Missed Calls, Lost Jobs – How a VA Solved It All | 85

I’ve run my electrical business stress-free while travelling - thanks to virtual assistants. In this episode, I share exactly how I use VAs for phones, admin, and lead management, plus my simple system for training them. You’ll also hear my “Three-Lancer Technique” for finding the perfect VA without wasting time or money.

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Transcript

 Complete the task in the business from the other side of the world. Welcome to Simplified Sparky Marketing.

My eyes were opened to virtual assistants in 2016. My mate, who was a plumber, was getting coaching at the time, and he advised and referred a lot of his members to a virtual assistant to handle their phones — which I’m still with to this day.

It was an unbelievable experience for me because how this all came about was I was going on my annual trip back overseas, and I started to panic. I thought, What the fuck is going to happen with the business? Who’s going to answer the phones? Who’s going to look after stuff when people call up? The biggest thing was just not leaving clients in the lurch — be it answering an email or a phone call.

So I jumped on a call and had a meeting with this company, and I was very surprised. I went into that call thinking, ignorantly, that they wouldn’t know how to handle calls for an electrical business. But I was wrong. They ran through their process and gave an example:

“If someone calls up wanting PowerPoints installed and a ceiling fan, we’ll ask if there’s roof access, underfloor access, and if there are RCDs protecting the circuits.”

I was blown away — it was like they knew more than I did! That’s when I first got a taste of using a virtual assistant. I hired them there and then. I was able to go overseas for a few weeks completely panic-free, knowing the phones would be answered and emails responded to.

I started with the phone answering company, which is based in Burleigh Heads. I’m pretty particular about this — I want phones answered locally so there’s a familiar, local touch when people call. We’ve all had those overseas call centre experiences where you can tell instantly, and sometimes, particularly with the Philippines, the tonality can be a bit off-putting. So I keep phone answering local.

That’s the first VA I hired — a team for my phones. The second came when I realised I could use a VA for admin tasks like emails and job management. I scoured a few websites and found an amazing one who’s been with me for about five years now.

Her day-to-day looks like this:

• Monitoring my inbox for enquiries.
• Entering new leads manually into ServiceM8.
• Sending job templates or seeking extra info to quote jobs.
• Moving jobs around in the job queues.
• Following up on leads.

A lot of this can be automated, but you still need a human touch. You need eyes and ears on the ground who have the common sense to respond to things automation can’t.

And here’s the best bit — for a fraction of the cost of an in-house admin in Australia, you can hire a VA. This is why I’m completely stress-free about going overseas in a week and a half. Calls are handled, admin runs like clockwork, and everything follows a process.

But here’s what you need to know: many people hire a VA and think they’ll just know the business better than the owner. That’s absolute rubbish. You must have systems in place. Don’t overcomplicate it. My systems are simple — 30-second screen-share videos explaining how I want a process done. I store these in a Google Sheet alongside a list of tasks. That’s it.

These systems mean my VA knows exactly what to do whether I’m in the office or on a beach in Europe. Without them, you’re screwed.

When hiring, I use something I call the Three-Lancer Technique. I shortlist three candidates from a platform like Upwork, give them the exact same paid trial task (costs me under $50 total), and see who nails it best. That’s the winner.

Don’t expect your VA to be a jack-of-all-trades either. Hire for specific skills — admin, social media, marketing, bookkeeping. My admin VA works 3 hours a day, 15 hours a week. My phone answering service charges a monthly line fee plus $5–6 per call. Some people balk at that, but here’s the truth: if you miss a call, you might lose a $10,000 job. It’s an investment, not an expense.

There’s so much VAs can do — graphic design, outreach, data research. For example, they can scrape emails for a specific target market so you can run ads to them. The opportunities are huge if you hire and train them right.

If you want my VA hiring checklist with job ads, platform links, and tips, check the link in the show notes. And if you’ve got questions, send me a DM. See you next week.