Customer service is the most important part of any business. That’s not just our perspective – according to this post from Groove, 82% of customers have left a company because of bad service while 86% will pay more for a product or service if they have a better customer experience. Investing in customer service is a must, and your customer service starts from the minute they pick up the phone.
Whether you are an established business owner or have just launched a start-up, acquiring the services of a virtual receptionist can enable you to establish full-time, professional customer service.
When people call your business, they expect someone to take their call – and you can ensure every call is answered by your virtual receptionist.
Here are some of the core benefits hiring a virtual receptionist can afford your business:
Protect Your Business Reputation
What happens if no one answers a current or prospective customer’s call? What if they have to ring several times to get through to speak to someone? What if they have to wait hours or even days to get a return call?
They will not be happy…and they’re likely to discuss their negative experience with others. You’re busy and can’t be on hand to answer every single call, but a virtual receptionist can, and this can prove invaluable to protecting your business reputation.
Engage New Business
If new prospects can’t reach you on the phone, they will simply go elsewhere to conduct their business. Answering every prospect call when you’re out drumming up new business, speaking to suppliers or going about your busy day-to-day isn’t possible.
Even if you do get to answer calls, can you dedicate the time each potential prospect deserves? Ease your workload by hiring a virtual receptionist to answer your calls and filter through only the ‘hottest’ prospects to you.
You can spend a load of money trying to market your business but without a receptionist in place, you could be missing out on lots of potential new business.
Conduct Business Out of Hours
This is particularly important for online businesses. If you’re selling into foreign markets that don’t operate in the same time zone as you, they still need to be able to reach you by phone as no one likes speaking to an answering machine.
Hiring a virtual receptionist service to handle out-of-hours calls can ensure you can maintain your impeccable reputation for customer service.
Expand Your Horizons
If you’re seeking to expand your business into a new region or country, having a virtual phone number and a native speaker waiting to take calls from current and prospective customers can help you to assert an established presence in that area.
Hiring a virtual receptionist to answer a local landline number can prove an inexpensive yet effective way of opening up new markets for your business, especially if there are different languages to consider.
Save on Costs
If your call volume doesn’t warrant the hire of a full-time in-house receptionist, why take on that expense? Virtual receptionist packages can be tailored to meet your needs. You can increase the number of hours you need to hire a virtual receptionist during your peak periods and dial your package back down again in quieter business periods.
The cost of hiring a virtual receptionist will equate to a mere fraction of an in-house hire and you can be assured that you are acquiring the services of a highly experienced customer service professional.
With an easier workload, better customer service and the opportunity to expand your business and engage new clients – hiring a virtual receptionist could be the best move you ever make. And it’s something you can trial and test for little cost, so what’s stopping you?
