How many times has your phone rung today while you were working on a job? How many new jobs do you think you have lost this month because you couldn’t answer the phone? Or forgot to get back to them? Chances are, you lost a few. Maybe a lot.
A virtual receptionist could be the solution you need. They can answer all those calls for you and deliver great service to your customers. This is not an offshore call answering service. This is a customised service delivered by an Australian based team of professionals. You can switch it on and off when it suits your business.
Sounds pretty good, but how does it actually work? In this article we have pulled together all the information you need to know about virtual reception services.
It answers the following questions:
- What is a virtual reception service?
- Why do I need a virtual receptionist?
- What tasks can a virtual receptionist do?
- How does it actually work?
We have also put together a list of Frequently Asked Questions about virtual reception. If you want to chat about what it could look like for your business, book a free, no-obligation consultation with Tennille Skelly, Dream Admin Services CEO.
What is a virtual reception service?
A virtual reception service involves the outsourcing of traditional reception jobs to a dedicated customer service professional. Calls to your business number (or mobile) are diverted to the Dream Admin virtual reception team. Then they are answered by an experienced customer service professional. How they respond to a call is all personalised to your business and how you want to interact with customers.
Our team of virtual receptionists have deep experience in the major trades. They use that knowledge to confidently and accurately respond to queries.
The key difference between a traditional receptionist and a virtual receptionist is that the virtual option gives you the flexibility to use the services as much or as little as you need. This means it can suit pretty much any business situation, including:
- Full time during business hours
- Casually for an hour or two when you are unavailable or out of phone service
- Easter or Christmas break
- Covering leave or unavailability of current staff
You can also decide whether the virtual receptionist will only take messages or manage the full booking process. And there is flexibility to change it as your business needs shift. We are always reviewing our reception services to improve the processes and incorporate new training and business information.
Why do I need a virtual receptionist?
1. You can secure more jobs
Using a virtual reception service means calls to your business won’t go unanswered while you are working on a job, out of service or unavailable. And you don’t need to find time to call all those people back at the end of a long day. Your virtual receptionist can manage all your calls with a focus on exceptional client service. They will work with you to customise call scripts so they can represent your business and brand, and provide personalised service to your customers. They can offer a full suite of services including answering calls, qualifying jobs, managing bookings and taking payments.
2. You can spend more time on the tools or in the business
A virtual reception ensures your customers are getting timely responses and great customer service, without you needing to be directly involved.
When you don’t need to be worrying about answering the phone or getting back to customers you can be more focused other things – whether that be on the jobsite or in other parts of your business. Or it might mean you can spend your weekends and holidays relaxing instead of stressing!
3. You get maximum flexibility to suit your needs
Virtual reception packages give a lot of flexibility in hours and services. They can cover anything from a one-hour lunch break to full day service. This can free up existing office/admin employees to focus on other value- add tasks (e.g. marketing or procurement), and you don’t need to take on any additional payroll/employer obligations. You can also increase or decrease the service as needed to match your business cycles and requirements.
What tasks can a virtual receptionist do?
Unlike a call answering service, a virtual receptionist can complete a range of activities associated with managing calls and bookings. All of these activities can be customised to represent your services, processes and preferences.
- Virtual reception services can include:
- Answering incoming calls (or follow up voicemails)
- Providing information about your services
- Qualifying potential jobs (e.g. is it is service you provide? Do you service their location?)
- Providing indicative prices
- Booking jobs
- Managing bookings across a team
- Creating and sending invoices
- Processing booking/upfront payments
How does it actually work?
The virtual reception service works by diverting calls for your business numbers to a new phone line. That line is answered by someone from the Dream Admin virtual reception team. Call management software identifies which business the call is for, which lets the receptionist know what script to use to answer and manage the call. The call scripts outline the words to say, questions to ask and actions to undertake in response to different types of inquiries.
You can also use the virtual reception service after hours to capture voicemails and your virtual receptionist will action messages the next business day.
A range of technology platforms can be used to manage the booking process. This could include using shared calendars or job management software specific to tradies (like Tradify, Aroflo and ServiceM8). All our team members are experienced in using Microsoft and Google applications. Basically, whatever software you currently use in your business, we will use to manage your calls and bookings.
What do you need to do?
To set up the virtual reception service, there are a few things you need to do or information you need to provide. You need to:
Set up the call diversion on your mobile and landline. If you aren’t sure how to do this, we can give you instructions.
Provide access to any software you use to manage jobs, including email inbox, calendars, payment platforms and job management systems. Again, we can provide instructions for how to do this.
Provide any business collateral relevant to managing customer inquiries and bookings, including team lists and availability, price lists and service descriptions.
Send us scripts for how you want calls answered and managed. The more information you provide the better we are able to personalise the service for your customers. We will review your scripts and ask follow up questions to fill any gaps. We can also provide suggestions based on our experience to help create efficient and effective process flows that deliver a great customer experience.
The set-up process usually takes 3-5 days while the dedicated phone line is established. We will spend this time reviewing the information you provide, finalising scripts and getting familiar with your software and systems.
We have put together a separate FAQs list that covers off the common questions asked about the practicalities of how a virtual reception service work. You can access the virtual reception FAQs here.
At the end of the day, the success of your business depends on you being able to secure a steady flow of jobs. A virtual reception service takes the pressure off you to be the one answering calls or returning messages. Which lets you focus on your current jobs or other areas of your business. Plus, you have the flexibility to use the service when and how you need it.
If you want to know more about how a virtual reception can help you grow your business, book in for a free, no obligation chat with Tennille, Dream Admin Services CEO.
