VIRTUAL OFFICE ASSISTANT / CUSTOMER SERVICE ABOUT This is a virtual position responding to phone and email requests from the busy professionals who use our dog walking, pet sitting and home boarding services. We provide high quality pet care and require stellar office support. Ours is an emotion-driven business. Main customer concerns: Will you love my dog or cat while I'm gone? I am worried about leaving my pet home while I'm gone. I am afraid no one will show up or love them. Will you administer medications correctly? You need to be compassionate, understanding and empathetic to their feelings. You need to convey trustworthiness and confidence. QUALITIES We are looking for someone (or a team) who is warm, compassionate, friendly and professional and who is also efficient and effective (and who knows the difference between the two). The core of our business is the relationship with our customers. Customers should feel like you love their pets as much as they do (even though you haven't met them) while receiving top notch service as they would from a luxury hotel. *Attention to detail is extremely important *Ability to follow detailed instructions *Ability to instantly create a relationship with someone over the phone or via email *You LOVE admin work (it might sound silly but we want someone who loves what they do) – scheduling, computer work, email, making customers happy and helping staff *Reliable and consistent *Excellent communication skills *Common sense *Confidence and calm when faced with a stressful situation *Ability to understand, follow and enforce company policies *You need to be able to quickly grasp what is really important and what is not *You must be able to contribute to the continuous improvement of our processes and systems in order to optimize customer experience and profitability. *You must be extremely organized and able to manage recurring tasks – reports, actions, etc. *You understand the fine line between making the customer feel like they are the most important person in the world and you have all the time in the world for them and not wasting their time. *You are able to self manage, make decisions and appropriately handle problems that may arise SKILLS *Perfect spoken and written English *Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint *Experience using email templates *CRM software (Infusionsoft a plus) *Able to compose emails that include pertinent details, yet be clear and concise such that busy customers glancing at the email on their smart phones will understand them correctly *Bonus: experience with reservation systems (i.e. hotel reservations) EXPERIENCE 10 years general work experience 2 years experience in an administrative role or customer service Experience working in a hotel a plus (reservations, front desk or customer service) RESPONSIBILITIES *Make new appointments, change or cancel existing appointment for existing customers *Respond to new customer inquiries; set up new customers *Schedule staff to cover customer visits *Notifying staff of last minute changes *Monitoring staff check-in and following up when missed *Monitoring customer call-ins and following up when missed *Scheduling follow up calls after a new customer meet & greet *Ensuring that staff complete new customer profile's within 48 hours of meet and greet *Track and execute follow up as needed *Schedule recurring action items and complete – ie reports, pre-vacation checklists, etc. *Distribute information as appropriate; ie customers to staff or staff to customers *Maintain and submit daily log REQUIREMENTS *Phone *Computer with internet *Must own pets or have previously owned them for many years *Must be able to pass a background check including criminal *Available to work 7-10 hours a week (which breaks down into 1-3 hours a day, M-F ) *Available between the hours of 8:30am-3:30pm CST or 8:30am-7:00pm CST, Monday-Friday Desired Skills: Admin Assistant Customer Service Microsoft Excel Office Admin Telephone Handling Keywords: Customer Service