Voice support and telephone agents can be difficult to hire for because they are literally putting your brand’s reputation on the line.
Whether you’re looking for customer service representatives, virtual receptionists, or even outbound sales support, there are a number of companies built to help solve those needs.
Advantages of Working with Virtual Receptionists
Hiring a virtual receptionist instead of an in-house one presents a lot of benefits, making them a reliable option for some of the businesses today. Below are some of them:
Lower Costs
Working with an in-house receptionist can be expensive! You’re looking at office space, professional benefits like Health Insurance and Dental Plans, as well as office supplies, and more.
This is a major factor that has companies looking to virtual receptionists instead.
Virtual receptionists are not salaried employees either which means you only need to pay them for the monthly plan you choose.
Availability
If your business’ phone support is critical to its success, hiring virtual receptionists is the more appropriate choice because you’ll never have to worry if someone’s going to be there to answer calls.
With no leaves, breaks, or any other forms of time off to consider, virtual receptionists can potentially provide you with 24/7/365 service.
With virtual receptionists at the helm, there’s a smaller chance of calls getting missed.
Experience and Skills
Having an impressive professional image is crucial to business success which is why having a trained specialist answer your call is essential.
Unlike in-house receptionists whose experience and professionalism varies, with virtual receptionists, you are assured that you are hiring someone who came from a wide array of professional backgrounds.
You can also save a lot of money on training because virtual receptionists no longer require them. Just give them your script and make them understand what your goals are and they’re ready to go.
Easier Communication
One of the perks of working with someone remote is that you can make technology work to your advantage.
Tools like Slack, Skype, or Google Voice not only allow you to communicate, they also facilitate the quick and convenient sharing of files and other information.
This will come in handy in case of urgent concerns that an exchange of emails cannot quickly address.
| Ruby Receptionists | Gabbyville | DaVinci | 1-888-GoAnswer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Rating | not rated | not rated | ||
| Established | 2003 | 2013 | 2006 | 2003 |
| Minimum Monthly Cost | $299 for 100 minutes | $229 for 150 minutes | $99 for 50 minutes | $110 for 100 minutes |
| Price per Minute | $2.99 | $1.53 | $2.00 | $1.10 |
| Set-Up Fee | $99 | $95 | $75 | |
| Trial | 14-Day Free Trial | 14-Day Free Trial | 30-Day Risk-Free | |
| Learn more | Learn More | Learn More | Learn More | Learn More |
Drawbacks to Hiring a Virtual Receptionist
As great as hiring virtual receptionists are, they also come with a couple of downsides because of the whole “virtual” setup.
Communication Can Be Less Personal
We all know how important building relationships with customers is. It’s one of the things that can help convert occasional customers to loyal ones.
Connecting with customers on a personal level is good for the business in so many ways but when you have a receptionist working for you virtually, there’s a bigger chance that this opportunity might get missed.
While this doesn’t happen all the time, on-site receptionists tend to engage deeper, making them the better option when it comes to this department.
May Not Have All the Answers When Needed
Working from home make virtual receptionists less “plugged in” to the business’ daily operations compared to their on-site counterparts.
Though they are considered experienced professionals, they may not have all the answers readily available until they receive additional instructions.
This will not only take a hit on your image, but it will also cost you more since you are paying them by the hour.
Larger Workload Costs More
If the nature of your business requires you to take a higher volume of calls than usual, hiring virtual receptionists may become more of a disadvantage than an advantage.
A relatively bigger call volume means more hours of work which also means that you have to pay a bigger fee. This is true especially if they begin getting behind work which is not impossible when you’re faced with a huge volume of calls.
How Much Do Virtual Receptionists Cost?
A full-time receptionist can cost you more than $30,000 per year excluding benefits, paid vacations, and other bonuses which is relatively higher compared to what you pay for virtual receptionists.
In contrast, a virtual receptionist package can cost you somewhere between $25 to $1300 per month which can be a savings of 50% or more over an in-house hire.
Each package usually comes with a set number of receptionist minutes and other perks like additional talk time and a number of users.
Either way, you’ll still be paying for less compared to having on-site receptionists without sacrificing quality.
Which Virtual Phone Support Service is Best for You?
Each of the virtual phone support services below come with their own sets of plans and pricing. We suggest you go through each one of them thoroughly to help you narrow down your choices and ultimately decide which one you’ll use to hire a virtual receptionist.
The reviews should give you a better idea of how each service can help you and if they actually fit your requirements.
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Ataraxis Hiring the right virtual assistant (VA) can be transformative for businesses by freeing up time, reducing costs, and scaling operations. But sifting through freelancer marketplaces or vetting candidates globally is time-consuming and risky. Ataraxis solves this by offering pre-vetted, […]
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LEX Reception is a virtual receptionist service specializing in legal answering. They provide a range of virtual call answering services to law firms of all sizes across the US and Canada. The company was founded in 2011. Their virtual receptionists […]
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DocVA is one of the prominent virtual medical staffing services. They focus on providing top-notch Virtual Medical Assistants (VAs) to healthcare practitioners in the United States of America such as dentists, vets, and medical doctors. In essence, their target is […]
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AnswerConnect is a live answering service based in Portland, US. They provide virtual receptionist services so you always have someone available 24/7 to answer your calls, respond to live chat messages, and schedule appointments. AnswerConnect helps you maximize your ROI […]
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AnswerForce is a 24/7 live call answering service with live web chat support. The company supports over 2,500 small and medium-sized businesses with customers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. About AnswerForce Virtual telephone answering services allow […]
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24H Virtual is a 24/7 virtual receptionist, live call answering, and virtual assistant provider working with small to medium-sized businesses all over the world. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Their agents are based in Canada, the US, the […]
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WELLReceived is a US-based virtual receptionist service that specializes in helping medical practices and other healthcare businesses ensure every phone call is answered by a live person 24/7. The company is headquartered in Oregon and employs live agents across the […]
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Abby Connect is a family-owned virtual receptionist service provider based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company was founded in 2005 by Nathan Strum who remains with Abby Connect as their CEO. Using a virtual receptionist service allows business owners to […]
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Smith is virtual call answering service for small business and individuals. They answer your inbound calls, take messages, arrange appointments, and more, so you don’t have to. The company was founded in 2015, their headquarters are in Palo Alto, CA, […]
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Reps Direct is virtual employee company specializing in providing virtual employees to handle contact center needs like call answering, appointment setting and confirmation, and order processing. The company is headquartered in the US, while most of the virtual receptionists work […]
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PATLive is a 24/7/365 live answering service, specializing in handling all types of inbound calls for thousands of businesses across the U.S. The company has been in business since 1990. They started out as a small hosted services company, later […]
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Nexa is a US-based virtual receptionist provider. They have offices in Phoenix, AZ, Lake Havasu, AZ, and Richmond, VA. All of their virtual receptionists are located in their Phoenix offices. The company has been in business since 1982. They provide […]
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AnswerFirst is a telecommunications company based in Tampa, FL. They offer a range of virtual receptionist services and provide phone cover to businesses of all sizes across the country. The company started operations in 1998. All of their call agents […]
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A Virtual Receptionist is a telecommunications company offering a range of virtual receptionist and call answering services to businesses in the US. The company has been operating since 1998. Their offices are located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and all of […]
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Sunshine Communications is a telecommunications and phone answering business based in Coral Gables, FL. They provide a range of call answering services in both English and Spanish, 24/7, 365 days a year. The company has been in business since 1975. […]
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Upcall is a telecommunications company offering a range of virtual phone services. They help clients qualify leads, carry out cold calling campaigns, and perform other telemarketing services. The company was founded in 2016, and their headquarters is based in San […]
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Moneypenny is a telecommunications and phone answering business based in the UK. The core of their business is providing virtual receptionists, they also provide live web chat support, switchboard services, and a pocket phone system. The company has been in […]
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1-888-Go-Answer is a family-owned virtual telephone answering service. They provide a wide range of virtual call handling services for companies of all sizes. The company handles inbound and outbound calls for more than 5,000 companies across North America. About 1-888-Go-Answer […]
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Virtual Assistant Canada is a Canada-based virtual assistant company. They have offices and virtual assistants in three locations; Vancouver and Port Alberni in Canada, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. About Virtual Assistant Canada With virtual assistants across their offices in Canada […]
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Agentology is a lead engagement and qualification platform for real estate agents. They have a developed mobile and web referral networks to help real estate agents to engage and convert their leads. The company is based in San Diego, US, […]