Call Handling - Handling all your business calls

Having your own dedicated switchboard if you are a small business is possibly a luxury that few businesses are able to afford, but there is a cost effective way to call handling without breaking the bank - by using the services of a virtual receptionist or call centre company.

A virtual receptionist service will always answer your business calls by using your company name, managing and allocating your calls to the correct staff wherever they happen to be located, making you feel like you have your own personal PA for a portion of the cost.

There are specific guidelines that are accepted within the industry that can and should be followed by any reputable Virtual Receptionist service.

The virtual receptionist will answer your calls appropriately as it is often difficult to answer the call with the correct wording. It is often said that a first impression can only be made once so to answer the first call in the correct manner is worth it’s weight in gold! It will also leave your customers feeling like they are dealing with a modern and professional business.

To answer the telephone call promptly with your name will give your caller a friendly and personal   greeting, so the customer can feel more confident because they know who they are talking to straight away. This sounds extremely professional and is a great way of establishing the right tone and business relationship. This similarly provides a welcoming service, ensuring your customer is at ease and comfortable to talk to you and your staff members.

Speaking clearly and appropriately, as well as slower for easier comprehension, is definitely a prerequisite as it is essential that your customer or potential customer can understand and hear what you are saying.

The Virtual Receptionist will be trained to take notes throughout the call to make sure that the caller’s name, company they are calling from and possibly position in the company are correctly remembered. This will be noted together with the time, date and purpose of the call.

If the caller is not forthcoming with this information then the Virtual Receptionist will have sufficient skills to ‘interrogate’ the caller without them actually realising it.

Before the call is ended, the Virtual Receptionist will make sure both parties have all the appropriate contact information by confirming you both have the correct details, spelling out any difficult or unusual words for the client so they are able to verify the information. This will again show your customer that your company is interested in them and are dealing with any issues appropriately.

There is an ever increasing number of businesses that are starting to use this type of service for their call handling where the virtual receptionist can handle large volumes of calls, whatever the time of the day or night - it is as they are ‘open for business.’

This is particularly necessary if you have a global business where the different time zones throughout the world mean you could miss out on some potential business if you do not respond to a call. One country may close for business and another country just starts it’s business hours and your business or any business cannot afford to miss out on opportunities.

All the telephone calls received are answered promptly and politely, by a real person and in a courteous, friendly manner with no customer having to leave a message on an answering machine again.

The higher quality companies that offer a virtual assistant service are quite unique in the extended services they offer, as they tailor your service to reflect your precise requirements. These precise requirements are agreed in detail with you in advance and can be altered or amended at literally the press of a button.

If you, or a member of your team, are unavailable at short notice then your status can be amended to being ‘unavailable’ and the virtual receptionist will then start taking your messages or diverting calls straight away for you until you become available again.

The service is totally flexible so the virtual receptionist can take all of your calls all of the time, just when you are in a meeting or even when you are travelling and can only be available to take a call infrequently.

Messages will either be taken or transferred to you verbally or the call information can be sent to you via email or text for your follow up when it is more convenient to you.

The call handling service is the central point for your business from which all your customer contacts can be managed, whereby the virtual receptionist or other call centre staff can build up an excellent relationship with your customer base, new and old. This leaves them feeling confident of your customer service skills.

All your calls are answered by fully trained staff; usually being based in the larger cities in large open plan offices where the operators work from work stations within the office space.

An additional service would be to offer customer enquiries on your products and can even include telemarketing, debt management and many more services. An Account Manager would be allocated to your business that will discuss with you and build a custom made service to suit whatever your business requirements need that can be changed at any time as your business changes.