Virtual offices

Lou Zehnder

New member
Is anyone using Virtual Offices? I need.......I mean i have needed someone to answer the phone for over a year now. I am looking into hiring a virtual office to handle all my calls. Just wondering if its been working for you guys? Currently I take all calls and my office is starbucks( I'm big time too....I have 5 locations.lol )
One of my worst flaws is answering calls or returning missed calls. With this service at least I could have someone answer the call, take a message, get info , correct address, correct email and be friendly. I sometimes come off less than friendly depending on the day I am having(i sure most of us do) Then they forward the info to me by email and text. I would also get a place to have meetings.
Anyone have any input? What prices are you guys paying.......
 
Lou,
Hire a girl in your office. While shes not answering calls she could be doing marketing, sending letters, cold calls and such. The best thing we ever did was to hire a full time person in the office.
 
I have tried virtual receptionists and would not recommend them for this industry. Try VOIP or (voice over IP)
I have used 3 VOIP companies and I highly recommend Vocalocity http://www.vocalocity.com/. They have a great referral program if you tell them i referred you I get $100 off my bill. So if you do use them please let them know.

Basically, you can set up a phone in any room or to anyone in the World as your office extensions. You can set up a Virtual Receptionist automated phone answering system and direct calls to your cell phone or whomever. We transfer from the office to our cells on the road all the time. They have a great online log in system so you can change the phone set up instantly on the go. You can also record calls or do basically anything you want. We pretend to take down the customers information and wait for the email of the recorded call to actually write it down. haha (not all the time) You can also port in your current business number. Plus hold music!

Trust me, phones was one of my biggest hurdles. Now I have moved on. Right now I have a hired secretary that answers the phones and transfers to our cells or office lines. But before I hired her I had a answering machine forwarding to cells with Vocalocity. I would agree that a secretary is the way to go but you can start w Vocalocity and work your way to the secretary. LAN lines are slowly passing away...

Cancel anytime, anywhere between $75-$200 per month depending on what you want

Hope I helped!
 
Ron is using a virtual business. lolol!

I agree that having someone answer the phones who doesn't know the basics of this industry is a bad idea.

You'd be surprised how much business is lost between that first call and the return call.
 
I trust my wife to answer the phone and I plan to have an assistant in the somewhat near future that I will train to answer the phone.

Until then I don't think I would trust anyone else. Calls are too important to trust a generic receptionist who doesn't know much about anything.
 
Yes....Calls are important. I miss way to many calls. Thats why I want someone to take the call. I just want the customer name, info , email and kind of service.
 
Lou, you would be surprised how many customers will not only NOT use your service because they are looking for answers NOW. Not only that, but many will psychologically put a block on future use of your company and will remember failing to reach a responsible person as a BAD experience with your company even though you have never done any work for them.

We came up with this information from a three year study we completed with our dry cleaning company.

I'm sure some college graduate has produced a study showing how professional and beneficial it is to have a buffer receptionist answering the phones. Maybe when he gets off unemployment he can try to show everyone how well his theory works.

Customers want answers now. You need to have someone educated and with some authority or you will lose a good percentage of sales. There is nothing wrong with a receptionist as long as they can answer MOST if not all the the customer's questions.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 
I agree with Tony on that people want answers now. Just like you do when you call people for services. If you can't find someone who has a general understanding of the work you are better doing it yourself until you can get them trained.
 
Is anyone using Virtual Offices? I need.......I mean i have needed someone to answer the phone for over a year now. I am looking into hiring a virtual office to handle all my calls. Just wondering if its been working for you guys? Currently I take all calls and my office is starbucks( I'm big time too....I have 5 locations.lol )
One of my worst flaws is answering calls or returning missed calls. With this service at least I could have someone answer the call, take a message, get info , correct address, correct email and be friendly. I sometimes come off less than friendly depending on the day I am having(i sure most of us do) Then they forward the info to me by email and text. I would also get a place to have meetings.
Anyone have any input? What prices are you guys paying.......




Lou, Call me, I may need to become a receptionist/recruiter......I may have gotten fired tonight from FD. I could answer calls from KY and set you up. LOL
I'll explain the FD thing later......Lets just say I don't sell me soul or integrity
 
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