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Business owners, good customer service is necessary for business growth. The way you or your staff interact with your customers can make or break your company, so this isn’t an area you want to overlook. Many CEOs have learned the hard way that providing a good or service is not enough to keep their customers coming back. However, superb customer service skills can help you retain customers, boost sales, and build a solid reputation.

While the majority of business owners intend to provide good customer service, sometimes other business responsibilities get in the way. It’s difficult to respond to emails and phone calls in a timely fashion when you’re overwhelmed by other tasks on your ever-growing to-do list. A growing business can easily pull you in many different directions, and inevitably, the ball will get dropped somewhere. Therefore, to avoid losing clients or having leads make their way to your competitors, it might be best to hire a customer service virtual assistant.

What is a Customer Service Virtual Assistant?

A customer service virtual assistant is someone who acts as a point of contact between a company and its customers. Their responsibilities are similar to that of customer service representatives and client relationship managers, except they work remotely.

Many virtual assistants who specialize in customer care are self-employed, meaning that they’re business owners themselves. As a result, you don’t have to pay for insurance benefits, workers’ compensation, paid time off, etc. They are responsible for those things, as well as providing their own work equipment.

Do note that hiring virtual assistants isn’t the same as hiring a remote employee.

Why Hire a Customer Support Virtual Assistant?

Maybe you’re on the fence about hiring virtual assistants to handle your customer service tasks, but here are a few things to consider:

  • Almost 90% of people are more likely to make another purchase after a good customer service experience.

  • Nearly 70% of individuals state that they are willing to pay more for products and services from an organization known to offer good customer service experiences.

  • Boosting customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by between 25% and 95%.

  • Over half of customers switch to a competitor after just one poor experience.

customer service virtual assistants doing customer queries

In a nutshell, customer service is pretty essential! But we understand that it can be time-consuming to handle on your own. A customer support virtual assistant is a flexible and budget-friendly solution for those who aren’t quite ready to bring on a part-time or full-time employee. Maybe you just need one or two virtual assistants who can provide assistance on your busier days or during those times when you need to step away from your business.

An experienced virtual customer support assistant can step in when you need them most and adapt to your changing business needs. They should also already have a good grasp on solid customer communication so you can focus on other endeavors.

Flexible

Customer support virtual assistants only work when you need them to. So, if some months are busier than others, they can adjust. In addition, if you need assistance after hours or during the weekends, that may also be possible.

Efficient

We match our clients to top-tier U.S.-based virtual customer service assistants with the specialized office skills required to complete the duties you need help with most. As a result, they are less likely to waste time or money when handling to-dos.

Cost Effective

Customer service virtual assistants are responsible for paying their own taxes, benefits, and computer equipment, allowing business owners to save more than they would with in-house employees.

What Qualities Do Great Customer Service Virtual Assistants Have?

There are certain traits you should look for when hiring someone for a client-facing position. We’d say that the best customer service virtual assistants have the following skills:

  • Conflict resolution: When a customer brings up an issue with a product or service, the virtual assistant should respond with a satisfactory solution that aligns with company policies.
  • Adaptable: The ideal virtual assistant has the ability to adjust to changing expectations, trends, strategies, etc.
  • Experienced: Great virtual assistants have years of experience providing similar assistance to other businesses and have undergone rigorous training in managing customer care duties.
  • Active listener: A customer service virtual assistant should fully listen to the client, ensure they understand their request, and respond thoughtfully.
  • Emotional intelligence: If a customer is disrespectful during an interaction, you want a virtual assistant to remain calm and deal with the manner professionally the entire time. It’s essential that they know how to manage their emotions at all times.
  • Outstanding communication skills: Whether they’re providing phone support or handling customer queries via email or text, a customer support virtual assistant should communicate clearly and consistently.

When is the Best Time to Hire a Customer Support Virtual Assistant?

Timing matters when hiring a virtual assistant. If you hire way too early, you may find yourself lacking assignments to give to your virtual assistant, which isn’t ideal for either party. And if you hire too late, you risk having unsatisfied clients who are displeased with the level of communication. This can be disastrous for small businesses, as it’s much more difficult for them to recover from poor remarks.

You want to strive to provide excellent results, professionalism, and superb value at all times.

As a result, we think it’s better to hire virtual assistants before you absolutely need to. Waiting until you’re already spread too thin will make it difficult to organize the onboarding of a customer support VA. Keep in mind that hiring and training someone takes a great deal of time and patience. If it’s already chaotic, trying to add someone else to the mix may make it harder for them to help you.

So, here’s what we suggest:

Virtual Assistant for Interior Designer
  • If you’re starting to miss deadlines, orders are going unfulfilled, and customers are waiting days to hear back from you, hire a customer support VA.
  • If you have team members/employees who find it difficult to process orders and respond to lead and customer inquiries, hire a virtual customer support assistant.
  • Are you starting to say โ€œnoโ€ to new clients because you fear that you won’t be able to keep up? If yes, then it’s likely time to hire someone.
  • If your high-value employees are spending too much time doing mundane work that doesn’t utilize the skill set you hired them for, you should hire a customer service virtual assistant.

14 Tasks a Virtual Customer Support Assistant Can Do

Are you uncertain about the work you could assign to a customer service VA? Not a problem! They could help your company by:

  • Resolving customer complaints and providing adequate solutions
  • Responding to lead and customer inquiries
  • Handling client interactions via multiple channels: text, email support, phone support, live chat support via business website, Slack, social media platforms, etc.
  • Being knowledgeable about products and service offerings and then relaying that information to others
  • Maintaining records of interactions and transactions while also managing customer data with care
  • Upselling offers
  • Processing orders
  • Following up on answering service phone calls
  • Using scheduling tools to book appointments
  • Helping your team provide effective communication, a friendly presence, and a positive experience to all leads and customers
  • Reaching out to previous customers to inform them of new products and services
  • Identifying ways to improve the customer service process and boost customer loyalty
  • Sending order updates so customers know what’s happening every step of the way
  • Completing other important tasks that may arise
customer virtual assistant for phone support

While customer support virtual assistants can perform several other important duties, we wanted to name a few to help you consider how they could assist you.

Do Customer Service Virtual Assistants Work On-Call?

Most virtual assistants don’t work on an on-call basis. You’ll find that the majority of virtual assistants work with multiple clients. Therefore, if they’re working on another client’s to-do list when a phone call for your business comes in, that call may be missed.

If you want your customer service VA to respond to incoming calls or live chat support interactions in real-time, be sure to hire them for a specific block of time. This will ensure that they’re dedicated solely to your customer service and administrative work during that timeframe.

We’ve also devised an efficient approach for companies that don’t need on-call support but want their clients responded to within a reasonable timeframe. Ask us about it!

How Can I Prepare for a Virtual Customer Support Assistant?

Proper preparation is the key to having a smooth hiring experience. The last thing you want to do when hiring a virtual assistant is โ€œwing it.โ€ This method will make it difficult for you and your future virtual professional, so it’s better to be proactive about the hiring process. Therefore, here are some suggestions on how to best prepare:

customer service virtual assistant helping with scheduling
  • 1
    Create a complete list of important tasks that you currently do
  • 2
    Circle the duties you don’t like to do and don’t know how to do, as these are the to-dos you should delegate. Don’t forget to include administrative support and technical support duties.
  • 3
    Place an asterisk by the obligations that you’ll keep as a business owner
  • 4
    Document work instructions (aka SOPs) so your future virtual assistant can refer to those when needed unless you want them to do customer service tasks their own way
  • 5
    Decide how many hours you’ll need your virtual assistant per month and if you’re okay with them working in different time zones
  • 6
    Determine your budget for hiring a virtual assistant, including any software/tools (e.g., phone system or CRM) they may need to work within your business. Will they need to handle multi platform support or just be proficient in one area?
  • 7
    Consider if you need someone that’s bilingual or if it’s okay if they’re just proficient in the English language
  • 8
    Schedule a discovery call with Imperative Concierge Services so we can match you to the best virtual assistant(s) for your personal and business needs

Ready to Find Your Ideal Virtual Customer Support Assistant?

customer support virtual assistant

If you’re tired of handling all of the customer support to-dos yourself or want your employees to focus on other tasks, you’re at the right place. Since 2015, we’ve matched our clients with high-quality, U.S.-based virtual assistants who are ready to use their experience to help you. All you need to do now is schedule a discovery call below so we can learn more about your business needs. We can assist you with personal matters as well if that’s something you’re looking for.

Our mission is to make outsourcing seamless for busy professionals like yourself. By partnering with us, you don’t have to create or post a job description, review hundreds of portfolios, or try to schedule multiple interviews. We’ll handle the time-consuming details because we know you’re already busy enough. Then, once we align you with your virtual assistant, we’ll continue to support you every step of the way.

Book A Discovery Call Today

If you’re interested in learning more about our virtual assistant services, schedule a discovery call below. We’re ready to align you with a customer service virtual professional! And if you need administrative services, too, we’ve got you covered!

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