Virtual receptionists and answering services are not the same thing. Though a single company can specialize in both, the service provided is different. On one hand, the answering service industry has declined over the past 40 years from over 20,000 businesses to around 800. Of the 800 remaining, the majority, if not all, have all adopted more complex solutions which has transformed them into virtual receptionist services.
With over 800 virtual receptionist services out there, customers must do their research on which one fits their needs best. After all, hiring a virtual receptionist service is like hiring a person. Each service has its own pros and cons and are priced in a wide range.
We have condensed a few key features you must keep in mind when looking for a virtual receptionist. Use these features to educate yourself as you look for a virtual receptionist or reevaluate the one you currently have.
All virtual receptionist services will advertise that they are 24/7/365, and they will not be lying. However, in looking for a virtual receptionist, you must ask them for their service level numbers.
A good virtual receptionist service will staff adequately to have average answer times at or below 12 seconds and answer over 90% of calls in under 4 rings. This will ensure your callers do not abandon the call and turn to your competition.
Your business is different than any other business out there. While having strict scripting rules can ensure that a virtual receptionist service makes little errors, it is important that they can find a happy medium between staying within their script boundaries and fulfilling all your needs. Several virtual receptionist services are against scheduling or inputting work orders as that exceeds their comfort zone. Others over promise and under deliver. Make sure you find a virtual receptionist service that is willing to work with you but is transparent about their limitations.
Hopefully, all virtual receptionist services will staff operators with a customer service focus. But this is not what we mean by looking at their customer service. Hiring a virtual receptionist service is like hiring an in-house staff member. You will be providing a lot of feedback to them to get things going. When you do, it is important that the virtual receptionist service has enough staff to take in that feedback, adapt, and overcome. You will also need to modify your script and add time sensitive notes. Make sure the virtual receptionist service you hire has a solid supervisor to operator ratio.
For any business looking to improve their customer communication, a virtual receptionist solution is a great tool. Virtual receptionist service have proven to be the most cost effective solution for phone call answering. Taking the help of a virtual receptionist service can improve customer experience better than the previous one, reducing your overhead, and capitalizing on existing client opportunities followed by an increase in profits of the business.
If you too are looking for a virtual receptionist for your business then, consider Easybee’s virtual receptionist services. Easybee’s phone call reception service focuses on high quality call handling for all industries and will manage all the important calls and offer clients with best-quality service they need. Want to know more about how to develop your brand with Easybee?