Virtual Assistant Team was put together by Syntax Marketing – an online marketing agency in Brisbane, Australia.

The Three Models

Most marketing agencies use one of three models:

1. Do it for you
2. Teach you how to do it (a coaching model)
3. Do it with you (a combination of 1 and 2)

Each model has its strengths and weaknesses. Over the years Syntax Marketing has used all 3 models, and in recent years has mainly used the 3rd model.

Most of the agency’s clients are small to medium businesses and Start-ups. The businesses are from a wide variety of industries and services. The one thing they had in common was time-poor owners. Lack of help, lack of suitable staff, and in some cases the unwillingness to ‘let go’ of control meant that they were overwhelmed with everyday tasks that they simply shouldn’t have been doing.

Being so time-poor meant they were often not able to provide the information and feedback that Syntax Marketing needed to help them grow and promote their businesses. This was negatively affecting their business and making our work much more difficult than it need to be.

Looking for a Solution

Even though Syntax Marketing had been successfully employing full-time Virtual Assistants from across the globe for well over a decade, we initially thought to look at BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) to help resolve the issue. We were quickly reminded of the disadvantages of BPO’s and the exploitation of VA’s within the BPO industry.

Here’s just a few examples of some common things that would happen:

• BPO companies would charge clients well over 10 times what the VAs were being paid
• Clients were told that the Virtual Assistant the BPO company provided would work exclusively for them and yet still demanded that the same VA perform tasks for several different clients per day.
• Virtual Assistants who worked for BPO Companies often had to seek additional employment elsewhere taking on 2 or 3 more jobs just to make ends meet.
• Because the VAs felt like they were being treated as if they were in little more than just some cattle call they felt no loyalty to BPO company. They would often hop from one BPO company to the next, desperate to improve their situation. Clients were disappointed to discover that the VA they had initially invested time and energy in had left and was being replaced with a new VA who was totally unfamiliar with them and their business.

Doing the Right Thing by Clients and VA’s

Clearly, we needed to find a better way.

We wanted to create a win/win situation that supported both clients and Virtual Assistants.

After successfully trialing and refining our Virtual Assistant services with several of our closer clients, we decided to offer services to other like-minded businesses through VirtualAssistantTeam.com.au.

We are far from perfect, but we are very proud of the fact that we are all committed to constant and never-ending improvement. The positive feedback we receive from both clients and Virtual Assistants confirms we are on the right track.

We would be delighted if you joined our Virtual Family. 🙂