Case study
How a Georgia digital marketing business improved customer service with a full-time virtual assistant
A Georgia based digital marketing business needed more reliable customer support after previous virtual assistants struggled with calls, follow ups, and scheduling. The company partnered with Global Squirrels to hire a full time virtual assistant from the Philippines. Global Squirrels handled sourcing, screening, payroll, onboarding, and HR support, giving the owner dependable help managing calls, texts, appointments, and client questions.
Executive summary: Rebuilding customer service with reliable full-time virtual support
A growing Georgia based digital marketing business needed dependable customer service support after experiencing inconsistent performance from previous remote assistants.
The owner was personally managing a business that depended on fast client communication, yet the existing assistant struggled with answering calls, following up with customers, responding to text messages, and keeping scheduling organized.
The company partnered with Global Squirrels to hire a full-time virtual assistant from the Philippines who could handle inbound calls, respond to client messages, explain services, manage appointments, and provide consistent customer follow-up.
Global Squirrels handled candidate sourcing, screening, interview coordination, onboarding, payroll, and ongoing HR administration.
Within the first 90 days, the new assistant provided approximately 160 hours of customer service support per month, helped bring call and text response times under control, and reduced the number of routine customer communication tasks requiring direct owner involvement.
The result was a more consistent customer experience and a reliable support structure the owner could use as the business continued to grow.
About client: Georgia based digital marketing company needing stronger customer support
The challenge: Missed calls and weak follow-up were affecting the customer experience
The biggest problem was not simply workload.
It was consistency.
The current assistant struggled with phone handling and customer follow-up, which meant the owner could not fully rely on the position to manage incoming communication.
For a service based business, that creates several risks.
A missed phone call can become a lost opportunity. A delayed text response can make a prospect question how responsive the company will be after becoming a customer. Poor scheduling can also create confusion for both the customer and the business owner.
The client therefore needed someone who could reliably stay on top of communication throughout the working day.
Another challenge was the hiring market.
The owner initially considered candidates from Mexico or Honduras because of perceived affordability and proximity. However, the target budget of around $700 to $800 per month made it difficult to find the desired full-time profile in those markets.
Global Squirrels recommended looking at the Philippines, where candidates with strong English communication and customer service experience could offer a better balance between affordability and skill.
The company also wanted to avoid another failed remote hire.
That made prescreening, candidate comparison, and interview control especially important.
The solution: A full-time Filipino virtual assistant focused on customer communication
Global Squirrels recommended a full-time virtual assistant from the Philippines with previous experience in customer service, phone communication, scheduling, and remote administrative support.
The search focused on candidates who could:
- Speak professional English
- Handle inbound business calls
- Respond to text messages promptly
- Follow customer service scripts
- Explain services clearly
- Manage appointments and schedules
- Follow up consistently
- Escalate important questions
- Maintain organized communication records
- Work 40 hours per week
The expected cost was approximately $1,000 per month, including payroll related support and the Global Squirrels service structure.
Although this was higher than the owner’s original $700 to $800 target, the company decided that reliable full-time support offered better value than repeating the cycle of hiring lower cost assistants who could not consistently handle the role.
The Philippines also provided access to candidates familiar with US business communication and remote customer support workflows.
How the hiring process runs: From customer service requirements to full-time onboarding
1. Define the customer communication workflow
Global Squirrels worked from the actual duties the assistant would perform each day.
The hiring request included call answering, text responses, service explanations, scheduling, and follow-up responsibilities.
This helped recruiters identify candidates suited to customer facing work rather than general administrative support.
2. Source candidates with customer service experience
The candidate search prioritized professionals with previous virtual assistant, customer service, call handling, or administrative experience.
English communication was treated as a core requirement.
3. Receive screened candidate profiles
After the job request was submitted, the client received candidate profiles within approximately 2 to 5 business days.
The initial round included three candidates for review.
This allowed the owner to compare backgrounds and communication experience without searching through a large volume of applicants.
4. Interview before hiring
The client retained control over final selection.
Interviews gave the owner an opportunity to assess spoken communication, confidence, customer service style, and overall fit before making a decision.
5. Complete onboarding
Once the preferred candidate was selected, Global Squirrels supported onboarding, payroll setup, employment administration, and related HR processes.
The client then trained the employee on service explanations, scheduling expectations, call handling, and escalation procedures.
6. Establish clear daily expectations
The assistant was given responsibility for monitoring calls and messages throughout the day.
Clear expectations around response times, scheduling accuracy, and follow-up helped avoid the ambiguity that had contributed to problems with previous hires.
Results: 160 monthly hours of more consistent customer service support
The new virtual assistant gave the business a dedicated customer communication resource instead of forcing the owner to step in whenever the previous assistant missed something.
1 full-time virtual assistant
The company added a dedicated remote employee focused on customer communication and scheduling.
40 hours of support each week
Calls, texts, scheduling, and follow-up were covered throughout the normal working week.
Approximately 160 hours every month
The business gained consistent customer service capacity without adding a local full-time administrative employee.
Faster client response
Inbound calls and text messages were handled more consistently, reducing the amount of communication that had to wait for the owner.
More organized scheduling
The assistant took greater ownership of appointment coordination, reducing calendar confusion and unnecessary back-and-forth.
Less owner involvement in routine customer service
The owner could focus more time on advertising strategy, client relationships, sales, and business development instead of monitoring basic communication tasks.
Greater stability than previous remote hires
The full-time model gave the employee a clearer long-term role and helped the business build a more dependable support relationship.
The experience also reinforced an important lesson for the client: the lowest monthly salary is not always the lowest cost option. Poor communication, missed calls, repeated training, and turnover can quickly outweigh the savings from hiring a cheaper but less suitable assistant.
Testimonial: Finding a virtual assistant we could rely on every day
Why companies choose Global Squirrels
Global Squirrels helps businesses hire dedicated international professionals while reducing the recruiting and administrative work involved in remote hiring.
Support can include:
- Candidate sourcing
- Candidate prescreening
- Resume review
- Interview coordination
- Full-time virtual assistant hiring
- International onboarding
- Payroll administration
- HR support
- Timesheet management
- Workforce changes
- Replacement hiring support
Clients remain responsible for the employee’s daily tasks, goals, training, and performance.
Global Squirrels supports the hiring and employment infrastructure behind the relationship.
For this business, that meant finding a virtual assistant who could provide consistent customer communication instead of creating another layer of management work.
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