The Best Virtual Assistants are Empathetic. Here’s Why

1Empathy Differentiates Virtual Assistants in Stressful Situations

To demonstrate the power of empathy in virtual assistant roles, I’d like to tell you a story about one of our Team Leads, Leslie. Before joining Quickskill, Leslie worked as a customer support specialist for a travel agency. As part of an escalation team, she frequently dealt with frustrated customers who were experiencing challenges with their travel plans. However, there was one incident that was a pivotal moment in her career.

The wife of an international celebrity called because, when she and her husband’s entourage arrived at their hotel, the desk agent told them that someone canceled three of their five room reservations and there were no remaining rooms available. She was furious. Her husband was scheduled to perform in Las Vegas that night, and most of their group had nowhere to stay. After making one customer service agent cry, she was transferred to Leslie to resolve the issue.

Leslie informed the customer that records showed that she, or someone else who had access to her account, canceled the reservations. The customer continued shouting and denying all responsibility but, Leslie stayed calm. Instead of being upset by the customer’s rude language, Leslie imagined herself in the customer’s shoes. She understood that the customer was anxious about her party not having a place to stay after such an important event.

Over the next four hours, Leslie patiently consoled the customer and reached out resources at the customer’s hotel and persuaded them to offer rooms that were previously unavailable.

By the end of the call, the customer still wasn’t happy but, she was satisfied with the solution. Leslie’s experience taught her the difference between an average support professional and an outstanding one is that the former solely follows the procedures to complete their job while the latter emphasizes with their clients’ concerns and goes above and beyond to resolve them.

When Leslie started working at Quickskill, she took that lesson with her and, like all our virtual assistants, uses it to develop lasting, productive relationships with all the clients and entry-level virtual assistants she supports.

Want to learn more about what it’s like to work with virtual assistants like Leslie? Download our guide to leveraging a Quickskill VA:

2How to Hire an Empathetic Assistant

Empathy cannot be displayed on a resume in the way that a technical skill can, and it can be challenging to find an applicant who possesses it.

We’ve found there are two ways to assess an virtual assistant’s empathy:

1) Ask scenario and experiential questions in your interview. To do this, describe stressful situations you face and ask them what they would do to help you. If their answer focuses on their desire to support you, in addition to completing tasks, then they’re likely empathetic.

You should also question how they helped prior employers. If they explain how they improved the individual’s well-being – rather than just describing the procedures they followed- then they’re likely empathetic. Keep in mind that you often won’t fully know an applicant’s character until they’ve spent a couple of weeks on the job.

2) Hire from a managed assistant service. Unlike marketplace agencies whose sole purpose is to connect independent assistants with employers, managed virtual assistant services employ, train, and supervise their virtual assistants so that all clients have to do is provide instructions. Look for a company that assigns you a dedicated virtual assistant and account manager so that your experience improves as both of them learn your preferences.

As a managed virtual assistant service, we embed empathy into our entire client relationship process. During our on-boarding calls, we ask clients a series of questions about their preferences and document their answers. Once they start working, our assistants watch for any other preferences their clients explicitly or implicitly say they have. Over time, many of our clients tell us that working with their virtual assistants becomes effortless since their VAs know how to proactively support them with minimal instructions.

For example, Leslie once supported a client whose workdays revolved around meetings. However, she noticed his messages to her sounded stressed when he had back-to-back obligations all day. Moving forward, she proactively monitored his calendar and rescheduled items that were likely to create conflicts. When possible, Leslie also kept forty-minutes of his schedule clear during midday, so he had time to eat lunch and catch up on other items. The client only asked her to schedule his meetings; however, she took the initiative because she cared about his well-being. He credits her with significantly reducing his stress.

It’s empathetic actions like the ones taken by Leslie that set apart dedicated personal assistants from freelance virtual assistants whose quality of work is often unpredictable.

Are interested in hiring an empathetic virtual assistant? Schedule a call with us to learn more.