Finding/ Transitioning to an Office Assistant

[squisher]

Heh you're like a bad reporter taking my quote out of context like that.



Lol.

 

[sotc]

That would be A good reporter !

 

[squisher]

Tell the truth, you had your secretary do that didn't you?

 

[sotc]

No, not this time, I'm at the conference in Bend, wife wouldn't be happy if the Secretary was here!

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

My recent revelation is that for my small company at this point, where I am the lead climber (just hired a guy with some climbing experience, to help on the ground, and train him to climb efficiently and safely), salesman, mechanic, marketer, paperwork generator, etc, if for me to have my employee Gary's fiance, Traci, help with cleaning around the house, go-fer, extra driver possibly, basic lighter-duty groundworker is needed (she's hard working but put a lot of miles on her body by 40).

Helps her, helps Gary, helps me.

I don't have to open up my business numbers, nor rely on her for things that require a lot of supervision and double-checking (like contracts before going out, where pushing the wrong key next to the right key can easy cost me a hundred dollars, as would happen to type $1400 rather than $1500.


D just woke up. time to go.

 

[Mick!]

My recent revelation is that for my small company at this point, where I am the lead climber (just hired a guy with some climbing experience, to help on the ground, and train him to climb efficiently and safely), salesman, mechanic, marketer, paperwork generator, etc, if for me to have my employee Gary's fiance, Traci, help with cleaning around the house, go-fer, extra driver possibly, basic lighter-duty groundworker if needed (she's hard working but put a lot of miles on her body by 40).

Helps her, helps Gary, helps me.

I don't have to open up my business numbers, nor rely on her for things that require a lot of supervision and double-checking (like contracts before going out, where pushing the wrong key next to the right key can easy cost me a hundred dollars, as would happen to type $1400 rather than $1500.







That makes sense, keeps you doing what pays the bills.

 

[woodslinger]

ditto. Sometimes the simplest tasks take you more time to do than it takes for you make the money to pay someone else to do it, and then some. And all those little running around tasks really add up at the end of the day, espacially after a few days . .

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

Maybe you should get a Ruby Receptionist

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love
nick

$259, $449, or $899/ month, plus a one-time $95 set-up fee.

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

I'm not sure what all questions you guys are being asked and answering over the phone. Even when I talked to custys still I always tried to keep it short and sweet. Most of the questions they would ask on the phone couldn't be answered by me without having already seen the tree. So I don't see the big deal. The big thing is having someone answer and even if they don't know squat are able to let the person know when someone will get back to them and copy down the details.

It would go like this imo:

Best-a secretary that runs your business so knows some ins and outs and can immediately book things

Second best- an answering service where a live person answers at least and can take custy info and let them know when/how they will be contacted

Dead as in beat to death piss you off last- the voicemail where they have to leave a message, even worse if you get drunk after work that day and don't call back for a day or two.

I'm curious how others work this.

I do a lot of 'pre-screening' of customers.

Part is to weed out tire kickers.

Part is to get people to think about their project, hopefully saving me time at the bid.

I try to get a feel for what people want, what they know/ what they think that they know, timeframe/ urgency, and a bit of selling myself.



What they want/ objectives of the work: prune/ removal, eval/ consult, what kind of material handling/ processing/ haul-off, level of impact, what is important (lowest cost, quality pruning, low impact, etc).

What they know/ think that they know: do they need a paid consult because they don't know what they want/ need. Being able to explain a few things, and ask a few questions helps them to think about the job and discuss different facets with any other decision makers. Do they know where their electric, septic, water, gas, irrigation is located. I don't want to stand around while they figure out where their sprinklers are. They can figure this out in advance of me arriving. Same with septic as-built plans being dug out of their files. How much/ little collateral damage is desired.

Urgency/ time frame: Should I try to schedule them quickly or can they wait a few days. Can I do the project in the time frame they want/ need. I don't want to be booked for a week or three, and have them tell me that they are going to get the work done asap. A waste of both of our time, and my money.

Selling myself: "Naturally, being professionals, we don't use spurs for any pruning/ maintenance/ climbing inspection work. Spurs are damaging and Only for Removals. Proper pruning to A300 standards" (tons of spur-climbing trimmers around here--logging, conifer country).

"We can do anything you want us to do, basically, short of poor quality work like "topping" or actually applying chemicals (sent out), from taking a leaf off the top of a tree without disturbing the rest, or making an enormous tree disappear without any trace. You probably don't want to pay for what that takes, so we will find the real-world sensible plan that fits your goals, and a practical way to make that happen, in a more cost-effective way."

"Naturally, Lic/ Bonded/ Insured/ WC, that whole thing, but more importantly, a very safe and efficient approach to the project that has left us a great safety record and history of high quality and low-impact."