Knows The Drill

For independent consultants and consulting teams

Virtual assistants for consultants

Protect the attention your clients hire you for. Your virtual assistant organizes the coordination around consulting engagements, from calendars and proposal materials to meeting actions. We recruit and prepare your assistant for your consulting niche and agreed responsibilities before they join your team.

Find your assistant

Your expertise belongs in the engagement.

A proposal needs an updated biography. A client meeting has moved across time zones. Workshop actions still need owners and dates. Administration often lands on the same person responsible for delivering the engagement.

Build the role around your engagement process. Identify recurring steps, show a finished handoff and name the decisions you want brought back. For a shared role, agree who sets priorities.

The work to hand off

Support the work around your engagements.

01

Coordinate client commitments

Provide your availability, meeting priorities and travel preferences. An assistant can coordinate calendars, confirm participants and organize the practical details around workshops or client visits. Schedule conflicts come back with the available options so you can decide which commitment takes priority.

What you get back: A confirmed schedule with meeting and travel details

02

Assemble proposal materials

Using your templates and approved content, an assistant can gather biographies, format documents, maintain versions and flag missing sections. They can track review and submission dates supplied by your team. You approve the recommendations, scope, commercial terms and final document before it is sent.

What you get back: A proposal pack ready for the responsible consultant

03

Follow through on actions

Share the agreed notes and actions from a client meeting. Your assistant can record owners, dates and dependencies, request status updates and prepare a list of items needing attention. Changes to the engagement or its commitments go back to the consultant responsible.

What you get back: An action list with owners and current responses

04

Maintain engagement administration

An assistant can organize the client contact record, requested files and approved billing inputs in the locations you specify. At closeout, they can gather final administrative items and prepare an archive checklist. Your team confirms what is complete, what is billable and what must be retained.

What you get back: An engagement record with outstanding administrative items visible

Illustrative workflow

From discovery call to engagement closeout

Use this example checklist to identify the administrative handoffs in your engagement process and the decisions that need a consultant.

Discovery

Assistant preparesConfirm attendees and gather the background materials you request.

Consultant decidesWhich questions to explore and whether the engagement fits.

Proposal

Assistant preparesAssemble the consultant biographies, approved credentials and scope template, flag missing sections, and coordinate proposal review.

Consultant decidesRecommendations, scope, fees and the final proposal.

Kickoff

Assistant preparesPrepare the contact list, meeting logistics and agreed administrative checklist.

Consultant decidesProject responsibilities, deliverables and client expectations.

Weekly follow-through

Assistant preparesUpdate workshop actions with an owner, due date and latest response; flag missing client inputs affecting the next deliverable.

Consultant decidesHow to address delays or changes to the engagement.

Closeout

Assistant preparesGather final files and identify unfinished administrative items.

Consultant decidesClient acceptance, billing approval and record-retention instructions.

Illustrative example — not a client record

A workshop action waiting on a client input

Use this action record to show the consultant what is missing and which agreed next step depends on it.

Agreed action
Example entryAfter the operations workshop, the client agreed to provide the current staffing schedule.
What to provide or checkAnchor the follow-up in the meeting's recorded action.
Owner and agreed date
Example entryThe client's operations lead owns the input and agreed to send it by Thursday.
What to provide or checkName the source of the input and preserve the agreed timing.
Follow-up history
Example entryA reminder was sent Wednesday; the operations lead replied that one team's schedule is still missing.
What to provide or checkGive the consultant the latest response without making them reconstruct the conversation.
Dependent work
Example entryThe consultant's Friday review needs the complete schedule.
What to provide or checkExplain why the outstanding input matters to the engagement.
Decision needed
Example entryThe lead consultant decides whether to use the partial input or move the review.
What to provide or checkSeparate administrative follow-up from a change to the engagement plan.

Ready to hand over when: The consultant can trace the action to the workshop, see the latest client response and identify the decision needed for the Friday review.

Download the blank template (CSV)

No email required. The file includes field names and guidance, with blank spaces for your own inputs. Use it to describe the work during matching; keep private client information out of an initial inquiry.

Shape the role around the workload

Do meeting actions lose momentum between client sessions?

A useful fit when

  • Your engagements generate recurring scheduling, document requests and actions that can be tracked against agreed owners and dates.
  • A lead consultant can decide priorities and changes while an assistant follows through on the administrative work.

Discuss the setup first

  • The support is needed for one isolated workshop; discuss whether there is enough recurring work for a managed full-time role.
  • Client teams have not agreed who supplies inputs or approves changes, so reminders alone cannot move the engagement forward.

Managed support provides a dedicated, full-time assistant. Direct-hire responsibilities, hours and employment terms are agreed during matching.

Keep the advice and commitments with your consultants.

Agree who approves client-facing material and which engagement information the assistant needs to access. The role organizes inputs and follow-through around your expertise. Questions that change the substance of the work belong with the responsible consultant.

  • Your consultants develop recommendations, analysis and professional opinions.
  • You approve proposals, contractual terms and changes to the engagement.
  • Client confidentiality requirements and access permissions must fit the agreed arrangement.

Bring a typical engagement from start to finish.

  • 01The administrative steps that repeat across your client projects.
  • 02Proposal templates and an example of a useful meeting-action list.
  • 03Your calendar, document and CRM tools, plus time-zone requirements.
  • 04The person who sets priorities and approves client-facing work.

Recruit. Prepare. Hand over.

Recruited for you. Trained for your industry.

First, we discuss your niche and the work you want your assistant to own. Then we recruit and prepare them in depth for the industry and responsibilities agreed with you before handoff. The matching conversation defines the skills, tools and preparation time your role needs.

We assess English fluency, practical problem-solving and independent judgment, so your assistant can work through the next step and recognize when to bring you in.

Choose the support behind your hire.

Managed assistant

A dedicated, full-time assistant through our service, with ongoing support from our team. One monthly fee.

Explore managed support

Direct hire

We recruit and train an assistant for you to hire directly into your team. You manage the day-to-day. One placement fee.

Explore direct hiring

The examples on these pages are a starting point. Bring the broader range of work you want covered to the matching call. We agree responsibilities, preparation time, working hours, fees and terms before you start.

Before you bring someone on

Can an assistant help with research for a client engagement?
Yes. Research support can be scoped around your consulting niche, the questions you need answered and the outputs you expect. We prepare your assistant for the agreed role before handoff. Define permitted sources, review standards and any specialist skills during matching; professional recommendations and client advice stay with your consultants.
Can they use our tools and coordinate across time zones?
We discuss your calendar, CRM, document tools and required working-hour overlap during matching. Those requirements shape the role and preparation before handoff. Identify the meetings that need live coordination and the work that can be handled asynchronously, together with any required platform experience.
Can one assistant support several consultants?
We can discuss a shared role around the team's recurring administrative workload. Name one person to resolve competing priorities and make each engagement's owner clear. Meeting volume, document work and required availability help define whether the proposed responsibilities fit together.
Can the assistant communicate directly with our clients?
Scheduling, approved information requests and routine follow-up can be part of the agreed scope. Provide examples of your communication style and explain when a message needs review. Advice, sensitive client discussions and changes to deliverables should be handled by the responsible consultant.
What are the fees and available arrangements?
Managed support gives you a dedicated full-time assistant through our service for a monthly fee, with ongoing team support. Direct hire uses a placement fee for recruitment and training before you hire the assistant into your firm. Scope, price and terms are agreed before you start.

Make room for the next client conversation.

Bring the scheduling, documents and follow-through around your engagements. We will help shape a role that supports the way your consulting team works.

Find your assistant

A different kind of business?

Explore other ways to organize the work around your team.