Virtual Offices Empower Entrepreneurs: A Startup's Complete Guide
- Sep 16
- 7min read
Keeping your customers happy is undoubtedly one of the most important deliverables of any company. Whether it is a product or service-based business, customers today demand ease of attaining clarity, support, and solutions. Apart from the quality of the leading products/services themself, this has become a defining factor for the success of businesses. But not all companies can afford a full-fledged customer service team and infrastructure. As for smaller companies and startups with limited spending, most employees take on multiple tasks, including customer service. This is not ideal, as it can be very draining to wear multiple hats all the time and might even reduce efficiency across the organization. While IVRs (Interactive voice response) are also a good option, they cannot always solve customer issues to closure. Human intervention and understanding are still critical to serving customers across many businesses.
How ‘Virtual Receptionists’ simplify customer service for all businesses
First of all, let us understand the function of a Virtual Receptionist (VR). A VR is an outsourced customer service representative who uses your company’s phone to answer your calls remotely. While they work exactly like a conventional receptionist or customer service personnel, they are neither on the company’s full-time payrolls nor need any office space to work from. This is highly cost-effective and is becoming a preferred solution, especially for smaller businesses.
Let us understand the key benefits of using Virtual Assistants:
1. A virtual receptionist can completely take the load off you and your time by attending to all the calls while maintaining the focus on customer service. You can avoid multitasking, focus better on your primary roles and responsibilities, and reduce stress levels.
2. Your virtual receptionist will answer all your calls, take messages, and share them with you in a suitable and orderly manner. By this, apart from your being less hassled with calls and interruptions, each caller receives total attention that, in turn, leads to greater customer satisfaction and showcases exemplary professionalism.
3. Economical and efficient- using a Virtual Assistant’s service costs much less than a full-time receptionist or call center employee, allowing more businesses to afford the service quickly and elevate their customer service quality. As the VRs work from remote locations, providing or renting workspaces, supplies, or equipment is not required, making it even more cost-effective.
4. Unlike IVR and other automated phone systems, Virtual Receptionists make excellent customer service experiences as they come from a wide range of professional backgrounds with many years of experience gained from their earlier non-virtual employments.
Every call matters in the world of business today, and missing a call could mean a lost business prospect. Deploying skilled and qualified Virtual Receptionists can help you stay ahead of the curve by connecting you with your existing and potential business partners and customers through telephone, e-mail, or chat.
Listed below are the various functions that Virtual Receptionists can handle:
- Answer, screen, and forward your business calls
- Send your calls to your voicemail
- Effectively sell your products or services
- Provide 24/7 customer care for your business
- Return calls to your customers on your behalf
- Reply to e-mails from your customers
- Take messages and e-mail them to you
- Schedule appointments
- Manage diaries
- Manage the allotment of meeting rooms
- Handle event coordination
- Handle queries and complaints
- Greet all callers
- Manage and track office supplies
- Assist the HR team with various processes like recruitment and termination
With such seamless interactions with Virtual Receptionists, your customers won’t even know they are speaking with receptionists in remote places. Your customers will be contented with the interactions and feel cared for. On the other hand, you will benefit from 100% recording of all conversations to assess the quality of the discussions and service and also get daily reports to stay informed on all aspects.
