Outsource to a Virtual Receptionist

 12 good business reasons why a small or medium sized company should outsource to a Virtual Receptionist Service provider

 What is a Virtual Receptionist?

A virtual receptionist is like a receptionist, but ‘virtual’. Not a hologram or anything from the far-flung future – it just means the person who handles your calls works in a remote fashion, instead of at your front desk. As well as helping out customers and clients, they can do pretty much anything, from answering phones and taking messages, to handling enquiries, making bookings and even sales support. These services often work by providing a business with a unique divert number. When activated, all calls can be sent to that number, instead of ringing through to your own office. The virtual receptionist can then answer the phone and handle the calls as if they are a part of your business.

Virtual receptionists are perfect for almost any business owner who has struggled to answer the phone when it rings. Lawyers, accountants, dentists, hairdressers and small businesses of all shapes and sizes have all benefited from having that extra person to take calls and handle all the little details for them. Really, there is no industry that wouldn’t benefit from a little outsourced support.

Why Should I Use One?

Cost-Effective: Hiring a full-time receptionist for your business can be expensive, especially when you consider the cost of recruitment, training, annual salary, holiday, and sick cover. A virtual receptionist only costs a fraction of that total and can be available as and when you need them. The cost of hiring and training them is taken on by your chosen telephone-answering provider. So, all you need to do is pay a small monthly fee for the service.

Better Productivity: Having a virtual receptionist can do a lot for the productivity of you and your employees. It takes an average of 23 minutes for you to refocus after you’re disturbed by a phone call, and sometimes phone calls can be terribly distractive in an office. But a virtual receptionist can answer your calls throughout the day, so and your staff can maximise your productivity without missing a single thing. This keeps both your team and your customers happy, and allows you to carve out a time to return any calls you need to – at a time that’s convenient for you.

Improved Customer Service: Great customer service is at the heart of every successful business. Being able to answer the phone every time a customer calls, in the same professional manner, and have their query dealt with properly, is a cornerstone for good service. Staff might not be able to offer that level of consistency or be able to get to the phone each time if they have a lot to do. But a virtual receptionist is there to do nothing else – which means they can provide a high level of customer service every time.

You can manage your time better: Using a virtual reception service, can free up your time to allow you get on with the important matters in your business. You will no longer be tied to your desk afraid to move because you may miss a call. Your virtual receptionist will transfer calls through to you as they are coming in provided you are available to take the calls. If not, they can take a message and email on to you.

Maintain a professional image: When calls are being answered quickly and in a professional manner, it creates the correct impression for your customers. It portrays your company image as being pro-active and customer friendly

 Lower costs and better service: Hiring a virtual reception service can be significantly less expensive than hiring a full-time in-house receptionist. For smaller businesses as well as the physical cost saving on the full-time receptionist, they also gain time savings because the staff do not need to answer all calls. They can focus on revenue generating activities on behalf of the company. Kendlebell have a calculator so you can see how much you save compared to employing a full time staff member – look at this www.kbell.ie/prices

Flexibility as you get busier: Growing businesses need to be able to expand quickly. They need to have the flexibility to expand their workforce quickly. Using a virtual reception service, gives companies that flexibility. They can expand as they get busier and, likewise, they need not incur excessive costs in slower times as they incur costs for only the calls taken in their behalf.

Instant access to industry specific Virtual Receptionists: It can often prove difficult to find and hire staff with industry specific experience. However, it is much easier to engage a virtual reception service who have relevant experience in specific sectors. Examples of such specialty services would be taking calls for industries such as medical services or IT technical support. We provide virtual reception services to many different industries. Our virtual receptionist service, as well as being expert at doing reception duties, typically will also understand rules and compliance issues related to a specific industry.

Cut equipment / technology costs: Outsourcing your reception in a small business means that you will not have to invest in reception equipment. This includes investing in expensive telephone switches and related technology. It also saves on the regular upgrading of such equipment.

Flexibility as you get busier: Growing businesses need to be able to expand quickly. They need to have the flexibility to expand their workforce quickly. Using a virtual reception service, gives companies that flexibility. They can expand as they get busier and, likewise, they need not incur excessive costs in slower times as they incur costs for only the calls taken in their behalf.

Maintenance savings on telephone equipment: If you have an in-house receptionist, you will need to deal with maintaining your telephone and related IT equipment and dealing with the inevitable technical hitches that will occur from time to time.  This often means signing up to expensive maintenance contracts to maintain the equipment. When you outsource your telephone answering you will not have to worry about these maintenance contracts because you use the services of a virtual reception service. Using their services will help save a lot of money you could otherwise have used maintaining equipment.

Extended phone support availability – out of hours call answering: Using an outsourced virtual reception service, will allow companies to have their phones answered beyond the typical working day. This can be a problem for a typical company where staff leave for home circa 6.00 pm. A typical virtual reception service will answer phones during the working day and after hours, some answering at weekends and bank holidays as well. This will, of course, help businesses as they will not miss potential income related calls. When customers call anytime to set up an appointment or have an emergency service call taken care of, business revenues will increase as will the company’s reputation.

Conclusion: As has been outlined above, there are many hidden benefits of outsourcing your reception to a virtual service provider. Finding qualified staff is difficult and keeping them hired is expensive. Using Virtual Reception services gets you past these issues as well as all the other ten benefits outlined above that they bring to a business. Just call Kendlebell to get the right answer! Learn more about our services at www.kbell.ie

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