Telephone answering
Virtual office involves everything from virtual office address to virtual secretary, along with hourly rental office space offered by several companies – it is particularly suitable for small business owners running their business, location-independent. However, if you don’t need location-related services and just want to have an enhanced company image but can’t afford to hire any full-time receptionists, you might want to consider virtual receptionist services.
Virtual receptionist services are essentially services that let you redirect any business calls to a remote receptionist. The virtual receptionist will answer the call with greetings specific to your requirements. Not only answering calls, the off-site receptionist will take messages and forward the call to you or to the appropriate business staffs.
The benefits of partnering with a virtual receptionist service provider
Give the best first impression
The most apparent benefit is your improved small business image. Just admit it – while some small businesses have the privilege to hire on-site receptionists, most of us can’t afford (or not willing) to hire one. Indeed, receptionist’s role is often underrated – Some would think, “Why hire a receptionist if we can hire more marketing staffs?” Unfortunately, unless you answer calls yourself, you need highly qualified receptionists to give the best first impression your business can do. Telephone answering done wrong can lose you business – think about it.
A virtual telephone answering service can make you look good.
Better call handling
Even if you do telephone answering yourself, you need to consider these issues: Are you good with words and how to say things the right way (I know I am not)? Can you focus on being positive and cheerful in answering phone calls when you are buried with tons of things to take care? If you work at home, can you take the call without knowing that it’s a business call, having your children running around, screaming? Will you be able to accept calls and pitch while driving a car (it’s dangerous and illegal, anyway)?
Chances are, you will likely to be in a situation where an assistant, secretary or receptionist can help you in answering calls and taking messages. An outsource receptionist can help you big time here.
Save costs
Let’s be honest now – how many of you think that receptionists are “dispensable” staffs? Some of you would think that hiring a receptionist is wasting money. Some of you might think that although you do need a receptionist, you simply can’t afford to add one to your list of staffs. Well, you DO need one and if you can’t hire an on-site one, consider hiring a virtual secretary or receptionist.
A remote receptionist can save you costs while giving you professional services many on-site receptionists can’t offer you.
A final note
When you do decide to hire a virtual secretary or receptionist, you need to consider partnering with the right virtual receptionist services provider. Choose one with flawless track record. Whenever possible, you should look or ask for free trials – quality service providers will provide you with one, having strong confidence in their service quality.
Ivan Widjaya
Outsourcing die-hard fan
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Nice post!!! I agree with you that Virtual Receptionist Services could be very helpful. However you need to make sure that you are very clear when you set all the specifications up.
The virtual receptionist is a great option to have if you are running a small business. I am sure that having the support of a receptionist without having to commit to the needs of an in-house employee is the right choice for many business owners. Having this option available is terrific. Thank you for the information and I will keep it in mind if I ever need a virtual receptionist.
I agree I think when you are trying to choose the right company you have to look at things like how long is the contract, what is the termination clause, monthly fixed rate charges, call charges, are there flexible packages, can you downgrade or upgrade your service whenever you want and do they offer a service which fits in with the way you work in terms of hours and days.
Having a virtual secretary gives you an advantage over some things; like still getting leads while on vacation or receiving orders when a bad weather comes in your country, with phone answering service you can’t miss a single opportunity. With 24 hour support all you have to do is wait and process.
Lost calls mean lost business.It’s very important to have the most effective receptionist.When a customer or partner calls, you want to give them a live and warm voice human than a voice mail system.Nowaday’s a lot of company’s reputation and new business is on the line, how quickly and professionally you answer and respond to inbound calls is extremely important.Having an alert communications’ virtual office answering service helps you capture new-client opportunities and provides best-in-class service to all your customers.
Shane,
Thanks for sharing your insight – I agree. I measure the credibility of a company I buy products and/or services from from the responsiveness and helpfulness of the receptionists. To me, receptionists are underrated; they represent the whole company – a much more important role than many think.
Great post, Ivan — and thank you for mentioning Ruby Receptionists! I also wanted to mention that some virtual receptionist services can do other things in addition to cheerfully answering your calls, just as an in-house receptionist would. For example, Ruby can make appointment reminder calls and update your status, noting whether you’re in a meeting or to transfer calls to your cell for the day. Using a virtual receptionist service can definitely be a seamless, cost-effective way to enhance your business’s image!
Katie,
Cheers :) It’s a full-fledged service needed for growing business – especially online business.
Thanks for dropping by!