What tasks can Virtalent NOT help my client with?

There isn't very much we avoid helping clients with - these areas would generally fall under the following 'categories'.

Being "On Call"

As you work with your client on a 1:1 basis and only log the time you spend carying out work for them, we feel it is unfair to ask you to be available 24/7 for a client. You should be able to log in and out of a client's account, completing any work required as set tasks.

This means we will usually avoid asking you to answer live chat messages on-demand or handling incoming calls, throughout the day, though we can recommend some great providers that many of our clients use in tandem with their Virtalent VA. These tasks would require you to be "online" all day as it's impossible to know when these chats or calls could come in to the client's business.

An exception to this 'rule' can sometimes be made if you are already online for a client throughout the day. If you are working on other tasks for a larger client, say, every day from 9am to 3pm (and logging this time anyway), then most of our team are happy to receive calls/messages during this time.

This is very different to supporting a client on a 10-hour plan who is asking you to be available all day, "just in case" something comes through - this approach is not workable or expected.

Highly-Specialised Work

A client shouldn't see their Virtual Assistant as a 'replacement' to hiring a trained, qualified professional to carry out tasks that it's reasonable to feel should need a license or professional accreditation to be completed, or are simply very specialised in nature. For example:

• We generally can’t help with highly complex marketing campaigns involving technical implementation of SEO/SEM, PPC or affiliate marketing campaigns. You might well be able to implement certain aspects of these projects, under the guidance of the client or their marketing agency, but we shouldn't be launching highly specialised campaigns from scratch.

• We can certainly help with financial admin tasks (sending out invoices, making bill payments, etc.) but it is important to point out that we don’t offer bookkeeping, payroll or accountancy services. You can’t act as their agent with HMRC, reconcile bank transactions or prepare a VAT return, for example.

• We aren't there to provide highly-specialised advice to a client. It is one thing to recommend some CRM software, but a completely different thing to advise them how to run their business more widely. We aren't there to act as their business coach or consultant, but to assist them in the running of their business.

Spam

We also generally don’t help with:

• 'Bulk' cold-calling campaigns, where you are expected to call through a long list of cold leads. Our team don’t usually come from this type of sales-driven environment - we prefer digital or online campaigns - and client expectations are usually out of sync with the reality of such campaigns. It is one thing to follow up with an existing sales lead, and another to call through 1000 people in a database the client has purchased online.

• Sending spam emails - it is one thing to send targeted messages on LinkedIn or email (to B2B recipients), but another to send 10,000 people the client's latest newsletter, without them having asked to receive it.

Something That Doesn't "Feel Right"

• Anything both very small and short-term in nature. We aren’t a temp agency and we don’t help with small one-off projects or tasks. We support our clients on a long-term, ongoing basis, building trusting and long-lived business relationships. We feel this is a really important factor of your work with Virtalent. The client shouldn't see us as an equivalent to Fiverr!

• Anything that would reasonably make you feel uncomfortable (or break the law). We reserve the right to reject any task assigned to us, as do you. Please always let us know if you are ever asked to do something you don't want to do!

Still not sure? Do contact your Client Success Manager, they will be happy to help you with any queries.