Question 1

How should I share files with my VA?

Accepted Answer

Need a way to share files and folders? Many clients will provide their VA with a G Suite, Zoho or MS 365 email account within their own business, which will allow their VA to work within their existing online storage system. Is this worth considering?

If not, we recommend making use of the Portal. Just head to the Files tab! Anything saved here can be seen by you and any Virtalent VA working on your account.
For one-off uses and larger transfers, perhaps try using WeTransfer. This simple tool allows you to send files up to 2GB for free.

Question 2

How should I share passwords and sensitive information with my VA?

Accepted Answer

Using a dedicated password-sharing app such as LastPass or PassPack allows you and your VA to safely share sensitive and confidential data. This could range from passport details to passwords.

A dedicated app will keep everything in one place and access can be revoked by you whenever necessary, giving you complete peace of mind.

Question 3

Can my VA pay for things using my Credit Card?

Accepted Answer

Should you need your VA to use your Credit or Debit card to make payments on your behalf, we recommend sharing these details safely through a password vault. We like LastPass, but Passpack is popular too.

If frequent expenses are likely to be encountered, we recommend arranging a prepaid debit card that you can "top up" for your VA to use. Good examples of this are Pockit, Revolut, Google Pay and Soldo.

Though we encourage all clients to manage any costs or bills themselves, we do also offer the facility for your VA to log expenses to your account if needed. We appreciate that in some circumstances, this may just be the most sensible solution.

If your VA needs to log an expense (e.g. printing costs) they will first try to estimate the cost and get your confirmation that you are happy to accommodate this. Once your VA logs the expense to the portal, it will be added onto your next invoice from Virtalent (and we'll reimburse them for this cost directly).

Please never ask for your VA's bank details - a secure expensing process is there in place of needing to do this. You can find more information about this here.

Your Client Success Manager and your VA will be very happy to advise you on the most appropriate solution.

Question 4

How does holiday cover work?

Accepted Answer

Is your VA going on holiday? As soon as your VA lets us know, we’ll make sure you are aware when they plan to be away (though they'll likely to have told you anyway).

**Our main priority as a team is to ensure your account is not disrupted.

We’ll look at who we have available to provide cover, with a similar background and skill set to your usual Virtual Assistant.
We'll send you their profile, so you can understand more about them.
If you’re happy with our choice, your usual VA will provide a full handover to the second VA. This usually includes a "handover document" (a set of notes), followed by a phone call together closer to the time. This handover is completed without logging any time to your account (i.e. we cover this time ourselves), and follows a tried and tested process.
You'll be told when this has been done, and can then get started with your new VA as soon as your usual VA goes away. Don't worry, you'll have their phone number and email address well ahead of time.
When they're back, your VA will hand back over to your usual VA.

Question 5

What tasks can Virtalent NOT help me with?

Accepted Answer

There generally isn't very much we can't help you with - these areas would generally fall under the following 'categories'.

Being "On Call"

As you work with your Virtual Assistant on a 1:1 basis and they only log time spent working to support you, we feel it is unfair to ask any member of our team to be available 24/7, "on call". Our team prefer to log in and out of your account, completing any work required, as set tasks. Our support is not pooled, as you would find at a Virtual Receptionist service.

This means we will usually avoid asking any Virtalent VA to answer live chat messages on-demand or handle your incoming calls, throughout the day, although we can recommend some great providers that many other clients at Virtalent already use in tandem with their VA. These tasks would require your VA to be online every minute, all day, as it's simply impossible to know when these chats or calls could come in to your business.

Highly-Specialised Work

You should try not to view your Virtual Assistant as a 'replacement' to hiring a trained, qualified professional to carry out tasks that it's reasonable to feel would 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. We are likely to be able to help implement certain aspects of these projects, under your guidance or that of a marketing agency, however, your Virtalent VA shouldn't be launching highly specialised, large budget 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. We can’t act as your agent with HMRC, reconcile bank transactions or prepare a VAT return, for example.
We cannot offer strategic business advice. Your VA is likely to make operational recommendations (their favourite CRM platform, for example), however should not be seen as a business coach or consultant - they are there to assist you in the day-to-day tasks involved in running your business, rather than lead it.

Spam

We also generally don’t help with:

'Bulk' cold-calling campaigns, where your VA is asked 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. It is one thing to follow up with an existing sales lead, and another to call through 1000 people in a database 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 your latest newsletter, without them having asked to receive it. We will say "no" to anything that breaks GDPR legislation.

Something That Doesn't "Feel Right"

Anything that would reasonably make us feel uncomfortable (or break the law). We reserve the right to reject any task assigned to us, as does your VA.

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

Question 6

What's your address?

Accepted Answer

Virtalent's HQ address - used for mail and invoicing - is Virtalent Ltd, Charles House, 148-149 Gt Charles Street, Birmingham, B3 3HT, United Kingdom.

Please always make your Client Success Manager aware ahead of sending any physical mail to our address.

Question 7

How often should I "check in" with my VA?

Accepted Answer

After working with anyone for some time, whether that's your Virtalent Virtual Assistant or a member of staff, it's likely you'll both have settled into a comfortable working pattern.

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

Could they be adding even more value to your day? Has something changed?

Revisit Your Initial 'Brief'

Your VA will be able to go back to the original 'brief', created by our Client Engagement Manager following your initial consultation call with Virtalent. They will also revisit any notes they have subsequently made from your first few calls together.

It's a good time to review if you are delegating all of the tasks you originally spoke to Virtalent about. If not, why have you decided not to delegate something? Could there be an opportunity to do so now?

Likewise, now that you’ve established a good working relationship with your VA and you feel comfortable delegating tasks, consider where else they could add value. Are they skilled in a certain area that you didn’t realise at first or have you started working on a new project where you think their experience could be relevant? Your VA will always be happy to get involved in other projects and collaborate on new ideas.

At Virtalent, our goal as a team is not only to take care of the day-to-day tasks and projects you need support with, but ultimately we also want to help you grow your businesses and realise your ambitions. What more can we do to support you on your journey?

Remember, we have a multi-skilled team available - if your current VA doesn't have the right skill set for a particular set of responsibilities, it's likely a colleague of theirs can be added to your account who will. From social media to customer service, we have it covered!

You can see more ideas of tasks we can help with here.

Keep Your Goals In Mind

Think back to when you started together. Why did you hire a Virtual Assistant, in the first place? Whether this was to save time or access new skills, it can be useful to review whether you feel you have achieved your original goal(s).

Have you achieved what you set out to do?
What has changed for you since working with your VA, both personally and professionally?
What are your short-term and long-term goals now?
Do you have a different focus now or does this remain the same?
How will your VA help you to hit those goals?

Keep On Communicating

When you are so busy running and growing a business, 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 built together at the start of your relationship.

It's a good idea to ensure you set aside time with your VA to ensure they have 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!

Question 8

What does my Client Success Manager do?

Accepted Answer

All clients at Virtalent are assigned a dedicated Client Success Manager.

Your Client Success Manager is not only there to answer your questions and resolve any queries you might have whilst working with us, but also to proactively help you get the most out of the service we offer.

Software recommendations? Delegation tips? A sounding board for your latest project? Alongside your VA, our team want to make sure you’re leveraging your time efficiently and effectively.

You can reach your CSM by dialling 0330 120 0477 or emailing support@virtalent.com.

Question 9

Is my work kept confidential?

Accepted Answer

Given the nature of our business and the clients we support, confidentiality is paramount to Virtalent. From law firms to IP consultants - it is intrinsic to the work we do.

On a practical level, our legally-binding contract with you contains a number of strict confidentiality clauses that we must adhere to.

We also hold both a contract with all of our VAs, which mirrors these aspects of confidentiality, and also a separate Data Processing Agreement.

The Virtalent DPA contains further confidentiality clauses and also clearly establishes our team of VAs as “Data Processors” and Virtalent as the “Data Controller”. In practice, this means that any data or information to which you give us access, which is used or processed by any member of the Virtalent team, is legally safeguarded at all times. The support we provide your business (and your end customer base) is 100% GDPR compliant.

All legal agreements at Virtalent have been written entirely from scratch, by a reputable, specialist law firm, and are regularly reviewed. Given the complex nature of our business model it is a matter we have gone to great lengths to ensure we have addressed extensively.

For complete peace of mind, Virtalent also hold comprehensive Professional Indemnity cover which covers any work we complete for you, from the very minute you create an account with us.

Still not sure? We have an NDA template you can make use of. Just let us know if this would be useful to you!

Questions? Please let your Client Success Manager know on support@virtalent.com.

Question 10

What data security measures do you have in place?

Accepted Answer

Given the nature of our work, we take data security very seriously - we are also 100% GDPR compliant across all of our processes.

We are registered with the ICO and far exceed all industry best practices.
We maintain a strict Confidentiality Agreement with you, as part of our standard terms.
On a practical level, the vast majority of clients prefer to use their existing cloud-based collaboration tools with their Virtalent Virtual Assistant. You might like to give them an Office 365 or Google G Suite account, for example. Your VA will work under your instructions, so please specify how you would like them to save any documents they are working on for you.
If this is not possible or convenient for you, all VAs are given their own Virtalent email address and you both have access to a shared file storage area within the portal.
Oh and our portal? Not only is this protected by secure login access, but all data is transferred over a 256-bit encrypted SSL connection.

Data security is a complex topic. We have a number of measures in place, so please contact us for more information if this is important to you.