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.