Every business owner knows the importance of having a great reception service. From answering queries and providing excellent customer support, to liaising with clients, booking interviews and completing administrative tasks, your receptionist does it all – and often, it’s their daily responsibilities that are crucial for keeping your business running smoothly and effectively.
By hiring a receptionist to work virtually as opposed to in-office, you can further streamline your business and improve day-to-day operations. Let’s take a closer look at four of the key ways a virtual receptionist can help your business.
Round-the-clock support
Hiring a receptionist or customer service agent to work in-office means your customer service support is likely to be limited to daytime working hours – unless of course you’re willing to hire a whole separate team to work the night shift. For most company owners, this would be counterproductive to business, particularly as the alternative of hiring a virtual receptionist would mean securing a 24/7, round-the-clock support service.
A 24-hour receptionist service would help your business in more ways than one, as ultimately, it means that your clients or customers can reach out whenever is most convenient for them, and receive support from your business as and when they need it. This can often mean the difference between a customer choosing to place their faith in your company over a competitor’s, as great customer service often goes a long way in improving the overall customer experience.
No need for training
Onboarding can be a complicated process for businesses, particularly when it requires on-site training that can take up much of the company’s time and funds.
Luckily, when you choose to hire a virtual employee, you’ll be paired with a receptionist who has already received much of the training required to provide an excellent service for your business. This means it’ll take less company time and resources to train them up, which therefore guarantees a much more efficient hiring and onboarding process – no need to write up job adverts, schedule screening calls and interviews, or develop lengthy training plans.
Plenty of time saved
Perhaps the main reason that business owners choose to hire a virtual receptionist is to free up more time in their employees’ schedules, so that they then have a greater capacity to deal with other pressing business-related matters that need their attention.
In fact, many employers are surprised by just how drastically hiring a virtual receptionist can increase business productivity and value. Where employees in roles unrelated to reception may have previously had to communicate with potential job applicants, schedule client appointments and keep on top of administrative tasks, these activities can now be completed solely by the hired virtual receptionist.
A cheaper solution
When you choose to hire an in-person receptionist, you have to compensate them with an appropriate, fixed salary, whether or not you choose to hire full or part-time. However, if you opt to hire a virtual receptionist, you’ll often only pay for the time that they spend taking calls – or completing any other task that you’ve specified as being part of their job description. This means that if you’re ever faced with a slow day at work, you won’t be charged any fixed fees or overhead costs where no work tasks have been performed. Similarly, it means that you’re free to use your virtual receptionist service only as and when you need it.
How to get the most out of your virtual receptionist service
It’s easy to hire a virtual receptionist to be a part of your team, but how do you know that you’re choosing the right service to suit your needs? In order to find the one that best aligns with your company’s mission and ethos, you’re going to want to consider the requirements of your business, in comparison to what a virtual receptionist service can offer you.
For example, is your main focus on providing excellent customer service to your customers and clients, or are you looking for someone to mostly keep on top of organisational and administrative tasks? Perhaps you simply want someone to be available to take messages at all hours, or, maybe you’re looking to hire a receptionist with in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of your business, so that they’re equipped to provide specialist advice to your clientele.
Each of these questions are important ones to ask yourself when it comes time to hire your virtual receptionist. As long as you enter the process with clear expectations in mind, you’re guaranteed to find the right product to fit your requirements, and get the most out of your virtual receptionist service.
