Customer Service, Sales & Booking VA — Excellent Australian Communication Required

I’m looking for a highly capable Virtual Assistant to help manage customer enquiries, sales, bookings, follow-ups and daily administration for a busy Australian service-based business.

This is NOT a basic admin role.

You will communicate directly with customers, qualify enquiries, help convert genuine enquiries into bookings, manage deposits and booking information, follow up potential customers and keep our daily trackers and booking dashboards accurate.

Because you will represent the business directly, excellent communication skills are essential.

AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATION STYLE IS ESSENTIAL

You must be able to communicate naturally and comfortably with Australian customers.

Australian customers generally prefer communication that is:

- Warm and conversational
- Friendly but professional
- Direct and easy to understand
- Less formal
- Concise
- Human and personalised
- Focused on answering the actual question being asked

I am specifically NOT looking for someone who relies heavily on:

- Scripted or canned responses
- Generic customer service language
- Overly formal communication
- Excessive apologising
- Long explanations when a short answer will do
- AI-generated sounding responses
- Repeating information that hasn't resolved the customer's question
- Acknowledging a customer without actually solving their issue

If a customer asks three questions, I expect all three questions to be answered.

If a customer becomes confused or frustrated, I expect you to recognise it, reread the conversation, identify what hasn't been resolved and adjust your response accordingly.

You need to understand what the customer is actually asking — not simply respond to keywords or follow a script.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

You will manage enquiries from initial contact through to confirmed booking.

This includes determining:

- What day and time the customer wants
- Which service they are interested in
- Whether they want any extras
- Whether they have requested something that isn't offered
- How to appropriately handle requests for unavailable services
- Whether the customer appears genuine, needs more time or is wasting time
- Whether they are ready and willing to pay the required deposit
- Whether the deposit has been paid and received
- Whether the booking has been confirmed
- Whether the correct address and booking information has been sent

You will also be responsible for:

- Responding to ALL enquiries during your working hours
- Responding to new AND ongoing conversations within approximately 10 minutes
- Following up genuine enquiries
- Helping convert enquiries into bookings
- Managing booking communication
- Maintaining professional boundaries
- Updating the Daily Enquiry Tracker
- Updating the Weekly Bookings Dashboard
- Keeping customer and booking information accurate
- Knowing when something should be escalated to me

PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS

I expect:

- 100% of enquiries responded to during working hours
- Responses generally within 10 minutes
- Customer questions answered correctly and completely
- Customers properly qualified before booking
- Booking procedures followed accurately
- Daily Enquiry Tracker completed
- Weekly Bookings Dashboard kept up to date
- Warm, natural and conversational communication
- Minimal avoidable customer complaints
- Accurate customer and booking information

Accuracy and communication quality are more important than simply sending a large number of messages.

WHO I'M LOOKING FOR

You will be a strong fit if you:

- Have excellent written English
- Understand Australian conversational communication
- Communicate naturally rather than sounding scripted
- Have strong customer service and sales skills
- Have appointment-setting or booking experience
- Understand how to qualify leads
- Can recognise buying signals and time-wasters
- Have excellent attention to detail
- Can work independently
- Know when to solve something yourself and when to escalate
- Can handle frustrated customers calmly
- Learn quickly from feedback
- Take responsibility for mistakes
- Do not need constant supervision

Experience working with Australian businesses or Australian customers will be highly regarded.

LONG-TERM OPPORTUNITY

A generous long-term benefits and bonus package is available to high-performing candidates after 6 months of successful continuous engagement.

IMPORTANT

This is a customer-facing position.

You will eventually be trusted with direct access to customer conversations and booking systems, so reliability, judgement, confidentiality and attention to detail are essential.

You will not receive full access immediately.

Successful applicants will first complete an interview and practical assessment so I can evaluate how you communicate, think and handle real customer situations.

STRICT NO-AI POLICY

The use of generative AI is strictly prohibited throughout the application, interview and assessment process for this role.

This includes tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot or similar tools used to write, rewrite, improve, translate, formulate or generate any part of your application or interview responses.

I need to assess YOUR genuine communication skills, judgement, English ability and ability to respond naturally to customers.

Any applicant found to have used generative AI during the recruitment process will be automatically disqualified.

The same policy applies throughout your engagement if you are selected for the role.

Unauthorised use of generative AI in customer communications will be treated as a serious breach of the role requirements and will result in immediate termination of your contractor engagement.

If you rely on accessibility or assistive technology for a disability, please let me know so that an appropriate accommodation can be considered.

HOW TO APPLY

Please do NOT send me a generic cover letter.

I want to see how you actually communicate.

At the beginning of your application, write:

“I understand Australian communication.”

Then answer the following questions in your own words:

1. A customer sends you three different questions in one message. What would you do to make sure you don't a ---------- answer only one or two of them?

2. A customer has asked the same question twice because your previous response didn't properly answer what they were asking. They now sound frustrated. How would you handle it?

3. What are some signs that a customer is becoming frustrated during a written conversation?

4. What is the difference between acknowledging a customer's concern and actually resolving it?

5. How would you communicate with an Australian customer differently from a very formal corporate customer?

Customer Scenario

A customer messages:

"I've already told you twice that I want Saturday afternoon. I just need to know whether 3pm is available and how much the deposit is. I don't need all the other information again."

Write the EXACT response you would send to this customer.

Keep it short and natural.

Do not tell me what you would say. Write the actual message you would send.

Please answer these questions yourself rather than giving me generic or AI-generated responses.

If your communication style is overly scripted, extremely formal or does not directly answer the questions above, you will not progress to the next stage.