hiring virtual assistants overseas

TheReferral Shortcut

Marketing Podcast w/Frank Klesitz

Transcript

Episode 009

Hiring Virtual Assistants Overseas(with Daniel Ramsey)

www.getvyral.com

TRS Episode 009.doc 1

Frank: Hey, everyone, this is Frank Klesitz and welcome again to this week’s edition of The Referral Shortcut where every week I try to bring you something useful and helpful when it comes to marketing your business to help you get more clients, more customers, and make more money.

It is challenging to be focused on selling and marketing, what I like to call marketing innovation, coming up with new stuff for your customers, which is the most valuable thing you could do in your business. The key to that challenge is not to be caught up in the administrative side of your business.

So today on this week’s podcast I have Daniel Ramsey on the line. He runs an outsourcing company. Basically, you hire his firm, they have virtual assistants overseas, and they do a lot of work for you in cheaper parts of the world than it would cost in America.

I have a lot of great questions today to ask Daniel. So Daniel, welcome to the show.

Daniel: Thanks. Thanks, Frank. I’m excited to be here.

Frank: Cool. Tell me very briefly about the problem your business solves.

Daniel: Yes. So I’m a real estate broker and this company was born out of the need that I had, which was administrative. Back in ’07 when the market was crashing, we literally cut staff. And in ’08 when it was coming back and we were getting busy again, we needed to add more staff. I had to do that in a way that was financially smart. And I did that by finding some people in the Philippines.

Wildly enough, there’s three key areas that we hire for. One is admin. I love to tell people, if you don’t have an admin you are an admin.

So that’s one of my favorite lines when we’re talking about virtual assistants and outsourcing. If you’re doing the paperwork to close your transactions, you’re basically saying that you’re worth $10-$15 an hour, which is what it would cost to hire somebody in the US. We have people who do admin work for $7.60 an hour.

Frank: Great. Now, we were talking earlier about your business and your growth. Tell me more about the relationship with a virtual assistant, and how it’s different working with a virtual assistant overseas than it is working with an assistant who is directly in your office. Or is it different?

Daniel: You know, it absolutely is different. And it’s really cool. I was actually sitting down with somebody and talking about communication. Roughly 7% of communication is had when you’re actually talking with somebody, like we are over the phone right now.


And because you’re missing facial expressions, the way the eyes look, you’re just missing a huge portion of what you’re doing. That percentage increases if you go from written to spoken to face to face. So the amount that’s retained after a conversation or interaction is 7% is for written. If you go to spoken, it’s 33%. If you go face to face it’s like 58%. That’s the amount that is retained after the conversation or interaction is had.

So with a virtual assistant, one of the biggest pain points that we have is how do you communicate with your virtual assistant in a way that’s productive. So one of our strategies for 2013, coming up next year, is just video implementation. So whenever you’re talking to somebody who’s not physically in your office, don’t be cheap and send an email. If you just send an email, they’re only going to retain 7%. If you actually talk to them on the phone, it’s going to be like 33%.

So the opportunity here is to jump on Skype, which is a cool tool. There’s a bunch of other ones just like it where you can actually do a video conference. That increases the level of communication. So number one is, it’s key with a virtual assistant to do that video face to face.

Number two, treat them like they’re part of their team. Kenny and I were chatting about this. He was talking about a conference in which somebody said, How do you treat your virtual assistant differently?

He said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I don’t even call them my virtual assistants. I call them my assistants. And he said, That’s the difference. That’s the mind frame that you need to have. They need to be included in your daily huddles. They need to be included in your weekly team. They have to know that their role is vital to the success of the company. So that’s another key point in determining success in the virtual assistant world.

I would say number three, and most importantly, is to have a ramp up. Bob Corcoran with Corcoran Consulting says there’s 100-day ramp up for all his new people, whether they’re buyer agents, listing assistants or anybody who’s added to the team. He gives them 100 days with training and support and evaluation so that they can be set with success.

So those are three things that if you do, more likely than not, you’re going to have a successful interaction with a virtual assistant.

Frank: Now, is there any difference when working with someone overseas? Tell me about their background, their cultural differences. First off, what’s some of the typical work a virtual assistant does for someone who’s in sales?


Daniel: Sure, sure. I’ll answer both of those questions because they’re both really good. First, about the differences between working with a virtual assistant and a physical assistant. You guys should really jump on our website and check it out. We actually do a free consultation to help you through these questions. It’s http://MyOutDesk.com.

But the truth is, there are three main categories that we hire for. We only outsource for real estate people. So we don’t do anything else. We’re not doing insurance, we’re not doing banking, or any other world.

So the first category is an administrative person. That’s simply phone support. Somebody calls into the office. Somebody sends you an email. You know I get 100+ emails a day, but I only have to look at about 10 that are relevant to my job, because we have somebody that’s going through those.

This person is also like a transaction coordination; that’s another big area that a virtual assistant can help with. If you’ve got a contract-to-close situation and you need help getting everyone through that, we can help. So that’s the admin side.

The second person we have is a marketing person. This is somebody who will help with flyers, somebody who will jump on your Facebook account, Twitter for you, maybe even do some blog writing. Also, when you get a listing, this person will put it into MLS and optimize Zilo and Trulia and Realtor.com with local information and stats.

What’s cool about that is, I mean, every time you get a listing there’s probably 50 steps that any person should take to market that property, whether that’s putting it on Craigslist or creating flyers. You even need somebody setting up a text writer at the property, so that when somebody texts about the property, they get all the information in a text, and somebody follows up with them. So there’s a whole slew of things you can do on the marketing support side.

The last person we offer is on the sales support side. And what’s cool about this is we have a lot of people who generate leads based on the principles that Frank teaches in other companies, online platforms.

So you know that those leads have to be filtered. So if you get 100 leads in week, the reality is only about 10 of those leads are really good, hot leads. But somebody’s got to call those other 90 in order to sort through them. Through good scripts and role playing and holding each other accountable, you can actually train a virtual assistant to take on those 100 calls per week and help you generate more business and optimize your time.

Frank: And you said the rate for a virtual assistant generally goes for how much?


http://MyOutDesk.com/

Daniel: So that’s the crazy thing. Admin support is $7.60. And then marketing and sales support are $8.60, because those are people at higher level skill set. And for $8.60 it works out to like $1400 a month. You get somebody for full time.

What’s cool too is we’re different. Most people think about outsourcing and they say, Oh, you’re a company and you have a website in the Philippines and you have a website in the US, and you just put people together. We actually have a process for matching people that is unique. It’s why we stand out. That’s our value proposition.

This is something that’s unique to us is that we physically go to our virtual assistant’s home in the Philippines. Most other companies don’t even think about this, but for us, one of our core values is family and treating people the right way.

So for us, we want to meet the person. We want to meet their family. We want to check out their internet connectivity, what system they’re using. We want to make sure their workspace is appropriate, and that they are who they say they are.

So we do a few things, like an FBI background check. We do reference checks. We’re really do the upfront work to make sure this is going to be a better placement over time.

Frank: Okay, so basically I would hire someone that’s working out of their home in the Philippines full time for $8.60 an hour and they would just be connected via Skype to me virtually all day long.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah. So they log into our software in the morning and that’s like their clock-in. Then they check in with their clients. Typically most of our clients have a defined job description for their virtual assistants. We don’t even allow you to interact with a virtual assistant until we already have a job description and we know what success looks like and we have a really good idea what they’re going to do on a daily basis.

Frank: Well, let’s stop right there because I think that’s the biggest challenge - coming up with that job description. What are some of the typical job descriptions that you have right now? Are those people pre-trained?

Because I know that the biggest challenge for me would be is I have to go through and train this admin person on all this stuff. Do these admin people come maybe pre-trained a bit?

Daniel: Yeah, so it’s the combination of two things. We do a two-week training class which brings them through. If you’re a real estate person and you went through principles and practice and maybe law and maybe one other real estate class, you understand our training.


It’s similar information. Like what is a contract? What are disclosures? What does a mortgage look like? What’s insurance? You have to remember in the Philippines the way they do real estate is completely different. They don’t really have real estate agents. It’s a new thing over there. So we have to teach them what real estate in the US is like.

So we spend two weeks doing that. We actually have a US-based person who’s a 6 year teacher, with California credentials who created all the curriculum and infused it with real estate in mind. And our assistants do two weeks’ worth of training.

Then we have pre-canned job descriptions for each category. We have a consultation that walks you through all the tasks that you hate, that you want to get rid of, and we really hone in on what your needs are and what we can supply.

We do some personality testing on the virtual assistant and on the client so that we know that we’re making a good fit. We wouldn’t want to put the wrong person in the wrong position. So we’re going to find someone who’s a salesperson and place them in a sales role. You know what I’m saying?

Frank: Yeah. How many virtual assistants have you screened and do you have over in the Philippines?

Daniel: Oh my gosh. That’s a cool question. This year alone we’ve had 6,000 applications come in to our company over in the Philippines. What’s cool about that is we’ve hired a little bit over 300 to put them through our two week training course. We have about a 50% pass rate.

What’s cool about our two week course, too- I was just actually over there. I go to the Philippines every couple months. It’s a long flight; 14 hours. But that’s what my clients expect. They want to make sure that somebody’s over there making sure the processes are going well and these guys are on the right track.

So I’m over there. We had a mixer. I’m talking to all these new people. I’m like, How’s training? How’s training?

And they’re like, Boss, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life. It literally, really the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.

I love that because we want the weakest people to quit or get fired. So we really try to make our training as hard as possible so that once they’re placed with a real estate broker – I mean, we all know how demanding it is in real estate.

Every year our commissions get lower and the amount of work, disclosures and all the work that we have to do increases. The competition – I mean, almost anybody can be a licensed agent. So the competition is increasing. The workload


is increasing. So our virtual assistants need to step up and take ownership of their role within our client’s businesses.

Frank: So what’s a good annual income for someone in the Philippines?

Daniel: Yes. So that’s the cool thing. I mean, we pay roughly two times what a nurse or a doctor makes. And we do it very carefully. It’s a calculated move. If you go over there, a nurse makes $250, $300. A doctor might make $400-$500.

Frank: A month?

Daniel: A month. It’s crazy. I mean it literally is crazy. The country is just - it’s a real weird mix.

I mean, one of the cool things about the Philippines too, everybody always asks, What’s the accent like? You know, If they’re going to make calls or if I’m going to have to talk to them, can I understand them?

In the Philippines they have a dual language. So Filipino and English are the national languages. All their laws are written in both. All of their medical journals, everything within the country is written in both. If you go there, you’ll see signs in English, just like here in the US. It’s unique in the world.

And it’s hit or miss. We tried other countries, and other countries just didn’t work out. But the Philippines really have the work ethic and the responsibility. They’re really good people. Light hearted, hard-working, loyal. It’s really been - we’re lucky to be there.

Frank: Great. Okay. So with these virtual assistants, I’m assuming someone has to have some managerial talent to work with them as with any employee that you hire in your office.

Daniel: Right. Right.

Frank: And you have a lot of real estate agents. What I’m saying here is that generally, coming into real estate, you don’t have much of a business or managerial background. Real estate tends to attract a salesperson or someone with a very independent spirit.

Daniel: Right.

Frank: Okay. On top of that, you basically have a staffing company getting an agent to work, putting them on their team. Which in many cases I’m assuming this is their first hire? Is that right?

Daniel: Yeah, you know, I get where you’re going and I’ll try to address it as much as I can.


There are two real people that end up being our clients. The person that you just described, which is a heck of a salesperson and a driver personality. Somebody who gets things done and really knows how to connect with people.

Then we have the other type of client, who is a build person. This person builds empires, creates long term value, and already has a team. Those are the two people we deal with.

Even if the first guy that we were talking about wants to eventually get there, the only way they can is through leverage. I mean leverage is the key no matter what. There are only 24 hours in the day and you need at least 6 or 7 to sleep. So there’s only so much you can do unless you’re a robot. And we’re not.

So the only real true way to achieve long term value is through leverage. What we’re offering is lower cost leverage. It’s not a perfect science. So for those of you who don’t have experience managing others, I mean, that’s why we have a free consultation. That’s why we’re going to be there for you. We have a client coach. We have a virtual assistant coach. It is a family-owned thing, so my brother and I, we’re always around and available to answer questions and help.

Frank: Let me ask you this. What if I was an agent and I just said, Look, I want to get the listing contract signed and just send you over all of the paperwork, and you handle everything from this point on and all I’ll do is the negotiation.

Daniel: Yeah, so that’s how my business runs. Remember Frank, I’m a real estate broker. In fact, I just wrote a commission check to one of my agents who works for me. And the reality is, I got an email from my virtual assistant saying, All documents are in. All commission is ready. We’re received the check and it’s set to go.

So I literally looked at a spreadsheet saying, all the documents are collected, everything’s ready, and I’m writing a commission check.

Conversely when we get a new listing, all the paperwork is created and filled out by our virtual assistants and they send over a document for me to basically meet with a client and sign the paperwork.

So the idea here and this is our priority, if you’re really good at connecting with people, then that should be all you should do. And all of your administrative work should be done by someone who is being paid less than you. If you don’t have one of our people at $7 or $8 an hour, guess what you’re saying? You’re saying that your time is worth $7 or $8 an hour.

Frank: Sure.

Daniel: There’s an upfront cost of time to get them trained up and ready and supporting you. And the first round, you might not be successful. I’ve hired a ton of people


and, you know, I’ve let a ton of people go. Fast to fire; slow to hire. It’s just a matter of getting the right mix down. We’ll help as much as possible.

To your original point though, that’s what the personality profile is for. If you’re a real driver and you’re a heck of a salesperson, there’s actually an opposite personality that really works well with those types of people who can handle the details, who know how to take directions, who work really hard. And they work well with each other. They actually fit right.

If you’ve ever had a relationship where you’ve had to work with somebody and you’re like, Gosh, that’s a perfect person to work with, It’s probably because their personality coexists with your personality in a good way. So we try to match our virtual assistants using that system with our clients.

Frank: So why does someone turn over? Like if I was a client and I left and stopped using MyOutDesk or I stopped using a virtual assistant, why? Can we go through some of the reasons why the VA program wouldn’t work?

Daniel: Yeah, so the biggest reason that this doesn’t work is because the broker or an agent doesn’t want to spend the 100 days to get them up to speed. That’s probably our biggest complaint in terms of clients. They’re not willing to get somebody up to speed and do that up-front work to reap the long-term benefits. It really is about reaping the long-term benefits.

I mean, again, I truly feel like you cannot build an empire through the work of one person. I mean, you have to hire and manage people and really utilize leverage. If you’re not willing to jump through those hoops and do the hard work to get that person up to speed, then I really feel that your business will be the product of your own labor, which is fine. A lot of people make that decision. It’s just, I think there’s an opportunity to have vacations. There’s an opportunity to go home and be with your family at 5 o’clock at night. That’s what we’re selling.

The other thing is not making the virtual assistant part of the team, not really communicating with them on a daily basis. I mean, those three points in the beginning, those are key. Communication is the biggest thing. Setting expectations, really understanding how to make them part of your team, and getting them to work hard.

You can always yell at somebody and say, I want this! I want that! If they start wanting to please you and they want to do a good job and they have that within them to be great and not just good, they’ll make an impactful contribution to your business.

In fact, I wanted to share with you our business plan. One of the missions that we have is to have our virtual assistants become indispensable for their clients. That indispensable word really embodies what we’re trying to be about.


So if somebody comes on as a client and they say, Hey, my virtual assistant isn’t indispensable. Then we need to change out that virtual assistant and get them a new one because that’s not the relationship that we want. You know what I’m saying?

Frank: Yes. Sound like pretty typical management to me, managing staff.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah. You know, it’s funny because I swear, I have almost the same amount of luck hiring virtually as I do physically. Most people don’t get that, because they’re not used to hiring virtually. But as you get better at hiring and attracting talent, it’s a skill set. Most people don’t realize that, but it’s a skill set to connect with people and to get talent to want to work for you and then get them to produce at a high level.

I mean, as you get better, the world is flat. And we all know that. I mean, the fact that I’m in one city and I’m able to talk to you in another city and we’re able to have this conversation, I could be in Russia right now and there would be no difference. You wouldn’t know it and neither would anybody listening to this conversation.

I think this is a new idea, but it’s gaining traction. Back when we started in ’08 nobody had heard about virtual assistants, and now it’s more normal.

Frank: Interesting. Well, how many clients are you currently rocking?

Daniel: We’re at 250 clients and we have just under 400 virtual assistants. I’m pushing for that 400 mark for the end of 2012. So we’re averaging 1 ½ virtual assistants. Some of our clients, I know that we had-

Frank: Excuse me, Daniel. How do you run your own real estate company and this conglomerate you’re building? What! I don’t understand it. You have to have partners or operations people or something.

Daniel: Yeah, well we do. The thing is, in total I personally have more than 400 employees.

You really have to set a vision, know where you’re going, and there’s a ton of good books on business planning and managing expectations. But it all comes down to leverage, man. The better your people are underneath you, the more you can accomplish. So it really comes down to defining where your direction is and where you’re going to go and how you’re going to do it.

And then you hire the right people, because the hardest thing in business, I think, is getting people to understand your direction and to do things the way you would want them done.


That right there sums up the broker issue and the agent issue. Everybody says, Well, I can do it better. That’s really not the point. I know you can do it better, but what if somebody else could do it to your level of standards and you could have 10 people doing it just the way you would do it. That’s where the true value comes in this particular business model.

Frank: I agree. Well Daniel, thanks a lot for your time.

Daniel: Frank, thank you.

[end of transcript]


hiring virtual assistants overseas

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