ThreeTenSeven – back-office support creates a calmer workplace
Background
ThreeTenSeven is a brand transformation consultancy specialising in health and wellbeing. A long-established business, they were founded in 1984 in Leeds, under the name Thompson Brand Partners. The business has gone from strength to strength, and has some very big names among its clients, including NHS England, Mind and Morrisons.
Challenges
All was well with ThreeTenSeven until 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic. As working models changed, the business’ need for a full-time in-house office manager declined and the Client Services team and Directors absorbed many of the office manager’s tasks. This was the right choice at the time, but as workplaces reopened and as the pipeline picked back up, the gap left by the office manager became very apparent.
Solutions
Managing Director Rachel recognised that the team needed back-office support again to free up their Client Services team to focus on client work. She approached Get Ahead to find out what solutions we could offer. We matched Rachel and her team with our virtual expert Sophie, who started by managing their emails from her home office in the North West.
Over time, the role has grown. On top of email management, Sophie now has other regular duties including managing a MailChimp database, organising time sheets, updating schedules and creating weekly reports. She also does the supermarket order so all the team get a healthy lunch!
In addition to these regular tasks, Sophie also has a reactive role. The team communicate with each other through business messaging app Slack. Through Slack, they can contact Sophie as and when they need her. Some jobs that might take the team ages can be fixed very quickly by Sophie. She has tweaked spreadsheets so they work effectively and quickly reformatted documents so they look professional.
Sophie continues to work remotely. Slack’s capabilities mean she and the team can communicate in real time, while cloud storage and document sharing make co-working simple.
Rachel and Get Ahead manage the reactive side of Sophie’s work. We agreed that Sophie would work eight hours per week for ThreeTenSeven, with an option for more time as required. Equally, during quiet weeks, Rachel has given Sophie permission to remind the team her support is there! Sophie can use Slack to let the team know she has capacity and is available to help.
Outcomes
Sophie and the team at ThreeTenSeven have built a really positive working relationship. Sophie’s support means that back-office tasks are being completed reliably and on time. Not only is this good news for the business, but the team feel more supported; Rachel and the team know they can delegate tasks to Sophie, creating headspace for their core work.
Outsourcing has been good news for the bottom line too. With an agreed limit of eight hours a week, Rachel can easily stay within her staffing budget. It’s amazing what Sophie can get done in the time!
Testimonial
Working with a VA was new but made sense for us, and it’s worked out really well. Fiona was a joy to work with and took the time to understand our needs, rather than just fielding any old person, and it’s that right-fit that’s made the difference. Sophie just gets on with it – we know all the essential recurring weekly tasks will be done like clockwork, and it’s a real relief in a small owner-managed business. She adapted to agency ways of working and bespoke software beautifully. Once Sophie nailed the baseline tasks, they were being done in much less time than expected, which meant we could then think of other tasks we could get her to help with. It’s always like that with a smart, competent person, isn’t it – you think ‘Well, that was easy – what else can I give them?’ and they soon soak up tasks you hadn’t thought to delegate before. Now I’ll fling anything her way, from helping out with our carbon reporting to researching new job management software and buying last minute client Christmas pressies. Everyone needs a Sophie in their lives!
