ErikOk 10 Report post Posted February 20, 2012 Anyone got some good VA contacts for taking phone calls and filtering out potential sellers/buyers? I am considering services for having a VA take calls from postcards that are sent out and getting information allowing me to weed out the useless sellers. I'm not so sure if I plan on applying to buyers yet. I would like to hear how those familiar with VA's are doing and what plans you have implemented. If the VA is out of the country, how are you handling the phone situation? I have a VOIP phone provider and will be checking with them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MichaelC 160 Report post Posted February 20, 2012 Erik, if my memory serves me correctly, I recall posts about using VA's by John Jackson, Jonathan Rexford, and Chris_MA. Perhaps you can contact them for some info. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ErikOk 10 Report post Posted February 20, 2012 Erik, if my memory serves me correctly, I recall posts about using VA's by John Jackson, Jonathan Rexford, and Chris_MA. Perhaps you can contact them for some info. I checked Michael and found a few posts that you mentioned, but nothing real specific. Hope others will chime in. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
speedingpenguin 19 Report post Posted February 21, 2012 For a short period of time I had a VA from the Philippines returning phone calls from my marketing, she had no noticeable accent and was fairly reliable and didn't cost much...I ended up ending her contract because I had slowed my marketing down and time-wise it just didn't make sense at that point in time. You'll probably find a lot of VA's on oDesk or similar sites with real estate experience. Even with experience however, plan on spending some time training and allowing your VA to learn your system and how to handle your leads. As far as price, I was paying $5/hr and had applicants who were asking for less than $5 and some that were way more than $5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ErikOk 10 Report post Posted February 21, 2012 For a short period of time I had a VA from the Philippines returning phone calls from my marketing, she had no noticeable accent and was fairly reliable and didn't cost much...I ended up ending her contract because I had slowed my marketing down and time-wise it just didn't make sense at that point in time. You'll probably find a lot of VA's on oDesk or similar sites with real estate experience. Even with experience however, plan on spending some time training and allowing your VA to learn your system and how to handle your leads. As far as price, I was paying $5/hr and had applicants who were asking for less than $5 and some that were way more than $5 How did you have her do the phone calls? Did she have what looked like a US number for those in the US with caller-id? Did you have a phone number on your marketing (fliers, postcards,etc.) that clients called that would ring in the Philippines? Do you still have her contact info that you can email me? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
speedingpenguin 19 Report post Posted February 21, 2012 Skype, my friend! I set up a local phone number for her to use, I think it's around $5/mo...With the marketing I was doing at the time, the phone number (local) went to a voicemail box, and she would sign in every afternoon and listen to the messages, call the people back and collect information... No phone calls were answered live. I'd be happy to send over her information to you if you want it, but I think you might be better off posting an ad and interviewing some people for yourself... A friend of mine hired her to do some telemarketing (after I recommended her) and later told me it didn't work out because she had a lot of stuff going on and wasn't able to keep up...A lot of VA's are just people working from home... so don't expect to hire someone and have it work out perfect the first time.You might have to try a few out to find one that you like working with. I've got another VA who's worked for me for over a year now, and she's GREAT. Reliable, willing to learn, asks questions when unsure about something, good conversations every now and then, and even sent me a tee shirt and dried mangoes for my birthday... Unfortunately she's only able to do data entry work and works while people here on the east coast are usually sound asleep... otherwise she'd be on the phone for me! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pilot76180 51 Report post Posted February 21, 2012 I've never used VA's for screening calls, but I still do for other things. As far as the sellers, I want them to talk to ME, and not someone who can't explain what we do without stammering etc. Besides, I don't spend much time on the phone with sellers anyway. They call me, I try to talk to them for a few minutes to get their info, and then e-mail them figures etc. No big deal. I could see some advantage in having a VA for the buyers though, just to eliminate the section 8 people talking to me. Plus it wouldn't require as much training for the VA. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
