Running a small business usually means a limited number of staff members and being overloaded with tasks that need to be done in a short period of time. It is nearly impossible in such conditions to make balanced strategic decisions and concentrate on expanding your business. Fortunately, virtual receptionist services come to the rescue.

Before we move to the benefits of its use, let’s briefly clarify what is a virtual receptionist‘s role. It is a real person that will take on most of the responsibilities connected with customer service and free up more time for you to achieve new business goals or focus on improving your products or services. A virtual receptionist’s duties cover answering phone calls, scheduling appointments, taking care of your business mailbox, and solving customers’ queries.

Below, you will find some advantages that hiring a virtual receptionist can bring to your company’s functioning.

Cost-Effective Solution

Virtual receptionists do not require a fixed salary and can be paid for the hours you need them. Thus, you can hire a virtual receptionist for a fraction of the cost of a full-time receptionist.

If you decide to find one using a virtual receptionist service, it automatically reduces training costs. You will get a trained customer service specialist, most likely with experience in working at a call center. Thus, you will only have to provide them with a brief protocol for doing things in your company.

Another advantage is that you do not have to allocate a working space for them, as they work remotely. It is a big plus for small businesses with just a few team members, or if you are running a business on your own – there is no need to rent an office space to hire a virtual assistant.

Increased Productivity

Your full-time employees can work only during business hours and do not forget about essential breaks during the day and vacation days during the year. A virtual reception service allows you to find short-term replacements or prolong these working hours, meaning there will be someone ready to help your clients 24/7. It is a huge advantage if you plan to expand your business on an international level or operate in a country with a different time zone.

Virtual receptionists take on repetitive and mundane tasks and make sure only the important calls will reach you. They can also cover more than just calls and emails and establish communication with customers on social media or your on-site chat. It eliminates distractions, saves you time, and boosts the company’s efficiency. When we were evaluating answering services for our business, we found the CallNET Answering Service Locations page incredibly helpful as it showed us all the places we could get virtual answering service for our business.

Online receptionist solutions are also capable of bringing some more work-life balance to your life, making sure you have time for new projects and content creation as well as your individual objectives and challenges.

Improved Customer Experience

No company can survive without perfectly handled customer service today, and nobody likes to be sent to an answering machine. There needs to be a real person who can promptly answer calls, find immediate solutions, and schedule appointments, avoiding overlaps. It will positively affect your company’s professional image and ensure customer satisfaction.

Virtual assistants, including receptionists, are well-trained specialists with broad experience working for different businesses and speaking to clients of all sorts and shades. Use a virtual receptionist who will speak on your behalf, find an approach to any customer, and keep your customer support on a professional level.

Speaking to a virtual receptionist instead of an automated voice response will make your customers feel valued and increase the chances to solve their queries as quickly and efficiently as possible. Your clients will stay with you as long as you can keep solving their pains.

You can even find bilingual virtual receptionists that will come in handy if your company offers worldwide shipping or operates in a multicultural environment. Thus, your customers get the opportunity to understand your offer in the most convenient way for them. It results in trust and loyalty increase, which also means more sales for you.

Bottom Line

Virtual receptionist services are an outsourced alternative to getting an in-house receptionist, allowing small business owners to delegate most of the customer-related tasks. It enables you to spend more time finding ways to grow your business instead of answering incoming calls and messages all day long. Online reception services are not limited to taking care of phone lines only. As a matter of fact, a phone answering service may be a best option for you, specially if the volume of daily calls is very high.

Their duties include collecting information about callers, handling website visitors via live chat, answering frequently asked questions, and even running your personal errands (if there are any).

Customer service technologies are perfect for small businesses, as they entail significant cost and time savings, and there is always a lack of them. Consider getting a virtual receptionist if you want to offload most of the time-consuming burdens and switch your focus to the company’s growth.