Has your business grown to the point you need a professional receptionist to handle your incoming calls? Perhaps you’ve just launched and realize the business simply cannot grow without someone handling the phones and ensuring no call is missed?
The stark reality of business is that phone calls cannot go unanswered. We’re operating in a busy virtual world, with thousands of competitors vying for the same customers we all are. Of course, hiring a virtual receptionist means more expenses, but it also means less sales getting lost, and fewer miscommunications.
One of the most exciting options to hit businesses operating in the brick and mortar and virtual space is virtual office services like a virtual receptionist. A virtual receptionist is a real person, not a computer. They can take your calls just as easily as a non-virtual receptionist would, while costing much less money to hire, train and maintain.
Here are 5 reasons you should hire a virtual receptionist to handle your calls:
1. You can work with increased focus and drive
There’s something about a negative, inappropriate, or downright boring phone call that can just crush your will to work afterwards. There’s no limit to these kinds of calls when running a business. If you’re the only one available to take the call, then you’re going to have to take the call, right? This means more distraction and less work getting done on your end.
Of course, any successful business needs to pride themselves on answering a customer’s call quickly. A virtual receptionist can take care of all the details, answering each call with precision and professionalism. They can take messages when you’re unavailable, and screen out specific callers when you’re busy and only want to answer the most important calls coming into your business.
2. Virtual receptionists never sleep!
I’m joking on this point, but when you hire a virtual reception service, your business can literally take phone calls all day and night. Of course, you can hire a single receptionist to take your calls during business hours. This is smart if you want each voice a customer hears in your company to be familiar.
However, if you’re running a business where 24/7 hours of operation are advantageous, you can have a small or large team of virtual receptionist handling all your calls, including taking and transcribing messages, or actually handling phone sales and services with your clientele.
3. Virtual receptionists help to brand your business
When calls are sent to voicemail, everyone is secretly disappointed, sometimes angered by the fact we’re expected to essentially talk into a machine. When you make a phone call, you expect to talk to another human being on the line right? And when someone doesn’t answer, its normal for the mind to start to drum up reasons why they aren’t answering.
Are they avoiding your call? Was it something you said last time? Do they not want my business? You don’t want anyone thinking you’re bumping them off to the machine, for any number of reasons. A virtual receptionist will talk to your callers, assure them you’re unavailable, but that you will call as soon as you’re finished with whatever you’re working on.
4. Virtual receptionists help avoid the number one sales killer
The missed call is something that no business can ever afford to let happen. Over 80% of the people who call and don’t get an answer on the first go round won’t ever call you back. The only exception would be if you were highly recommended by one of their friends and associates, and that’s not a given either.
Most won’t call back and will not leave a message on your voicemail. However, when they call and get a friendly receptionist on the line, that’s a completely different story. Just the act of talking to someone immediately boosts the perceived value of your brand. Prospects can leave a message, or be sold on your product or service by the reception team, if you opt for that kind of service.
5. Virtual reception saves you more than it costs
I’ve already talked about the fact that virtual receptions helps increase your brand, chalk up more sales, and eliminate missed calls. It’s also important to address the expense aspect of hiring such a service to take your calls. It is estimated that it costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000/yr to hire, train, pay, and cover all the expenses associated with a receptionist.
That number doesn’t take into account that you need to provide them with adequate space to work, either. A virtual receptionist costs a fraction of this. Depending on your needs, you can opt to pay by the minute for each call, or purchase a preset package of minutes to allocate to your virtual receptionist. There’s also the option to hire a virtual assistant and pay them by the hour, if you can find someone who can do the job effectively.
The entire world is going virtual — are you on board?
It’s entirely possible to run your business from the cloud, using virtual services like virtual receptionists to help handle a large portion of your workload. By allowing a receptionist to take your calls, your focus will be more in tune with what’s most important to business growth.
Virtual assistants make it possible to expand business hours in order to make more profits. Branding is increased, sales numbers will grow, and you’ll save more money that can be used to build the brand, rather than simply maintain it. The world is going virtual and any business focused on growth needs to heed the call.
Are you ready for less phone-related headaches and increased growth in your business?
