Often when people hear the term “virtual receptionist” they think of someone who answers your phone and takes a message or an assistant type person who can do data entry.
The truth is a virtual receptionist can help you with a heck of a lot. They can do almost everything an in-house receptionist can do when it comes to the phone.
Here are 5 ways a virtual receptionist can make your day-to-day business life easier and help you grow!
#1 Live answer
As high as 80% of callers won’t leave a voice message because they don’t believe they’ll get a callback. By having a virtual receptionist that answers every call live you instantly eliminate the chance of losing a prospective new or current customer to voice mail.
#2 Live transfer
Answering services take messages, but virtual reception services act as, and in fact are, your receptionist.
When someone calls looking for you or another staff member, unless there are other instructions on file to take a message, your virtual receptionist will first try to live transfer the caller to you or the proper staff member.
If that person cannot be reached your virtual receptionist will follow the instructions on your file to either try someone else or take a message.
#3 Book an Appointment
Not every call is someone looking for an answer to a question. In many businesses, the caller is looking to book an appointment. Your virtual receptionist can take the required customer information and book the appointment right on your calendar.
Virtual receptionists are integrated with numerous popular web calendars such as MindBody Online, Appointments Plus and more.
#4 Answer General Questions
“I have a quick question…” is probably what half the callers to your business say when their call is answered.
No Problem!
Your virtual receptionist can field frequently asked questions and provide answers based on information and resources you provide.
If the question is outside the scope of what your virtual receptionist deems they can handle they’ll politely let the caller know that they need to speak with someone else that specializes in that area and they’ll have them call the customer back ASAP.
#5 Take a Message
This might seem like the most basic function of what a virtual receptionist can do, but it plays an important role in your day-to-day business life.
Know you’re going to be traveling or otherwise unavailable for the day? Let your receptionist know and they’ll be able to promptly tell callers you’re tied up at the moment but you can call them back at the date you’ll be available.
The message will be taken and then sent to you via email for you to return when available.
BONUS #6 Outbound Calling
Most virtual receptionists are not call-centres, but if you need to reschedule customer appointments or follow-up with certain customers they can make those calls and follow the proper procedure you lay out for them.
How Does a Virtual Receptionist Accomplish all this?
Curious how a virtual receptionist manages to be able to do all that for you?
We’ve got a demo video you can watch and also a pricing guide ready for you. Simply select the page below that you feel caters most to your business and you can access the guide and video right away.