Virtual Receptionist Services, Phone Answering and Message Taking
With Customer Experience (CX) becoming increasingly critical to surviving in a competitive marketplace, you want to make sure you provide the best first impression when a customer tries to contact your business.
And that starts by having the phone answered!
According to the Australian Call Centre Rankings, published monthly, some industry sectors fail to answer approximately 40% of phone calls for new business opportunities—it's just a wasted opportunity that not only loses revenue but also damages reputation.
And when it comes to small businesses, the outlook isn't any better.
Virtual Reception and call Answering Services can be known by several names, but they all essentially refer to the same thing: phone answering, call answering, answering service, message taking, virtual reception, virtual receptionist, virtual headquarters, etc.
The virtual receptionist and message-taking service providers below offer a range of services that ensure your customers receive a professional experience when contacting your business.
Regardless of the name, the providers of Virtual Reception & Call Answering Services can answer the phone using your business name e.g. "Welcome to <your company> this is Emily, how can I help you today?" and then depending on your requirements, they can offer a range of services, including:
- Take a message and forward it to your nominated contact, typically via email or SMS.
- Transfer the call to a nominated contact.
- Capture the details required and enter them into a database.
- Answer questions of varying complexity.
How much do Phone Answering Services cost?
Phone Answering providers use a range of different commercial models, and determining the right one for you can depend on the expected number of calls, what you need the provider to do on each call, the location of the person answering the phone, whether you need 24/7 or standard business hours and so on.
Location can also play a big role in pricing, with offshore service providers in the Philippines, South Africa, and even New Zealand offering lower rates than an onshore (within Australia) solution.
Ultimately, which location is right for your business is something only you can decide - you can learn more about the benefits of call centre outsourcing locations >
Are there minimum call volumes?
When engaging a Virtual Receptionist & Call Answering Services provider, yes, there can be minimum call volume requirements.
However, there are phone answering providers who specialise in different models, including after-hours solutions, overflow solutions, on-call solutions, and more.
As a rule, most of the large call centre outsourcers aren't typically interested in taking on low call volumes; however, there are hundreds of suppliers who specialise in taking the odd random call through to having dedicated agents answering calls exclusively for your business.
To be profitable, call centre agents are typically expected to answer calls for a variety of businesses. The technology used by the virtual reception providers advises the call centre agent on how to answer the phone and what to do.
The challenge for the phone answering providers is always trying to balance the expected number of calls to keep the call centre agents busy.
Just like you, they can't afford to just pay someone to sit around and hope the phone rings.
If a call centre agent sits at their desk and does not take calls, they aren't making money, but if too many calls come in, it can lead to longer wait times, which equals unhappy customers.
So for many of the phone answering service providers, it's all about getting the balance right to remain profitable.
Learn more about the common commercial models used by phone answering businesses >
Key data to engage a phone answering provider
If you are thinking of engaging a Virtual Receptionist & Call Answering Services to answer your calls or take messages for your business, there are some key elements you will need to know:
- The expected number of calls per day/week/month.
- How that traffic normally comes in (e.g. if you have a TV ad you might get a big surge after the ad, there might be peak periods during the day or perhaps your calls are just spread out throughout the day/night)
- What you want the phone answering provider to do when they answer the call.
- Any scripts or instructions you expect them to follow.
- Any technology you would need them to integrate with.
- The hours of support you want to be covered.
How to Choose the Right Phone Answering Provider
It can be confusing trying to find the right phone answering provider for your business and/or the right commercial model that makes it a viable solution for your business.
To ensure you can have informed conversations with potential suppliers in order to gather some comparable quotes, its important you are clear with your requirements.
You can try our free call centre outsourcing wizard that can guide you through defining your requirements and we can also provide you with a recommended shortlist of the best suppliers that are tailored to your requirements.
Search the Phone Answering Suppliers below:
Select a location below to display suppliers, or use the filters to select alternative services provided by outsourcers both here in Australia and overseas.