Secretarial is a wider claim than receptionist and the width is where the money is. Answering, booking and messages are the common core. Typing, diary management, chasing, filing, correspondence and basic bookkeeping are variously offered, variously included and variously done well, and buyers should establish which of those they are actually purchasing before comparing anything.
List the tasks, then ask who does them
Write down the specific things you want off your desk in the words you would use to a colleague. Then ask each provider which of those its people do, whether the same person does them consistently, and whether they are inside the plan or billed separately. Providers differ enormously here and the marketing language does not distinguish them: secretarial support covers a dedicated assistant who learns your business and a pool of operators doing discrete tasks from a queue.
Continuity is the thing worth paying for
The value in secretarial work, unlike answering, comes largely from somebody knowing your business: your clients' names, your preferences, what happened last week. That requires the same person or small team, which some providers offer and many cannot. Ask directly whether work is assigned to a named person, what happens when they are on leave, and how handover is done. Without continuity you are buying task execution, which is worth having and is a different and cheaper thing.
Non-phone work prices differently
Answering is priced per minute or per call. Typing, diary work and correspondence are usually priced per hour or as a monthly retainer, and none of the nine providers in this record publishes a rate for them on its pricing page. That means the published record here covers the phone half of what you are buying and not the rest, and the rest has to be asked for directly and compared separately.
Start with the phone and add
The practical route is to buy the answering arrangement first, which is measurable and cheap, then add tasks once you have seen how the provider works. Buyers who contract for a wide secretarial package at the start usually find some tasks are done well and others are not, having committed to all of them. Several providers here publish month-to-month terms, which makes an incremental approach straightforward.
Questions people ask about virtual secretarial services
What do virtual secretarial services include?
Answering, booking and messages as the common core, with typing, diary management, chasing, correspondence and basic bookkeeping variously offered. Establish which you are buying before comparing, because the marketing language does not distinguish them.
Will the same person always do the work?
With some providers yes, with many it is a pool. Continuity is where most of the value is in secretarial work, so ask whether it is assigned to a named person and what happens when they are on leave.
How is non-phone work priced?
Usually per hour or as a monthly retainer, and none of the nine providers here publishes a rate for it. This record covers the phone half; the rest has to be asked for and compared separately.
Should I buy the whole package at once?
Better to start with answering, which is cheap and measurable, then add tasks once you have seen how the provider works. Several providers publish month-to-month terms, which makes that straightforward.