7 Pros of a Virtual Receptionist

Running a business requires a lot of time as there are many things that a business owner needs to do on a daily basis. Hiring a receptionist can help a business owner save time but the problem is that hiring a receptionist has more pros than cons. However, you can avoid the disadvantages of hiring an in-house receptionist by hiring a virtual receptionist. That said, here are the major advantages of hiring a virtual receptionist:

Saves Money

Hiring an in-house receptionist is costly. With such a receptionist you will have to take into account the payment of benefits, recurring taxes, and overhead expenses. I am sure that you understand that all these can add up very fast and eat into your profits. A virtual receptionist, on the other hand, will only need to be paid for his or her services and this can help you save money according to answerfirst.com.

Emergency Back Up

One of the best things about a virtual receptionist is the fact that unlike an in-house receptionist, he or she will rarely go for vacations or go on breaks. Therefore, when you hire a virtual receptionist, you will always have someone to respond to your emails and answer your phone calls during business hours.

In addition, even if you have an in-house receptionist or receptionist, you can set times to divert communication lines from the in-house receptionist to a virtual receptionist. This can be beneficial especially during unscheduled emergencies and lunch times.

Gives You Peace of Mind          

Do you often worry about your employees and your business whenever you go on vacation and you have to check your emails, social media or messages expecting to hear something about your business? Maybe you are half-expecting to hear that your business lost customers or missed client calls or maybe you are worried that your business may have burnt down.

When you hire a virtual receptionist, you will not have to worry about all these things as the receptionist will forward important business and person calls while you are away hence giving you peace of mind.

Availability

A virtual receptionist will take calls for you while you are away either from your office or desk. This can beneficial especially to self-employed workers and freelancers as they might not have an on-site receptionist or traditional office. Virtual receptionists can be reached at any time of day. This makes such a receptionist worth the money.

Extensions

Most of the virtual receptionists out there offer extended service hours. This is beneficial to those business owners who would like to extend an extra dose of courtesy to their clients by keeping their communication lines open longer during the day and even during weekends.

Extended service hours can make your customers feel like your business cares about them. For instance, I am sure that you will feel more satisfied if your bank is open on weekends while other banks don’t. This is the satisfaction that virtual receptionists give your clients.

Improve Brand Image

It is important for all business calls and emails to be responded to in a professional and prompt manner as this will make your business look trustworthy and reputable. Virtual receptionists with ISO 9001 accreditation can help enhance your brand image especially if you are in an industry that doesn’t require you to have a physical office or if you run an online business.

Business Productivity

If you hire a virtual receptionist, you will be more productive as you will enjoy a certain level of freedom. This is because of the fact that your virtual receptionist will handle your notices, emails, and calls hence giving you time to focus on your core business. You will spend more time thinking of how to generate leads, sourcing products, meeting current clients and thinking of ways to upgrade your business strategies.

Hiring a virtual receptionist is beneficial in many ways and the good thing is that doing so is not as costly as hiring an in-house receptionist. Apart from the benefits we have mentioned, most of the virtual receptionists also handle administration responsibilities like client scheduling, invoicing, faxing and so on. Remember that anything that an in-house receptionist can do, a virtual receptionist can do at a fraction of the cost.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.