Today a client asked if I could take some of the overflow of calls from their office. I was wondering how this usually works. What would I need to set this up and what would be the cost? Thanks. Suzanna

I would say no, but that's a personal preference. I have spent over three years taking phone calls for a reservations office in hotels and I'm still doing it even with the new job I started a few weeks ago at a new company and in a position where I wouldn't be doing that with any other company in my industry.

When you take calls, you are almost literally tied to the phone. It's incredibly frustrating. It also means that one of the greatest things about being a VA (that of working when and where you want) is eliminated because you are tied to that phone waiting for calls. It also means that you are probably going to be interrupted every few minutes to take a call even when you are deep in a project for that client or for someone else and really don't have time for it.

My family asks me why I don't call them very often. I think you can see why I don't.

I agree. It could snowball into you being on the phone more than you would want. There's really no way to determine how much overflow the client has on a day to day basis.

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Angi Shields
www.clericalessentials.com

I have to agree with everyone. This is a big NO. I hate being on the phone, probably because when I working on the job I was the main person answering the phone in addition to everything else I had to do. The greatest thing to me about being a VA is doing the work that I love to do, and talking on the phone is my least favorite. I don't even have a phone anymore, actually I use Skype and my cell phone and it works perfectly. A point brought up that I find very true is when you are working on a project and the phone rings. You have to stop what you're doing to answer the phone and get involved in another project. Then you have to get back to your original project. You have to spend time remembering where you left off so in the end you spend more time doing your own work because of these interruptions. Your client may want to think about hiring an answering service for her overflow. The only time I talk on the phone is when I have a time set up for it so then it's easier for me with less stress. In summary, phone work to me is like having a job only you're working at home and you have to be on call the whole time. Not for me.

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JoCarole
http://www.shoreofficeservices.com

If you packaged the service as "slots" of time where you are "on call" then that solves the problem of being tied to the phone 24/7 and it interrupting your personal life and other work. So for example, a client could pay you to be "on call" monday, wednesday, and friday afternoons.

During the time you are on call you could do some "light" admin work on your own business (e.g. making sure your expenses are up-to-date). That gives you something productive to do instead of just waiting by the phone, and it isn't much of an issue if that kind of thing is interrupted when the phone does ring.

From a technical point of view, you would need some kind of phone system or call handling software that allows you to forward calls to different numbers. Either that's something you could offer as part of the service, or it might be something the client has in place already, it depends what kind of clients you have.

You might find some useful links in the Virtual PBX thread

I would say no, but like the others it's a personal preference.

I do have one client I work with on project management, with them I have a phone number that has their local area code that forwards to my office number. With that though I'm not handling phone overload it's so folks inside and outside the company can contact me directly regarding the specific projects I'm working on and it's a little less obvious that I work in a different state.

Also remember the cost to your business to have a phone system that can handle a large volume of calls. Do you have unlimited minutes on your current office phone plan? I know some folks have voip set ups that offer only so many minutes.

I'm with JoCarole on this one - I will not answer calls because I do not need that interruption when I am working on a project either for that same client or for another one. For me, the time it takes to get back up to speed on where you were when the phone rang is lost time and money. I spent many years in a call centre and perhaps that is why I do not want to be tied to a phone, but I think it's mainly because when I am focussed I want to deliver the best that I can for the client I am working on and getting interrupted is taking me away from delivering that service.
But, some people do enjoy doing that and are fully equipped to deal with calls. Everyone has, like others have said, their own preference.
It comes down really to whether YOU want to do it, and whether you want to invest in the technology required for one client, or whether you want to extend that to other clients.
Good luck with your decision.

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Tracy
Eternal VA

I have to agree. I do NOT take live calls. I will return messages, but I do not live answer. As far as I am concerned if a client wants me to live answer calls during the business day (lets say 9-5) then I am "on the clock" for them during this whole time and I would need to bill them for 8 hours each day regardless of of the number of calls that I actually took. Since this is usually not economically feasible for the client, I do not offer the service.

If you do offer this service it is best if the client is utilizing a virtual PBX system like RingCentral.

Julie

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Julie | Virtual Resource Services, Inc (VRSI)
http://www.vrsioffice.com

Taking calls is a personal preference, and the ability to have a quiet house will also tell you whether or not you should do this.

I was going to answer you exactly the same way TimCraft did. If you want to offer this, it needs to be on your terms since this is your business. They can book you for time slots that work with you and your schedule. If this doesn't work for them, offer to help them find a service that specializes in it.

When a client comes up with something new, it's so easy to want to find a way to help them, but you really need to ask yourself if it's something that you really want to do or you will end up resenting your client and those time periods.

And finally, if you do choose to do it, don't undervalue yourself by discounting your rate while you're on call. If you bill based on an hourly model, that IS time spent working.

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April Sullivan
The REVA Academy