Guides
Twelve questions for a virtual assistant agency discovery call, in four movements
A virtual assistant agency discovery call in four movements, with the twelve questions worth asking, what each one is for, and how to score the fit afterward.
What to take away
- The call is a diagnosis, not a pitch. If you spoke more than a third of the time, you ran a demonstration instead.
- Twelve questions cover it. Each one exists to answer something you must know before you can price or staff the work.
- The most useful question is the last onewhat would make you end this in three months. The answer is the thing you design the first month around.
- Score the call afterward, in writing, against fixed criteria. Deals lost to a poor fit are almost always deals somebody felt good about on the call.
No conversion rates, prices or durations are stated here. The structure is yours to time.
Four movements
One: how work reaches them today. Before anything else, understand the current state. Not what they want, what happens now.
Four movements in order
- Onehow work reaches them today
- Twowhat has already failed
- Threeshape of a possible answer
- Fourprocess and decision, with a date
Two: what has already failed. Almost every buyer of retainer support has tried something. That history tells you what will break again.
Three: the shape of a possible answer. Describe it out loud, in their words, and watch which part they push back on.
Four: process and decision. Who else approves, what they will ask, and what happens next, with a date.
Run them in that order. Describing a solution before movement two is how agencies propose things that were already rejected once.
The twelve questions, and what each is for
| Question | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Walk me through how a request reaches you today | Whether an intake rule is possible at all |
| Who decides what is urgent? | Whether you will be managed by three people or one |
| What arrived last week that you wish had not? | The real scope, in their language |
| What have you already tried, and what specifically failed? | The failure you must design against |
| Which of this work touches customers directly? | Risk, and the review step you will need |
| What systems would somebody need access to? | Whether you can control the access you are being given |
| Who else in your business would send work? | Hidden volume, and the intake problem |
| What does a good week look like once this is working? | Their definition of success, which is rarely yours |
| What happens today when you are away? | Whether they will accept a backup person or insist on one name |
| When do you need this running? | Whether your honest start date fits |
| Who else has to agree to this? | The approver you must write for |
| What would make you end this in three months? | The single most useful answer in the call |
Twelve is a maximum, not a script to march through. Four good follow-ups on question three are worth more than reaching question eight.
Twelve questions to ask
- How a request reaches you today
- Who decides what is urgent
- What arrived last week unwanted
- What you tried and what failed
- Which work touches customers directly
- What systems need access
- Who else would send work
- What a good week looks like
What not to do on the call
- Do not quote a price. You do not yet know the volume, the access requirements or the intake problem.
- Do not describe your packages before movement three. It anchors them to a tier rather than to their problem.
- Do not promise a start date to be agreeable. A date you cannot staff is a poor first month you have chosen in advance.
- Do not talk your way past a warning sign. Buyers who cannot describe how work reaches them today are describing your future exception load.
Scoring it afterward
Write this down within the hour, before the conversation becomes a memory of a nice person.
Scoring the call afterward
Can the work be documented for someone else?
proceed
decline or narrow scope
Two or more no answers is a decline, or a much narrower first engagement. Question six is the one that separates a client from a problem, because a client only one person can serve is not a client the agency has.
Turning the call into a shape, out loud
Describe the shape back
- The anchor work
- What is excluded
- How work will arrive
- What happens above the reserved amount
- Roughly when it starts
Watch what they correct. That correction is worth more than the rest of the call, and it is the thing that would otherwise have surfaced in month two.
Only then write. The document that follows should say nothing they have not already heard, and the structure for it is in the sales and proposal guide, with the number in it derived from the reasoning in the pricing and profit guide.
Two things to say before the call ends
What you will not do. Name two or three exclusions while you are still talking. Exclusions read as honesty in conversation and as fine print in a document.
Who will actually do the work. If it will not be you, say so now. A buyer who discovers this at handover concludes they were sold one thing and given another, and that conclusion ends relationships in the first quarter.
The claims that must not appear
Anything you say in a sales conversation is a claim, and the FTC's advertising guidance for small businesses is clear that a reasonable basis is required before a claim is made, including an implied one.
Claims to avoid vs safe
Avoid
- Savings
- vs employing somebody
- Results
- other clients' outcomes
- Basis
- implied claims
Safe to promise
- Savings
- coverage and turnaround
- Results
- your own service levels
- Basis
- reasonable basis first
Two show up on discovery calls constantly. Savings compared with employing somebody, which depends on the buyer's payroll rather than on your service. And outcomes achieved for other clients, where the outcome belonged to their business and you supported it.
If they ask directly what results to expect, answer in terms of coverage and turnaround, which are yours to promise.
Two operational answers to have ready
Buyers ask both of these, and improvising is what costs deals.
Who employs the person in my systems, and on what basis? The Labor Department's page on misclassification myths sets out that the economic reality of the relationship settles worker status rather than the label on an agreement, and being able to answer plainly marks you out immediately.
What happens to my records? Where the work touches books or receipts, the IRS guidance on which business records to keep is the baseline your process has to leave them able to meet.
Where the call sits in the pipeline
Discovery is the third of five contacts. What comes before it, and how a first reply earns the call at all, is covered in the guide on winning more agency clients. Where those inquiries come from is in the marketing and growth guide.
What comes after is staffing. A call that produces a start date you cannot meet has cost you more than a call that produced nothing, and the bench work behind that date is in the hiring and training guide.
Common questions
How long should the call be?
Long enough for movements one and two, which usually take most of it. If you are running out of time, cut your own description rather than their history.
Should I use a questionnaire instead?
Send two questions beforehand, at most. A long form filters out busy buyers, who are exactly the ones who need a retainer.
What if they want a price on the call?
Give the structure and the entry tier, and say plainly that a firm number needs the volume and access questions answered. Buyers accept that when it is said with confidence.
Do I need a second call?
Often, with the approver. That second conversation is short and it is usually what closes the deal.
