Remote work has become increasingly trendy throughout the years. Technology may have paved the way, but remote work has become even more essential in recent days. With the spread of COVID-19 jeopardizing the health and safety of workers across industries, more and more companies are joining the remote work bandwagon. Some are doing so out of necessity with plans to return to offices as soon as it’s safe to do so. Other businesses are finding that the work from home model is actually going to be better for their company in the long term.
Whether your organization is working remotely as a temporary measure or as a more permanent transition, a virtual receptionist is the perfect addition to remote teams. Regardless of if you’re new to the work from home lifestyle or have been successfully managing a remote job for years, virtual receptionist services can dramatically improve the experience.
Interested in collaborating with a live virtual receptionist but aren’t quite sold on the arrangement? Here are five ways to leverage virtual receptionist services for your remote workforce:
Fortify the Customer Experience
You’ve likely always been committed to customer service. With an after hours virtual receptionist at your disposal, you can extend your passion for the customer experience beyond traditional business hours. Your customers might be accustomed to waiting for your business to open or leaving a voicemail after hours. A virtual receptionist can be available to answer any incoming phone calls 24/7/365. They’ll answer questions, provide information, assist callers, take messages, and even forward the call if it fits your criteria of an emergency. Overall, virtual receptionists are a quick, simple way to increase the level of professionalism of your caller experience.
Another way virtual receptionists boost the customer experience? Call tracking statistics and useful data to help you make informed business decisions. After all, it’s hard to adequately monitor call performance from your employee’s personal cell phone!
Increase the Productivity of Your Team
Working from home can be just as productive as working from the office (and sometimes even moreso!). This is especially true if you have a virtual receptionist on hand. While many employers feel initially nervous about transitioning to remote work, the growing pains will resolve themselves quickly. One of the main benefits of a virtual receptionist is having them around to ease such transitions. With a professional receptionist at your disposal, many administrative tasks can be shifted to their virtual desk. This leaves more time for your team to accomplish the most pressing items on their to-do lists.
A virtual receptionist can field incoming calls for each of your employees, answering questions, taking messages and redirecting conversations as needed. They can also screen callers that your team doesn’t need to speak with immediately. This gatekeeper function minimizes distractions and interruptions for your team. With all of these tasks handled, your team will wonder how they ever worked without a live virtual receptionist in the first place.
Save Time with Call Forwarding
When a caller has a concern, connecting with the right person in the right department is key. There’s nothing that will aggravate an already frustrated caller more than being passed around from department to department for a solution. The struggle becomes even more difficult when your colleagues are working remotely. Thankfully, a virtual office with a live receptionist can eliminate this common challenge.
A virtual receptionist can serve as your first line of defense against inbound calls. Working from a customized call script, they’ll collect key information from the caller and identify the correct person or department for the solution. With just a few clicks, the call can be transferred to the appropriate employee for a quick resolution. There’s no need to give your customers the runaround with a virtual receptionist at the ready.
Help Clients and Customers Schedule Appointments
It can be a big enough challenge coordinating the schedules of your team to find time for Zoom meetings and conference calls. Now add in the appointments that your customers want to schedule with you and it gets complicated very quickly. Another huge benefit of using a virtual receptionist when it comes to managing a remote team is appointment scheduling.
A virtual office receptionist can handle all appointment scheduling duties when callers dial in with a request to meet. They can serve as a scheduling concierge, organizing appointment times that fits with each team member’s time zone and work schedule. In turn, you’ll save countless hours checking in with individual employees about their availability to meet virtually, all while keeping customers happy.
Grow Your Business
A virtual receptionist can ensure your team doesn’t miss a beat as they transition to work from home. In fact, you may even see your efforts to expand your offerings and grow your business rewarded once you bring a virtual receptionist on board. By having a receptionist on hand to take calls 24/7, you’ll never again miss an inbound call. This means more opportunities to do business with new customers, and an increased sense of availability and accessibility for all callers.
Enhanced accountability is another great way virtual receptionists can help grow your business. Everything your virtual receptionist does for you is logged to your secure account. You can use any web-enabled device to login and see your messages, escalate issues, assign responsibility, see call history, and much more. With these tools at your disposal, nothing slips through the cracks. This keeps everyone on the same page, no matter how far apart they might be located.
The way we work is changing rapidly. As more and more businesses transition into remote work, a virtual receptionist becomes even more mission-critical. Many of our clients question how they ever worked without the help of such professionals! Curious about how your organization might benefit from a live virtual receptionist? Contact us today for more information.
Here are some related articles you might be interested in:
Why Right Now is the Perfect Time to Use a Virtual Receptionist
Incorporating a Virtual Receptionist into Your Business Strategy
