Most startups have constantly undermined that hiring a virtual receptionist (VR) is necessary for their business. They see it as costly and find inadequate reasons, like underestimating the complexity of the virtual receptionist tasks. On the other hand, they feel hiring a virtual receptionist to perform simple roles like email management, lead generation, and customer support is a waste of resources. Moreover, they have high expectations of what tasks a VR should carry out.
A virtual receptionist can schedule appointments, manage emails, send reminders, send messages, and do other core business tasks. Assigning those tasks to a VR allows a business owner to have more time for business development. Consequently, many startups end up hiring a VR for a short period of time, which can be detrimental to the growth of the business. Virtual receptionists have proved beneficial in transforming many startups and taking them to the next level.
However, before hiring a virtual receptionist, you should understand the needs of your business and your expectations of them. You must clearly outline the tasks to be performed, the skills required for quality service, and your business goals. As a startup, it’s important to learn what support services can do for your business. By doing so, you’ll get to know the benefits and differences between live answering vs virtual receptionist in terms of functionality and how they can help your business grow. Here are some reasons to hire a virtual receptionist for your business-to-business (B2B) startup.
Effective Time Management
Time is an essential asset in any business. Administrative tasks can take a lot of time for a business owner, and they may lose money while trying to do them all. A virtual receptionist who’s well skilled has the experience of being a good admin manager. When you allocate the administrative tasks to someone, you get more time to focus on building new business relationships and growing your business. Furthermore, your business will be able to keep up with the rising demand. By hiring a VR, the heavy backlog of unread emails and unrecommended emails will no longer be an issue. A virtual receptionist can also help schedule your year’s calendar of events and meetings days in advance. Lastly, a VR will help you create a financial report and perform other financial tasks for the company.
Reduce Cost Of Hiring And Training
When you can manage time well, you should do the same with money because they’re part of your biggest asset. Hiring employees means you’ll have to invest more resources during the hiring process, which can be expensive. A virtual assistant will help you reduce the cost of hiring by ensuring they undergo proper interviews and training. On the other hand, hiring a virtual assistant means you’ll save yourself from hiring a full-time employee. In most cases, companies pay virtual receptionists on an hourly basis. When they’re off work, you won’t have to pay them. Additionally, they just work remotely, and you won’t have to cater to some costs like transport, internet connections, and other related costs.
Ensure Smooth Business Operations
Owning a company doesn’t necessarily mean you understand its core operations. Basic knowledge of the business won’t guarantee success. For better and more consistent growth, get a virtual receptionist to help you run the basic operations of your company. With the right skills, you’ll be able to achieve professional flow in your business. At the same time, as your business grows and demands increase, a virtual receptionist will be crucial in making this process less hectic. Handling emails, messages, and calls will also be smooth.
Enhance Your Product And Services
A good business that’s drastically growing has better services and products. Consistency is key. A virtual receptionist will help you scale up your products and services to the required standards expected by your clients. But how do you maintain a better product or service? First, know your clients’ needs. You need to find out about new market trends. Once you’ve gathered enough information from your market research, a virtual receptionist can help you come up with better solutions to improve your products or services. On the other hand, better service also means responding promptly to emails, messages, and calls from customers. Constant communication breeds a stronger customer relationship and helps you grow your customer base.
Offers 24/7 Customer Service
Customers expect an immediate reply whenever they send an email, message, or call for an enquiry. Offering 24/7 customer service with the help of a virtual receptionist means replying almost immediately to help meet your customers’ expectations. It also helps reach a wider market easily. Furthermore, the absence of some team members, who might be off or sick, won’t be felt when they’re out. Sometimes, having a receptionist might be inconvenient because they won’t be able to attend to customers at certain times, such as the lunch hour. The presence of a virtual receptionist to respond to frequently asked questions, emails, calls, and complaints will help your startup run smoothly.
Reduced Workload For Your Employees
There are a lot of activities that need to be carried out by different staff members. Allocating activities like sending emails, receiving calls, scheduling appointments, receiving refunds, and getting feedback to a virtual receptionist will reduce the workload on other staff members. This also gives you the opportunity to enhance the efficiency of your business operations. When one person can handle such activities, it reduces confusion, and creates more time to focus on other important business tasks.
Less Office Space Needed
Hiring a receptionist means creating a space in your office. You understand well that an actual receptionist should have a workstation. Hiring a virtual receptionist means one can work remotely. It means you’ll need no space in your office. In addition, your office won’t be loaded with many data entry files and reports. A virtual assistant will be able to create a database to store important customer information and reports.
For better productivity in your startup, hiring a virtual receptionist will help you satisfy your customers’ needs on time. Meeting these growing demands increases your chance of having a strong customer base.