Does Hiring a Virtual Receptionist Make Sense for Small Businesses?

Small businesses make up the vast majority of companies in the US, and firms with only a handful of employees dominate that already extensive group. Despite this, it may sometimes feel as if many valuable business-to-business services focus only on large organizations. If you own a small business with few employees, then you might find it challenging to understand what's right for your situation.

Virtual receptionists may sound like something only available to massive corporations, but they can be a lifesaver for businesses of any size.

What Does a Virtual Receptionist Do?

You may be familiar with the concept of outsourcing phone-handling duties to a call center. In the most straightforward cases, answering services like this take calls, record messages, and help you keep your lines staffed 24/7 without needing an office full of employees. These services are useful to businesses of any size, but virtual receptionists can go a step further.

The primary purpose of 24/7 call answering is to manage a large volume of incoming and outgoing calls. If you've ever hired an in-person receptionist, you know their duties typically go well beyond answering phones and returning calls. Just like a receptionist that you employ on your own, a virtual receptionist will be familiar with your business and ready to provide in-depth assistance to your customers.

Of course, virtual receptionists offer a range of advantages over their in-person counterparts as well. Just as with a more basic call answering service, your virtual receptionists can be available around the clock. If your company provides a service or product that may require off-hours customer service, this can be invaluable. By contracting this work, you also free yourself from managing another employee.

Why Are Virtual Receptionists So Useful to Small Businesses?

Enormous organizations have the resources to employ their massive call centers and to support phone staff around the clock. On the other hand, personnel management can often be a significant challenge for smaller firms. You want to do right by your employees, and bringing too many people into the fold can sometimes make that challenging.

Supporting staff around the clock may also be difficult or impossible. It's likely that you already have someone fulfilling a receptionist role during regular business hours, but what about after-hours support? While many companies can benefit from providing around-the-clock customer support, managing employees late into the night is not usually a practical option.

Virtual receptionists fill in this gap. Instead of taking work from the employees you already have, they fill in to provide seamless coverage once your office hours end. This extra coverage can also allow your employees to work more efficiently and with less stress since they'll no longer need to worry about providing call-backs or support to customers who may not be available until later in the day.

Can Your Business Use a Virtual Receptionist?

The reality is that most companies would benefit from providing around-the-clock support to their customers, but there's always a cost trade-off. If you're not sure if contracting a virtual receptionist service is right for your situation, then ask yourself these questions:

• Do you sometimes need to work late to contact customers who are unavailable during the day?
• Will your customers benefit from speaking to someone knowledgeable outside of regular business hours?
• Is your current staff having difficulty keeping up with call volume?
• Is hiring and training an additional full-time receptionist too costly or otherwise unrealistic for your business?

If you can answer yes to several of these questions, then a virtual receptionist service may be a good fit for your business. By providing similar work with lower costs and more flexibility than full-time employees, this service can help you expand your business affordably.

Whatever your call center needs, AnSer can find a solution that works for you. We provide full virtual receptionists, along with more traditional call answering and scheduling services. Contact us today to discuss the most cost-effective option for your business.