If you are deciding whether or not your company should hire a virtual receptionist to answer calls and respond to customer questions, you may already know some of the benefits. For example, virtual receptionists:
- help customers feel valued and important when they get to talk to a real person instead of slogging through an automated system.
- improve customer satisfaction by efficiently connecting the caller with the exact person they need.
- manage many of the day-to-day logistics of your company, including scheduling meetings, taking messages, transferring calls, and keeping employees up to date on important information.
- maximize the time you can spend on developing your business by streamlining calls and providing information to customers without requiring your time and input.
However, even if you know all these things, you may be left wondering: how does it actually work? Where are your virtual receptionists when they take your customers’ calls? What kind of technology do you need to provide? How do you train virtual receptionists, and how many do you need to hire?
Let’s go over the basics.
How do you hire a virtual receptionist?
Outsourcing your phone service is so much easier than trying to figure out the technology, the hiring process, and the oversight of your virtual team on your own. The benefits listed above only work if you’re not losing tons of time and effort trying to manage the process yourself.
We recommend working with a reputable, highly-reviewed company like ours, Reliable Receptionist. You hire us, and we take care of pretty much everything else: we recruit the team, we train them, we manage their schedule and availability based on your needs, and we provide the training everyone on the team needs. If there is a gap in your software or hardware, we’ll help you figure out what it is and how to solve the problem.
How customizable is the position?
We create job listings based on your needs. Do you want to accept calls during a traditional 8am-5pm office workday? Or do you want to have people taking calls and messages until late at night? Do you have international clients, and therefore, your workday can actually include the middle of the night?
Do you need someone answering your calls while you’re on the road, checking in from different locations throughout the day or week? Your phone answering service can ensure that whatever staffing needs you have, they are met. Even if you think your staffing needs are unique, there is always a good solution available!
Will your receptionist be like a stranger to you?
A lot of small business owners pride themselves on their workplace being familial and close-knit. How does that work if some team members are not physically there?
The good news is that technology and virtual workspace innovation can provide community, even when everyone isn’t together in one space. We can walk you through the ways that we can ensure that your receptionist feels like part of the team, not just someone working on the outside looking in.
Will your virtual receptionist be sitting at home, distracted by things like TV and family?
A good receptionist company will only hire committed, professional workers. Yes, it’s true that some receptionists may be working from their home offices, but that doesn’t mean they’re not attending to your customers’ needs.
Virtual receptionists are as professional, detail-oriented, and committed as receptionists who are physically in the office; if they were not, they would never get the chance to represent our company or yours!
What is the process like for the customer who is calling?
- When the client or customer calls your business number, the call is immediately directed to our dedicated receptionist, who answers with courtesy and professionalism. Our receptionists answer quickly, too, with callers waiting no more than four rings before they are greeted.
- Call screening determines the needs of the caller and the appropriate course of action, whether that is taking a message, answering a question, or connecting the caller with you or someone else in the business. At this point, the receptionist can also schedule appointments that sync with your calendar.
- While all of this is happening, or later, you can view incoming calls and messages through our web portal, so that you are always in the know about the day’s communication.
Virtual receptionists are an important asset to so many companies, small businesses, and independent contractors. If you want to take the next step in making sure that your customers are greeted by a professional, informed, real-live person when they call you, contact us today to find out how we can meet your needs.
