reasonable to discuss this in detail with them directly, particularly with regards to the costs involved (we don't want you to incur anything unreasonable here). You can always add an expense into the portal, once you agree on a better approach here.

If you do plan to recover any expense from a client, you must always agree how much you anticipate the call (or the solution more widely) costing, before the calls are made.

It is not fair on a client to make a long international call from your mobile, incur substantial call charges, and then expect to be reimbursed. We would instead ask you to think about this first, and come up with a better solution together.

Possible solutions:

• VOIP - for UK clients, we recommend Nimvelo, which we use internally. The client will receive £20 free credit if they use this referral link to create their account. You can make unlimited mobile and landline calls for just £15 per month - plus you are making calls from a 'professional-looking' landline number, rather than your own mobile phone. Your client might also have an existing VOIP account they can give you access to! This will allow you to make calls, with the call charges billed directly to the client and not yourself.

• Skype To Go - you can use Skype to call numbers anywhere. Your client could prepay for the credit, so there’s no hidden spend.

• Google Hangouts (the Google Hangouts Dialler app is essentially a VOIP phone call). Calls to an Australian landline are as little as 1p, for example.

• Zoom Phone is also a great option, with audio-only available too, if suitable.

Question 2

How is it best to "check in" with a client? When should I do so?

Accepted Answer

After working with a client for some time, it's likely you'll have both settled into a comfortable working pattern together.

This is very positive, however, it's also important that you both review how the relationship is going from time to time too.

Could you be adding even more value to their day? Could you be doing anything differently? Has anything changed?

Revisit Their Initial Brief

Go back to the original "brief" you received from us following the client's initial consultation call with Virtalent and revisit any notes you subsequently made from your first few calls together.

Are they delegating all of the tasks that they originally spoke to you and our Selection Team about? If not, why have they decided not to delegate something? Could they do so now?

Now that you’ve established a good working relationship with your client and they feel comfortable, where else can you add value? Are you skilled in a certain area that they didn’t realise at first, or has the client started working on a new project where you think your experience could be relevant? Clients will always appreciate a proactive approach to working with them.

At Virtalent, our goal as a team should not only be to take care of the day-to-day tasks and projects our clients need support with, but ultimately we also want to help grow them their businesses and realise their ambitions.

Keep Their Goals In Mind

Think back to when you started together. Why did they hire you, a talented, professional Virtual Assistant, in the first place?

Whether this was to save time or access new skills, it can be useful to ask your client whether they feel they have achieve their original goal.

Have they achieved what they set out to do?
What has changed for them since working with you, both personally and professionally?
What are their short-term and long-term goals now?
Have they changed?
How will YOU help them hit those goals?

Maintain Open Communication

When a client is busy and you also have other clients to attend to yourself, it's easy to let day after day pass by without 'checking in' with each other. Gradually you could become distant and lose the rapport you've worked so hard to build together at the start of your relationship.

Try to ensure you set aside time to ensure your client has everything they need from you (and you have everything you need from them!), to discuss the progress of any ongoing tasks/projects and plan the weeks ahead.

It only needs to be a 10 minute 'hello' on the phone here and there!

How do I make outbound calls for my client? What are the 'rules' here?

How is it best to "check in" with a client? When should I do so?

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