Picture this: Your new healthcare business is gaining more attention than you could ever imagine. The work you put in is paying off, and you’re seeing your vision come to life. But with that increased attention also comes:
- Greater responsibilities (strategic planning, finances, reporting, transacting, acquiring new products/services).
- More opportunities (acquiring new customers and developing new products and services).
- A rise in customer inquiries (questions, concerns, product/service information).
Consequently, your focus as a business owner becomes tangled up in numerous activities. For instance, managing the business plan and marketing campaigns, maintaining profitability, and increasing research and development (R&D) efforts.
Juggling so many priorities, it can become difficult to dedicate the right amount of energy to efficient telephone answering and email response. Yes, expansion is amazing, but as a small business owner, your #1 priority should be your customers and the support they receive.
Rather than juggling everything internally, there is another option worth exploring: Hiring a remote receptionist.
Why? Because it is crucial to have a trained individual answering the phone to ensure no important calls are missed.
A remote receptionist will boost your business’ efficiency and productivity, ensuring that customer calls are never missed and that each is meaningful. One data source shows that businesses can save up to 78% by hiring a virtual receptionist versus a full-time employee.
Now, let’s dig into what a remote receptionist is and all the aspects you need to know before hiring one to enhance the success of your small business!
What is a Remote Receptionist?
A remote receptionist performs many of the same tasks as an in-house receptionist, but they have the flexibility to work from any location of their choice. With a remote receptionist, you can choose the most suitable services for your practice.
For example, they prepare for the day depending on your need. So it might be beneficial to hire a backup receptionist if, for example, you only need assistance three days a week.
Overall, they are someone who takes over the administrative tasks so that you can spend more time doing what you love, catering to your clients at hand.
What Does a Remote Receptionist Do?
The main responsibilities of a remote receptionist include answering incoming calls, scheduling appointments, forwarding messages, transferring calls, and making outgoing calls.
Depending on the client’s needs, their other over-the-phone duties may also include; collecting payments, making follow-up calls, and taking messages.
In the end, having a remote receptionist will ease your workflow – helping you achieve your goals and grow your business.
How to Decide if You Need a Remote Receptionist
A remote receptionist is perfect for you if you:
- Want to spend more time with your clients without extensive costs
- Are looking to improve communication and customer service
- Want to ease some of the growing pains
How do you decide if a remote receptionist is really necessary? There are a few key indicators that can help determine the answer:
You’re struggling with scaling your business: Nearly 93% of customers who receive personalized service generate repeated sales. You improve customer satisfaction by delegating the responsibility of remembering each client’s main details to a remote receptionist.
You don’t have enough time or money to onboard a receptionist: As your small business grows, you’ll want to hire more help, but this can be quite costly. In fact, payroll accounts for 70% of business expenses, making it the largest expense. The time it takes to train, and onboard is also a major cost.
You can resolve your business needs at a lower cost by hiring a remote receptionist who is already trained and ready to serve your customers.
You worry about losing clients due to a lack of organization and management: Providing excellent customer service is key to attracting new clients and retaining existing ones. This can be challenging for startups due to the lack of organization they often experience, which is completely normal.
A remote receptionist can alleviate the lack of organization by taking the burden of answering customer calls and questions off your plate and centralizing all customer inquiries into one place, with one person.
If you identify with any of these key indicators, it’s worth learning about the advantages of a virtual receptionist for your company.
4 Benefits of Having a Remote Receptionist
You can increase productivity, customer satisfaction, and revenue with a remote receptionist.
Remote receptionists at Smiledog answer your customers’ phone calls with a smile, provide custom instructions, and are ready to offer exceptional customer service. By hiring one, you’ll be able to focus more on your clients and spend less time on administrative tasks.
Now, let’s dive into the four key benefits remote receptionists can provide:
1. A Remote Receptionist Captures Every Call You Miss
Remote receptionists take the entire responsibility of handling customer phone calls and messages off your plate, giving you some space to breathe and reset for the days, weeks, and years ahead.
You won’t have to worry about following up with clients, or checking the voicemail in the morning, as a remote receptionist takes care of that for you!
2. They Save You Money
Remote receptionists allow you to save money or use it for other things, such as clinical supplies, rather than hiring a full-time receptionist. By using a remote receptionist, the company loses no money since the receptionist works according to when you need their support.
3. Their Automation Allows You to Delegate Efficiently
There’s no way you can do it all (even though sometimes you might want to).
You’re already overseeing the entire business, reinforcing the mission/goal, and focusing on day-to-day business operations like forecasting, finance, research and development, strategy, supply chain management, and quality control.
A remote receptionist makes it easier for you to connect with new clients and schedule future appointments on top of everything else.
4. A Remote Receptionist Increases Loyalty & Returning Clients
A remote receptionist provides a high level of professionalism and top-notch customer service, which increases customer loyalty and satisfaction.
You can say goodbye to negative reviews and customer dissatisfaction due to long wait times, missed calls, miscommunications, or lack of follow-up calls. Reduced customer satisfaction doesn’t only result in lost customers but also prevents your business from attracting new ones.
How to Find a Remote Receptionist Today
Now that you know what a remote receptionist is and how to determine if you need one, the next step is to find the right service.
If you’re interested in a credible remote receptionist service, then look no further. Smiledog’s remote receptionist service will allow you to grow your business, manage your call volume, and improve customer service without hiring a full-time staff member.
Our mission is to leave a lasting impression on your customers, provide them with fully informed instructions, answer any and all questions, and go above and beyond for them.