In this post-pandemic stage of COVID-19, the workplace has been completely revolutionized. It has already been established that the brick-and-mortar concept of a workplace being an actual physical station or office can no longer serve holistically. More than ever, companies and businesses have embraced working remotely and in hybrid offices.
What many businesses may not have foreseen was how this new paradigm shift would affect communication. Daily business activities like crafting a budget, sourcing for investments, marketing, balancing the books of accounts, handling employees, and growing sales, are already too much on your plate. You can’t juggle all these and still be on top of customer care. What’s more, the internet doesn’t know day or night. So, when you take your business online, you need an operational customer service team 24-7. This is where virtual receptionist services come in.
With an exemplary virtual receptionist, you’ll have delegated important roles like:
- Processing transactions and orders
- Answering to inquiries
- Addressing customer concerns and complaints
- Resolving technical problems
- Collecting client feedbacks
- Responding to reviews
- Scheduling appointments
7 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Virtual Receptionist
Exceptional Customer Service
David Atkinson, the founder and CEO of OfficeHQ, puts it succinctly, “a business has just one chance to make the right first impression. That’s why a receptionist’s role is unique and important.”
It’s not enough that you can pick up a phone and respond to the caller. Exceptional customer service accounts for details like:
- Having a professional tone
- Listening to the customer to solve their problems
- Acknowledging and being empathetic to their concerns
- providing timely and accurate feedback
Virtual assistants (VAs) also improve your reputation because they give customers a splendid perception of the business.
Increased Productivity
All successful people have one thing in common: they delegate roles and then concentrate on what they can do best. When you’re busy being the CEO, the manager, the sales rep, the receptionist, and all, you’ll end up being counter-productive and miss out on all these areas. Consequently, you’ll miss out on potential clients.
Once interrupted in the middle of a task, it might take hours to regain momentum. You’re not the only one who suffers this setback. Employees also encounter downtime when they leave their duties hanging to attend to calls and customer queries.
When you have a virtual team, they will handle the much-needed yet disruptive calls and messages while you and the rest of the group focus on your roles. This is an effective way to increase productivity and employee performance.
Providing Bilingual Services
Have you ever lost a potential customer or miscommunicated due to a language barrier? This is quite common, especially if your business covers an international market. You no longer have an excuse when virtual assistants even offer bilingual services. They go as far as providing live translation services.
A bilingual VA restores customers’ trust and confidence in you when you can communicate in a language they understand. It also helps that they express themselves in their preferred language, so the gist of the conversation will be about your goods and services and not poor communication and language barrier.
Professional and Experienced
VA professionals cut across all industries. You’re, therefore, able to hire experts within your niche. This is particularly crucial so that customers don’t get the wrong first impression. If the person on the receiving end demonstrates confidence and professionalism when speaking about your services, it improves the client’s chances of sealing the deal or making the purchase.
Customer care isn’t limited to calls. A virtual receptionist is also trained to engage web visitors on online platforms like your business website and social media pages. This is an important area because, in the present market, you don’t stand a chance if your business isn’t online. If managed correctly and professionally, you can leverage your digital presence as a powerful marketing tool.
It would be best if you had a professional virtual assistant to help manage customer tickets. For instance, they note customers’ questions, complaints, and feedback. Generally, you’ll hire a VA team trained to handle customers by solving their problems and making them satisfied and happy.
Cost-Effective
In these harsh economic times, people and businesses alike are open to any tip that can help them cut operational costs. Outsourcing a virtual team is way cheaper than having an in-house team because you:
- Only pay for the time they’re on the phone. Pay per use
- Won’t pay fixed salaries
- Won’t incur office costs
- Won’t pay training costs
In addition, while VR is a necessary expense, have you considered how top-notch answering services yield direct profits? When customers get real help in a place where they would have otherwise left a voicemail, you’ll convert most of them into sales.
When working with in-house receptionists, one contact person can’t be available around the clock. Let’s not even go into the cost incurred when recruiting, training, onboarding, and salaries. In this case, it’s more prudent to outsource answering services.
Attracting New Leads
More often than not, people will call when they are ready to make a purchase. You, therefore, must always be prepared to convert. Even if they aren’t looking to buy immediately, responding and evaluating their needs bestows their confidence in you, and they will prioritize you once they’re ready to purchase.
Real-Person Customer Desk
Just like you hang up when you get to the voicemail, so do your customers. Nobody wants to talk to a machine fed with automated responses. In an overly automated business space, clients highly appreciate the personal appeal when they can relay their concerns to a real person. Even more so for small businesses, people-powered customer service is indispensable.
Also, since this service is always available around the clock, it means so much to customers when they can get help during emergencies and even after business working hours. Being consistently present makes you unique, unequivocally giving you a clear and positive competitive advantage.
The Upshot
Customer satisfaction is the surest guarantee to retaining them and getting new conversions. If you believe that customer care is the backbone of a business, then you have to back it up. Virtual customer service is the best option since you’ll leave communication to these able experts. You don’t have to be the one answering the phone or hire in-house.
Virtual Assistant Canada is here to help you manage communication issues as you focus on running the business.