When you are a small business owner, especially when you are brand new, you are always looking for ways to save money. This is natural, but you still must include certain things as part of your business operations if you want the business to grow, which includes someone to answer the telephone, both daily and when you need extra help.

If you send out a promotional piece and are expecting extra calls, a receptionist is needed. If you need to update a mailing list, you need someone to make phone calls and get that list updated. If you are an established business and your regular receptionist goes on holiday or maternity leave, you need someone to take the calls instead.

In these instances and many others, a receptionist is a necessity, but when you simply do not need – or can’t afford – a full-time, permanent receptionist, what can you do? With a virtual receptionist, you can take care of all these challenges and more, because a virtual receptionist is easy to use, very efficient, and inexpensive as well.

Don’t Try to Do It Yourself

Just what is a virtual receptionist? Simply put, it is a professional receptionist located in a facility that isn’t your own, someone in another building taking your calls for you. They can be employed permanently or temporarily, full-time or part-time – you decide. The receptionists are trained to use your business name, which means the callers will never know they aren’t reaching your actual office. In addition, the receptionist is trained on certain aspects of your business, so that they can answer some basic questions the caller has, and finally, they are able to provide your messages to you any time you like, even immediately after the call, by phone, text, or email.

They make the entire process easy on you, because after all, their goal is to help your business grow and thrive. When you are running a business but cannot afford a regular receptionist, there is no need to try to answer the phones yourself, because it is not only unprofessional, but is simply unnecessary.

All the Professionalism You Deserve

Regardless of the size of your office, you want it to be professional, even if you are the business’s only employee. This is what makes virtual receptionists so valuable, because they are always 100% in everything they do. Virtual receptionists are well-trained, articulate, and helpful, so they can handle any call that comes their way. You also do not have to worry about what will happen if you get a large influx of calls at some point, because the companies that hire virtual receptionists have a lot of them on hand at all times, which means that regardless of how many calls you get at one time, every single call will be answered quickly and professionally.

Message Direct are one of the more well-known virtual receptionist companies in the UK, and this is but one of the many advantages they offer when you decide to work with them.

How Can a Virtual Receptionist Help You?

Of course, virtual receptionists do much more than just answer phones. They can help with a variety of situations, both small and large, including:

• Help in emergency situations, such as utility companies that get an influx of calls whenever there is an outage in electricity in the area.
• Basic information taking, such as when people are calling in because they want to order something or receive additional information on a particular business, and only need to leave their name and address.
• Temporary coverage when a regular receptionist is out sick, on maternity leave, or on holiday.

Of course, you can think of other times when a virtual receptionist service can be quite valuable, and it is good to know that regardless of what you need them for, these virtual receptionists are there to help you, with jobs that are both big and small, long-term and short-term.

The Process is Fast and Simple

If you’re wondering how a virtual receptionist service works, the process is quite simple. When you are ready to switch over to the virtual receptionist, you simply press a few buttons on your phone, and it switches over to them automatically. When you are ready to answer the phone yourself, you switch it back – again, by pressing just a few buttons.

You can go back and forth like that as long as you need to, and since most virtual receptionist companies are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, you can even have your phone answered in the middle of the night if you wish. Furthermore, there is absolutely no special equipment or devices you need to install, because just your telephone is needed. This makes utilising a virtual receptionist, regardless of how many hours you need them, both fast and convenient, not to mention simple.

Are the Costs Reasonable?

Of course, any business owner interested in virtual receptionist services is going to wonder about the price, and once again, there is good news. Virtual receptionist services are extremely reasonable, and you can usually choose between a per-call fee, which is good if you are not expecting many calls, and a monthly fee, if your calls are plentiful. The per-call fee starts at around 60p per phone call, and since there are no setup charges or additional fees, this is all you are going to pay. Furthermore, there is usually no contract required for the use of a virtual receptionist, so if you use them just one month, you only pay for that one month.

To sweeten the pot, many of these companies also allow free 30-day trials, which is an excellent way to decide if the service really is for you. Regardless of your current business needs, a virtual receptionist can be the solution for many business-related problems. If you are just starting out, it can save you a lot of time and money while providing you with an easy way to appear more professional, and since this is what so many businesses need and want, today’s virtual receptionist companies provide a very valuable product.