What is a virtual receptionist?
In this series:
What are the features of a virtual receptionist service?
How can a virtual receptionist help my business?
What are the benefits of using a virtual receptionist service?
A virtual receptionist is just like a regular office-based receptionist, but without the office!
It is a real human being who will answer calls, take messages, arrange appointment bookings, and provide excellent customer service to anyone who contacts your business. They will then notify you of the calls you have received.
The only difference is that they do their work virtually – they can work anywhere and carry out their duties over the internet.
You can decide on the best ways to make use of a virtual receptionist service.
You might have a small business and be struggling to keep on top of appointment bookings. You might be having a hard time trying to respond to phone inquiries at the same time as getting on with actually running your business. A virtual receptionist would be able to free up your time by taking calls on your behalf whenever you are unavailable, both after-hours or during your normal working day.
You could be a larger business that already has a receptionist, but want to cover those calls that come in after you’ve left the office or while your receptionist is already on a call. A virtual receptionist can be available 24/7 to help with any call overflow and ensure that you never miss out on leads.
You can decide when you want your virtual receptionist to take calls, what you want them to say, and which of your business services you would like them to perform (such as booking appointments). You can tailor the service to suit your needs.
Voicemails are arguably the easiest option for solving the issue of missed calls. But 75% of callers will hang up the phone if their call goes to voicemail. This means that if you are not there to pick up the phone, it is highly likely that you will miss out on a lead, and your competitors will gain that customer instead.
Meanwhile, the costs of hiring an in-house receptionist are high. You may even have to rent an office space to accommodate the extra staff. This is an expensive solution, and not an environmentally sound one either.
A virtual receptionist allows you to have the benefits of an in-house receptionist at a significantly lower cost. It allows you to project professionalism by having someone who knows your business always available to answer calls, giving you peace of mind that your callers are experiencing excellent customer service in your name.
