Successful business owners and managers from all industries can likely relate to the feeling of being overwhelmed at some point by the number of calls that their business receives, and the struggle to make sure that all these calls get answered. If this is something that you are experiencing, consider outsourcing to a virtual receptionist before hiring an in-house employee. Unlike with a full-time employee, you will only be charged for the calls that your virtual receptionist handles, making it the much more affordable option in the long run.
What is a Virtual Receptionist?
Virtual receptionists serve as a remote extension of a business’ team and are hired to manage incoming call volume and customer service-related tasks. Unlike automated phone systems, the virtual receptionists of a telephone answering service allow a business’ callers to communicate with a live representative.
Virtual receptionists can provide a wide range of services to businesses, including the following:
- 24/7 live answering services
- Appointment scheduling
- Message taking
- Answering general questions about a business and its products or services
- Disaster recovery
- Emergency call forwarding
- Email marketing
What kind of training do virtual receptionists receive?
Businesses of all sizes and types can benefit from outsourcing their call management, appointment scheduling, and more to a virtual receptionist at an answering service. Even if you work in a highly specialized field, such as personal injury law, chiropractic care, or commercial real estate, rest assured that your virtual receptionist has received the proper training before they ever answer that first phone call.
At Answering Service Care, each of our virtual receptionists goes through a rigorous training program. In addition to learning the basics such as customer service, how to operate our internal and keyboard systems, and how to effectively communicate with different types of callers, our virtual receptionists learn about the clients they will work with, and how their business and industry operates. Before he or she ever answers that first call on behalf of a client, they have practiced many times in real-life call scenarios on live calls.
Our virtual receptionists are also trained in these more specialized ways:
- HIPAA-compliant virtual receptionists receive ongoing specialized training in data security, the latest HIPAA requirements, and the delicate nature of patient privacy. If your medical business is considering outsourcing to an answering service, we strongly recommend choosing one that’s HIPAA-compliant to ensure that the privacy of your patients and their personal health information is protected. While a regular answering service that isn’t HIPAA-compliant may be attractive due to a lower cost, they can end up costing you thousands of dollars in fines if your patient health information is mishandled.
- Security and confidentiality. Whether your business is a medical office that handles sensitive patient health information or a legal office that handles confidential information related to cases over the phone, feel at ease knowing that your virtual receptionist has been trained on client confidentiality to ensure that you, and your customer’s data, is secure.
- Bilingual virtual receptionists are fluent in both English and Spanish, allowing you to better serve your Spanish-speaking callers. With more than 41 million people speaking Spanish as a first language in the United States, it is important that businesses are able to effectively service this demographic.
