Virtual Assistant
callsReminds customers about their appointments.Helps you stay focused while you work.Call, use WhatsApp, chat, and schedule appointments.Answers your
calls
You’re in a meeting, out on a job site, in the car, or finally trying to focus on your work. Your phone rings. What do you do? Do you answer it? Or do you keep working without distraction? Just thinking about it makes you put your work aside and lose precious minutes.
A virtual assistant is the perfect solution to this problem. A virtual assistant handles all your calls without requiring you to hire additional staff. Only calls that truly need your attention are forwarded to you.
On this page, I’ll explain what a virtual assistant is, what tasks they can take over, what the benefits are, and how you can put it into practice using various examples.
Let’s start at the beginning, what exactly is a virtual assistant? In our view, there are two types:
- A human virtual assistant who performs administrative tasks remotely.
- A digital assistant that conducts conversations via voice or chat and automates tasks.
At HeyFred, we focus entirely on the digital version: an AI assistant that answers phone calls and responds in natural language. We use speech recognition and artificial intelligence to assist your customers immediately or to gather information and then forward it.
Think of it as a receptionist or telephone operator, but scalable. A virtual assistant can handle dozens of calls at once, is available 24 hours a day, never takes breaks, and works on weekends and holidays.
A good virtual assistant is more than just a glorified voicemail. Below are three key qualities of an effective virtual assistant:
Why a Virtual Assistant Can Help
Always available, even outside of business hours.
Customers are demanding and expect flexibility. They want to be able to call or text at any time, whether it’s making a reservation in the morning or sending a text in the evening if a question arises. Your virtual assistant handles this 24/7, ensuring your customers always receive immediate assistance.
Low costs
Hiring an employee solely to handle customer communications can be expensive. Consider the salary, additional employer costs, training, sick leave, and more. Research shows that an employee costs an average of 45 euros per hour. For just 49 euros a month, you can have a virtual assistant.
A Professional First Impression
If you’re available day and night, can communicate in multiple languages, and can be reached by phone, WhatsApp, and live chat, you will instantly create a professional first impression.
Multiple conversations
Unlike us, a virtual assistant can handle dozens, or even hundreds, of conversations simultaneously. Anyone who calls or sends a text message is assisted immediately; waiting in line is a thing of the past.
A virtual assistant is only useful if it can assist customers independently. After all, generic responses and numerous call-back requests don’t save any time.
That’s why it’s important to train your virtual assistant using your own information. You can easily train your HeyFred virtual assistant by loading your website and uploading attachments and documentation. Do you have information about frequently asked questions via email? You can also add that to your knowledge base, so your assistant continues to get smarter.
Choose a voice that fits your company.
Existing customers often feel a connection to you or your employees. That’s why you should choose a voice that aligns well with your company, or use your own voice. You can utilize your own voice through a virtual assistant in just a few minutes. This way, you’ll save time, and it will sound familiar to customers.
More than 100 languages
The virtual assistant speaks over 100 languages, and in addition to your own voice, you can select from a variety of male and female voices. Customers are assisted in their native language.
Built for businesses that can’t afford to miss a call.
Car dealerships
Proactively call customers to arrange maintenance or MOT appointments and schedule them automatically
DISCOVER MOREFreelancers & Self-employed professionals
Fewer distractions from calls and text messages
DISCOVER MOREEasy to reach. Hassle-free. Low-cost.
HeyFred is a virtual assistant that automates your availability. In practice, it works like this:
- You decide when HeyFred answers calls: during business hours, only when it’s busy, or all the time.
- HeyFred handles all calls, both incoming and outgoing.
- You’ll receive a summary of the call and any customer information if a callback request is created.
In your virtual assistant’s settings, you can specify whether a customer can be transferred, whether you want a summary after the call, or whether you want a customer to be able to request a callback. You can also easily set whether you want the assistant to make calls only, or to also send messages via text and chat through live chat.
Clear Instructions
Make sure to provide clear instructions for your virtual assistant, such as:
- How to address the customer
- Can the customer be transferred?
- What information you are and are not allowed to provide
- What to do in case of an escalation, emergency, or system failure
- What to do when dealing with new customers
Set Clear Guidelines
Also, ensure that the virtual assistant clearly understands what is not allowed; for example:
- Providing information about competitors
- Engaging in arguments with customers
- Disclosing sensitive personal information
- Promising discounts
- Providing legal and/or medical advice
Real-world examples
Driving Schools: More Trial Lessons and Fewer Missed Leads
As a driving school, you often receive calls at the worst possible times: during lessons, while on the road, or during an exam. Is the missed call a request for a trial lesson? If so, that’s an immediate missed opportunity, because who knows which driving school that person is now trying to reach?
A virtual assistant is guaranteed to solve this problem. The call is recorded immediately, and new students can even send a message via the app. The virtual assistant collects all the important information, such as name, city, address, and whether the person has already passed the theory test, for example.
Do you use a calendar? Then the (trial) lesson can be scheduled right away. Otherwise, the assistant will create a complete summary so you can call back well-prepared.
Another advantage is that you’re fully accessible even outside of office hours. Young people often call in the evening because that’s when they can discuss things with their parents. Even then, your virtual assistant can handle the call completely on its own.
Home Improvement Companies
It’s not just handyman companies, electricians, roofers, and nearly everyone in the construction industry faces the same problem. You’re standing there with heavy tools in your hands, and just then the phone rings, if you even notice it amid all the noise around you. A new job? An emergency due to a leak?
If someone has a leak and can’t reach you right away, they’ll call the next person. After all, they won’t wait for you to call back, if you even call back at all.
A virtual assistant easily solves this problem. All calls are answered immediately, and your assistant acts primarily as a filter: Is it a new job? What needs to be done? etc. You’ll receive a complete summary via email, and the customer gets a polite response letting them know you’ll personally follow up.
Is it urgent? Then the assistant can send you a message via the app and an email, so you don’t miss the urgent matter and can get back to the client as quickly as possible.
Web Agencies & Agencies
Web design firms and agencies receive a lot of calls, and many of the questions are repetitive. How much does a website cost? How much does maintenance cost? How do I create a page? Or can I order another 500 business cards? If you assume five calls a day, each lasting three minutes, that’s already 5 hours a month spent answering frequently asked questions.
A virtual assistant not only saves you time but also money. If you assume an average hourly rate of 45 euros for an employee, you’re spending more than 200 euros a month on staff time that isn’t productive, whereas for just 49 euros a month, you can handle many of these calls.
Two additional benefits are that your team can work with much greater focus, since they aren’t constantly interrupted by the phone, and that customers are always assisted immediately in a friendly and consistent manner.
If a customer has a specific question about printed materials, programming code, or a technical issue, you can automatically route it to the right team member. Ideal.
Restaurants and Hotels
A virtual assistant is ideally suited for the hospitality and hotel industries. Consider automatically scheduling and modifying reservations, as well as calling or sending a text message to remind customers of their upcoming reservations.
Frequently asked questions about allergens, the menu, check-in and check-out times, amenities, or information about the surrounding area can also be handled perfectly by a smart assistant.
In the hospitality and hotel industries, you often deal with international customers and tourists. Your virtual assistant communicates with customers in their own language and sends you a summary in Dutch.
Get a test call from Fred.
Enter your mobile number and Fred calls you within seconds. Hear for yourself how natural he sounds.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Fred is available in over 100 languages and with a variety of voices and accents. You can even record your own voice to make Fred sound even more natural. You can listen to our samples to get an idea of what Fred sounds like, or try Fred for free for 7 days.
Yes. That’s partly down to the time you normally spend on calls, but also to the time it takes to wrap up your work and get back to it. You can easily save dozens of hours a month! Check out our calculator to see how much money you can save.
Paying with us is safe and easy. We accept the most common payment methods, such as credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, etc.), direct debit (SEPA Direct Debit) and iDEAL. All payments are processed via a secure connection and handled by Stripe.
Absolutely! You can try any subscription for 7 days free of charge with no obligation. We don’t ask for your credit card details, so you’re under no obligation. Sign up for your free trial now.
Absolutely. You can change your plan at any time via your account settings. Upgrades take effect immediately, whilst downgrades come into effect at the start of the next billing cycle.
Yes, you can cancel your subscription at any time. If you have a monthly subscription, it will end at the end of the current billing period. If you have an annual subscription, it will continue until the end of the annual term.