Hire a Virtual Assistant

I own a small business and I'm looking for an incredible virtual executive assistant in the USA with a professional, friendly voice and exceptional customer service skills for a (hopefully) long-term engagement. I'm currently using a professional answering service, but my customers have voiced complaints that they are often not very nice. We're looking to fix that! :) Responsibilities include: - Telephone/email customer service and incoming sales - Assisting customers with questions and concerns - Scheduling/modifying appointments - Data entry *** USA Applicants *** Due to logistics, it important that only those who operate within the United States apply. Preferably in the Central or Eastern Time Zone, but any time zone is fine. *** More about us *** I run a mobile computer repair business and people call in (residential or business) with minor or complicated computer, network or television issues (I do that too). Since we are a mobile service, they usually expect someone to come out to their location. We need someone that can carefully listen to what the problem/need is and professionally direct them to the best service and schedule them. Calls usually lasts anywhere from 5-15 minutes. *** Scheduling *** If someone agrees to the service, you can quickly search for the customer in our web-based system or add them as a new client. Our system will then direct you to schedule, showing all available times. Once the client agrees to a time, you can select it and click "schedule" and the appointment will be set and call finished. If the customer needs you to squeeze them in to a time earlier than what the system decides (for a "priority" up-charge), you can manually go to the Google Calendar back-end and find a place to put them in. *** Incoming Calls *** Incoming calls are from 9am - 5pm, Monday-Friday Eastern Standard Time (USA). Our call volume averages anywhere from 1 to 15 calls a day. Seriously, some days there is only one call. Voicemails come in the form of email and can be returned later. We use an online PBX system, which means I can direct calls to your cell phone or home phone or both at the same time. You'll know it's a business call because the phone call will prompt you to press "1" on your phone to accept it. *** It's OK to miss calls *** It is completely understandable if you miss a call. We cannot afford to hire a real assistant that can stand by the phone line 9-5 every day. We understand you have other work to do as a virtual assistant or may need an hour lunch break. That's ok and understandable. It's even possible that you may be on the phone with one of our customers and cannot even take another incoming call. We have a log that shows every call, including missed calls. We just ask that you occasionally review the log and return missed calls when its convenient. *** Technical Experience *** You don't have to have major technical knowledge, just a basic understanding of our small handful of services so as to direct people in the right direction. You'll eventually learn to become familiar with what we do and don't do. *** Eye in the Sky *** I like to call this position my "eye in the sky." It's so important for a small operation like mine since I'm on the road all day and need someone to hold down the operation. That leaves the schedule and my day in your hands. If I'm running late, I'll simply text you and you'll need to either call other appointments and let them know or reschedule them if necessary. Urgent "priority" matters require an upcharge and often call for creative rescheduling of other appointments in the way. I will work late or come in early the next day based on your rescheduling. The creative part of this is you finding the best way to cause the least impact. You can offer discounts too if necessary. The main goal is keeping the schedule happy and the business profitable. As you can tell, this position can have very quiet days and some busy ones too. *** Ideal Candidate *** The ideal candidate is someone who is already at their computer during the 9-5 day and can accept phone calls. A friendly personality is also important, even when customers sometimes get a bit grumpy. Ideally, if you are a good listener and can relate to any kind of personality, then you'll pickup the job well and do great with this position. *** Billing Terms *** Our current answering service charges by the amount of work done, not the amount of time waiting for calls. I'd like to continue that with this position. It will be an honor system, so it will be up to you to calculate the amount of time you worked (of course, rounded up to the nearest X increment, based on our agreement) and let me know the frequency you'd like to get paid. That's it! I look forward to seeing all who apply! Let me know if you have any questions with anything. :)