English
French
German
If you run your own small business, you know just how crucial quality customer service is to your clients’ satisfaction and loyalty. While the customer service department is often your main representative and the first contact your customer may have with your company, hiring a full-time receptionist can be prohibitively expensive, especially if your company is small in size or hasn’t been around for very long. If you can’t afford an in-person receptionist but having quality customer service is still a key part of your brand strategy, you may have been considering getting a Live Virtual Receptionist instead. With a virtual receptionist, you can get many of the benefits of an in-house receptionist while saving on time and expenses. Read on to learn more about them and some of the many ways they could potentially benefit your business.
1. Customers Won’t Have To Deal With Robots
As a customer, nothing is more frustrating than calling the customer service line and getting stuck with a glitchy robot. When you work with a service like voicenation, on the other hand, customers will be getting answers from real people. It might seem like a minor detail, but simply having personal service can leave a strong positive impression on customers, which could make them more inclined to continue patronizing your business and spreading the word about you. When it comes down to it, automated robots are often a poor substitute for the care and personal touch that comes with having live people answering the phones.
2. You Can Extend Your Business Hours
When you have an in-house receptionist, they go home at the same time your other employees do, limiting your business hours. This means that some customers’ calls will get stuck going to voicemail instead of receiving immediate replies, which can become frustrating for them. With a virtual receptionist, you can actually effectively extend your business hours. In fact, in some cases, you may be able to have 24-7 call answering! You could potentially keep customers satisfied even when you’re off the clock. If having more questions answered leads to sales conversions, this could potentially help boost your earnings over time as well.
3. It Could Save You Money
If your bottom line is a primary concern, you may be interested to know that hiring a virtual receptionist could actually be a clever way to save your company some money. With an in-person receptionist, you have to cover all the costs associated with full-time employees, including salary, payroll taxes, benefits, office space, supplies and more. Contracting this service out to a virtual receptionist reduces a lot of your overhead costs, which could make a big difference to your budget both immediately and over time. You could then take the savings and reinvest back into your company to expand or create better products and services!
4. They Could Offer a Range of Services
While your virtual receptionist will obviously field calls for the company, depending on who you hire, they may offer a wide variety of other services, too. For instance, it’s common for many receptionists to provide services such as scheduling appointments, transferring calls or making outbound calls, answering frequently asked questions from customers and other prospective inquiries, gathering caller information and live-chatting with customers on your company website, among others. If you hire a virtual receptionist who’s willing to cover several bases, you could potentially cut even more costs and make operations extra efficient by streamlining multiple services through one employee, rather than several.
When a customer calls your business, their first interaction is likely to be with your receptionist or customer service department, so making sure you have quality people working in those areas is crucial to your brand image and company reputation. Hiring a full-time in-house receptionist, though, can often become too expensive for many small businesses, especially if you’re just getting started. If this is the case, you may want to consider hiring a live virtual receptionist instead. With several benefits and potentially reduced associated expenses, they could help provide the services you need without breaking the bank. If you’re considering this option, keep these four key facts in mind and you’re sure to make the right choice for your company.
