Chartered Surveyors needed?

Core Business Virtual PA have this week been busy making it happen for E Surveyors.

Last week, E Surveyors - Chartered Surveyors of York, Harrogate and Leeds, gave Core Business Virtual PA notice that they were starting to do Homebuyer Reports. What E Surveyors were actually asking was: we are offering a new RICS product; a survey for homebuyers that not many surveyors are doing yet, so could Core Business help a little with letters, forms, site notes and the actual survey report.

Not all Chartered Surveyors are computer literate and a request came in to type a couple of letters, terms and conditions and a complaints procedure. The latter needed to be in a pdf that would be placed on the company website. This was returned quickly and the website was updated by its owner.

E Surveyors then gave Core Business Virtual PA notice that adverts were to start on google with immediate effect. While E Surveyors were carrying out a survey and valuation in Leeds, the call answering service took an enquiry from a client looking for a survey in Harrogate. Core Business Virtual PA immediately transferred the call to the Chartered Surveyor after taking brief details of the customer and what they were looking for.

Core Business Virtual PA confirmed by letter the standard terms and conditions and a form for the applicant to sign and return to E Surveyors. This immediate response enabled the surveyor to book an appointment within 2 days of the original call. All the paperwork ready for E Surveyors.

Returning from the original survey, the surveyor typed the report himself. This took several hours due to the new format and slow typing speed. The process will be quicker next time though. E Surveyors in conjunction with Core Business Virtual PA are considering ways where the standard paragraphs as used by E Surveyors will be entered in to the RICS Survey Writer software, enabling Core Business Virtual PA to type reports on behalf of E Surveyors. It is just the time it takes the surveyor to dictate the report that will hold him back from doing more jobs the same day. Core Business Virtual PA expects that once dictated the report would be turned around ready for the next working day. Perfect for any customer wanting a report quickly.

More impressively, Core Business Virtual PA can take the payment too. Card payments can be taken over the telephone immediately. The report can then be returned as soon as the customer agrees to the terms and conditions and if there is a real hurry, this could be faxed over.

So, cash buyers looking for a quick turnaround? Look to E Surveyors for your Homebuyer Report and we will do our best to make sure your survey gets to you as soon as possible.

Virtual Office in a box - Ideal for the start up business

For the start up business and small business owner looking to expand, we developed our very own Virtual PA in a box.

The retail concept is perfect for anyone who has not enjoyed the service of a Virtual Assistant before. It has everything you need including full instructions, a wallet sized credit card that quickly reminds you what to do and details of how to make the most of your very own 0845 telephone number, how to benefit from 2 weeks of call answering and 60 minutes of administration.

SO imagine this, your business goes live and you send advertising material to thousands of people. You sit by the phone waiting for it to ring - it rings - quickly you answer it and its Scoot or yellow pages trying to sell advertising space. Whilst trying to get off the phone, you have missed your first potential customer. They rang and it was engaged or went straight to answer machine.

All that advertising needs serious back up... and for just £49.99, your virtual PA has seen your advertising material, is primed and ready to go. For 2 weeks (not just a free one week trial) the calls are answered and dealt with. Sixty minutes of administration, use it to send out letters or more promotional material to interested parties. Let your PA arrange your diary, book your sales appointments, etc

For less than £50, your business can get the headstart it really needs, professionally experienced staff that knows your business from the very start and can be there for you seven days a week.

Now thats an offer you can't ignore. Buy now on-line from: http://mcconnellthomas.co.uk/catalogue.asp?id=132

My Virtual Assistant - Rhian Judd

When you are as busy as I am, having a Personal Assistant is essential. Luckily, I not only have a fantastic PA, but Rhian is also backed up by a team of equally brilliant PAs.

Rhian Judd is special and has vast experience including exceptional customer service and brilliant organisational skills. We have to be careful not to shout it too loud as we don't want her poached by another company, but when you have something you are proud of, doesn't it feel great to boast?

We are proud to announce that Rhian is our first "PA in a box". Limited edition boxes have been created and are in the process of being made available in a store/internet site near you. We have used technology from the future to reduce Rhian to just 11cm for our retail proposition and she is now available online at McConnell Thomas and awaiting release through other retail outlets.

All we need to do now is steal her DNA and mass produce the Rhian in a box worldwide.

More Virtual PAs , new customers & starting up

Core Business Virtual PA are delighted to have more new customers on board this month.

Due to the influx of new custom, we have been recruiting like mad and thanks to Cambridgeshire, the quality of applicants has been fantastic.

We also hope that others interviewed can be retained to cover busy periods (Swine Flu may result in even more new customers as Virtual PA in a box goes on the shelf).

What next for Core Business Virtual PA? We are looking at retail events with a hope of providing our services to start up businesses. Would be entrepreneurs still think they need an office and secretarial staff before going live with their business plan. With a Core Business Virtual PA, you can trial your business idea before taking it to Dragons Den. We can provide all the networking contacts and help you need when starting a new business, just give us a trial or get up and running instantly with Virtual PA in a box (£49.99 inc VAT) providing two weeks of call answering, 60 minutes of administration, an allocated 0845 telephone number and full instructions to get going.

Swine flu - Prevention is better than a cure

Swine Flu has hit the UK and reports suggest that the pandemic will get much worse.

Small and large businesses are likely to suffer and measures need to be taken now to be ready for disaster recovery.

Unlike the millenium bug and bird flu, we can already see the virus spreading and once schools return and autumn sets in, the virus will be so widespread that everyone will know someone close who has had it. That it won't be harmful to the majority will not reassure UK companies as they count the cost of closing offices, as if trading conditions weren't already difficult enough.

The solution, apart from Beechams releasing a cure? Core Business Virtual PA. Set up the service now and be ready to divert those calls when staff can longer get in for a few days or purchase Virtual PA in a Box and be ready with 2 weeks of calls answered and 60 minutes of administration.

Core Business Virtual PA - Prevention of a problem is better than a cure.

Virtual PA - Personalised Call Answering

Q) When is a Virtual PA not a Virtual PA?
A) When you don't know your PA's real name.

Core Business Virtual PA has spent eight years perfecting the art of handling calls seven days a week for hundreds of different businesses. We believe we are the best in the market and that is down to a brilliant team and technology that is constantly being upgraded.

Q) How does it work?
A) Each company is allocated a named PA, for example; Rhian.
Rhian then spends some time getting familiar with her new customer, finding out what they do, the people behind the company, their customers and what they want from their PA. For our PAs, it is a bit like being on their first day of work each time they get a new customer, but it doesn't take them long to get into their stride.

Rhian then passes on as much relevant information to her back up team and enters all details and information onto the computer system.

Half an hour later, a call comes in and Rhian confidently answers the call fully aware of what she needs to do. Whilst on the phone, another call comes in for the same company and Hayley answers the call exactly the same and again with full knowledge of the company.

This is not a call centre, this is a team of professional PAs working at their best.

A free trial is available to anyone, and this really helps people who have never heard of or experienced this type of service before. Or if you are already using a Call Answering service, then our trial will show you the difference in quality and help move your business to the next level with all the possibility of a far more pro-active relationship.

Depeche Mode tickets in Paris

As a Virtual PA, we are regularly asked to obtain tickets for events, flight or train details or pretty much anything by our customers.

A while ago, we were asked by a client to obtain tickets for a concert in Paris. Depeche Mode were selling out fast everywhere and the client wanted to take his wife desperately.

After a little translation and prior investigation, we established when the tickets would go up for sale, price range of tickets and informed our client we would do our best to get tickets.

Success, 2 fantastic seated tickets were arranged as requested and received a few weeks ago.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, our client can no longer go and told us of his disappointment. We suggested that we could sell the tickets on his behalf through ebay and he was thrilled. He has little time to spend putting items for sale on ebay and posting them out, etc.

Just another example of how we are so much more than just a call answering service.

More than just Call Answering

On a daily basis, Core Business Virtual PA receives hundreds of calls from people across the world, but very few of the callers really know they are speaking to someone at Core PA.

Almost eight years since conception, Gail Thomas remembers how it all began. Having left the corporate world as E-Commerce Director at Whittard of Chelsea, the first thing Gail needed was a PA. She spoke to friends to discuss the idea of sharing a PA and looked at what equipment they would need. Virtual Assistants or Virtual PAs were uncommon at this time and the software required for the computer system had to be made to measure.

Hard work and ambition has driven the team to aspire to be market leaders of the Virtual Assistant industry. There are very few teams of VAs and even fewer that operate 7 days a week from their very own offices. None of the work needs to be outsourced and they have the capability to grow much bigger. Whilst Call Handling is a huge part of the job, its the professionalism that the team provides that sets Core PA apart from Call Centres; the ability to carry out tasks with energy and depth and not be scared to provide their own input. After all, that is what you would expect from a core member of your team.

Core Business Virtual PA has exciting news to be unveiled in the next few weeks that should provide every small business and individual access to the hidden Virtual PA secret. It might even provide the answer they have been looking for when considering "What if Swine Flu hits my business?" or "It's holiday season, how can I afford temporary staff wages and find the time to train them?" or perhaps a great idea for Fathers Day...

Core Business Virtual PA - Every good business should have at least one

New Virtual PA Recruits

Core Business Virtual PA is delighted to welcome two new virtual assistants to our Peterborough offices. Both PAs have hit the floor running and are already answering calls and carrying out administration for various clients throughout the UK.

With local press including radio and newspapers recently interviewing Gail Thomas, Managing Director of Core Business Virtual PA, with regard to "benefits of working for a woman", it comes with no surprise that the amount of quality applicants surpassed anything we had seen before when looking to grow the team.

Good luck girls, welcome to the Core PA family and Happy Call Answering!

Virtual PA - secretaries on Ebay

This week we have been looking at new strategies for advertising our services.

Our first move this week was with google base, an online shopping tool to help businesses showcase their products through Google shopping.

Next we looked at Ebay which has developed into a massive on-line sales tool over the past few years. But, does the service industry suit this portal? How many people search ebay for a virtual assistant? We used Ebay this week for a trial offering our services in two forms:

1 - auction
2 - Buy now

It would appear that just a handful of people would consider searching ebay for a PA, so is it worth adverting a service on ebay? To us every potential customer is important and we might just continue advertising in this way.

Bryony Stocks

A day in the life of a Virtual PA

Not the usual office based day, but what is ‘normal’ when you work for several different businesses that all do very different things.

One of my clients asked me to assist with planning and inviting guests to a launch event of a new product and this is how my day went...

6:30am - Caught train for 2.5 hour journey.

9:00am – Arrived at destination.

9:30am – Started to prepare and set up events rooms, including decorations, stationery etc.

12:30pm – Lunched on sandwich whilst ‘on the go’.

5:30pm – Showered and changed ready for clients’ event.

6:30pm – ‘Meet and Greet’ customers and pre-dinner cocktails.

7:30pm – Hosted a dinner table with top VIP clients, giving them information about my customers’ business and forming excellent relationships for the future.

11:00pm – Evening ended.

I had a very busy, yet fulfilling day and really enjoyed the challenge. The following day I was sitting at my desk, in the office working on some data entry for another customer – it’s the wide variety of work that I love.

Virtual PA - Press Release

Gail Thomas, founder of Core Business Virtual PA, opened ethical shops in North Yorkshire to highlight her desire to live a sustainable way of life and provide a healthy upbringing for her two children.

Core PA has organically grown over the past eight years and due to a fantastic team ethic, the business has really established itself in the marketplace. With Sue Slack-Humphrey in the driving seat, Gail delighted in loosening the grip and looked at ways of expanding and other ventures she could capitalise on.

Success was also inevitable for Gail at McConnell Thomas and the shops were recently named 9th in The Independent's Top 50 Delicatessens with further hopes of gaining recognition in the future as a leading Organic retailer.

The ambition with Core Business Virtual PA is by no means dampened and in fact, she soon hopes to announce plans for substantial growth in an industry that is now gaining momentum, without losing its core values of high customer service and quality personal assistants.

Gary Edgar
Corporate Sales Manager
http://www.corebusinessvirtulap.com/

Virtual Secretary - World Cup 2010 South Africa

www.corebusinessvirtualpa.com


England line up against Ukraine on April Fools Day and look to get another win and a step closer to South Africa next year.


Whilst in the offices of Core Business Virtual PA, a conversation took place between a Personal Assistant and a caller asking whether her company will be offering organised trips in South Africa for the World Cup. The call was dealt with very professionally and the caller would never know that Toni, who took the call, did not in fact work for the company in question.


Details of the interested party were taken and forwarded on to the tour operator which will be dealt with once they are ready. The client is delighted with this service; being able to be open seven days a week on the off chance that one call may come in. Under the pay as you go contract, the client just paid for this one call to be dealt with. Hugely cheaper than opening an office, paying electricity, telephone and rent even before the cost of a full time secretary.




Gary Edgar

How to get your own virtual PA

http://www.corebusinessvirtualpa.com/


Who Needs a Virtual PA?

You, if you’re a start up, from day one, you get credibility, a bit of company and space to think whilst you launch and push for the first flush of business.

You, if you’re a one man band, suddenly you’re not on your own, you have a consistent named PA to add to your team, make you look bigger and of course give valuable help.

You, if you’re part of an established team, because you’re not quite ready to employ someone else, or you need overflow at busy times, or holiday cover or whatever, so you don’t lose calls and can comfortably get on with your job knowing all is in hand.

You, if your business is seasonal and you know you can manage the majority of the time, but it’s handy to have the same well-briefed PA that you’ve come to know every season.

You, if you’re an employee in a corporate organisation, with a project or initiative that needs additional headcount, but no need or no budget to recruit a new team member, now you can have the best of both worlds, the same temp that can be available for you time after time, to pick up where she left off.

Each PA of course, with the benefit of a small, well trained back up team to ensure that standards of service are met during busier times.

And its easy to get started, just call 0845 226 8496 or email g.edgar@corebusinessvirtualpa.com

Secretarial support; introducing virtual PA services

Your Virtual PA will take some of the pressure from you allowing you to concentrate on the more important and business critical aspects of your role. Typically she can:

• Deal with all VIP clients
• Handle all new memberships to a loyalty scheme
• Receive calls from retail stores and administrate the retail incentive schemes
• Book places on to training courses for an in-house training department
• Book all management medicals for numerous corporate clients
• Take the phones for meeting or holiday cover, it’s easy to divert calls
  

Our virtual PAs have also been known to sort concert tickets, arrange flowers and gifts, send cards, and be happy recipients of the odd in-tray to sort through, file, and courier back to the office. They can also proof-read, type, receive dictation, and respond to generic enquiries and written correspondence. Oh and you can also have posted mail directed to our office here, so the first you see of it is when it’s all done, dusted and dealt with and it arrives at your office in a box ready for sending to archives, or if you like, on a disc ready for filing.

The benefits are obvious, and working remotely is easy once you get used to it.

Your virtual PA is paid to take initiative and is flexible, professional, personal, friendly and will do a great job.

http://www.corebusinessvirtualpa.com/