The Evolution of Virtual Assistance in Small Businesses

 

Firstly, in the last twenty years, virtual assistant services have changed quickly because of advancements in technology and the internet. The process of these services has become much easier and more user-friendly. 

 

For example, in the late 1990s, virtual assistant services were only restricted to email, phone, and fax; but since the turn of the century, virtual assistance has become a more common method of completing daily tasks in many people's personal and professional lives. 

Since 2000, these methods have merged with the birth of online chat services and customer relationship software. This has undoubtedly helped productivity and the connection between virtual assistants and their clients. File sharing, transfer, and collaboration methods have seen some rapid changes. In the late 1990s, they were restricted to email only, often with lost or not received files. 

 

In 2016, many methods exist to share, transfer, and work on files together and individually without losing or corrupting them. The most common file transfer methods are storage devices (USB, external hard drives, etc.), cloud methods like Dropbox, and email. Tasks as simple as data entry have become much simpler and more efficient. Coming from someone with previous experience with data entry, in the late 90s and early 2000s, much of the data was handwritten and had to be sent or given to the employer via mail, fax, or phone due to a lack of email access. 

Now, all data can be entered into a file directly and sent via email, Skype, or other methods. Due to the shared and collaborative methods used on various files, the data can often be checked and corrected quickly if need be, and it can also be stored with the file in a second file to ensure no loss or corruption. 

 

A virtual receptionist service benefits any business, not just a home-based business. Suppose you are in a place where you are considering hiring staff to work out remotely. In that case, a virtual receptionist is an excellent trial without the commitment of hiring an employee or contractor. Hiring a receptionist employee assumes regular hours and pay, and should you decide it's not working out, it can be difficult to let the staff member go. Also, trial and error can become very expensive should you hire someone who doesn't bring in enough new business to justify their cost. 

 

A small, one or two-person operation is likely getting by with individual office everything to cut costs. Everyone having their phone line minimizes phone tag and lets everyone leave honest and detailed messages to each other. No intercom system or receptionist is needed, right? 

The problem is it's unprofessional, and potential clients will have difficulty reaching a live person who can help them. Clients are likely accustomed to dealing with their professionals. They often prefer to leave a detailed message for a callback rather than taking their business elsewhere to make an immediate connection through a more established professional. 

 

If you're already in business, you know how much time is being taken away from your primary focus on daily interruptions. You're wearing too many hats, multitasking every role in the company and trying to handle every call. A virtual receptionist can target specific calls that you feel are important and should be forwarded to you. This allows you to drop a receptionist employee and pay only for the particular service you require. 

 

Believe it or not, a large percentage of calls that come through a business are for information purposes only, at least 60% of all calls. These are usually the calls that burden the task of an already busy company employee who has to stop what they are working on to answer the phone call. Unfortunately, a fair amount of valuable time is lost doing this, sometimes causing this employee to not fully complete the task they were working on in the first place. Virtual receptionists can help solve this problem by answering and fielding all incoming calls to the company. This way, employees preoccupied with other work duties can carry on with their work uninterrupted, not having to take calls for mundane information questions that a receptionist can quickly answer. 

 

Another significant advantage that virtual receptionists have over real ones is cost efficiency. Most full-time receptionists start with a salary of at least £25,000 or higher. This is a considerably high price for a primarily menial worker. Between the costs of salary and benefits, hiring a real receptionist can put a drain on a business's wallet. The beauty of a virtual receptionist is that you save on costs while still getting quality service. With The VA Team's virtual receptionists, you pay for the type of service you want and how often you want it. A basic plan consisting of a virtual receptionist taking all calls and messages starts as low as £30.00 + calls a month. This is a wise move for a business trying to save money and maintain quality customer service simultaneously. 

 

Naturally, business owners and their employees can lose valuable time when they stop what they are doing to answer calls. Usually, it takes a few minutes to finish the task one is working on to change gears and deal with the call mentally, and it can take another few minutes to return to the task again - if they can remember where they left off. This task switching has been estimated to gobble up 40 % of someone's productive time. In the push to save time and money, the virtual office has found professional call-answering services can help prevent this time loss. 

 

Call answering services have been around for years, but the quality of this service can vary widely with prices. The auto-attendant is an efficient menu system that will sort callers through a touch-tone system and route them to the appropriate recipient. However, some people find these systems exasperating. A cost-effective answering service usually involves a receptionist juggling several clients simultaneously. They are generally easily identified by background noise, and while they may be skilled receptionists, their knowledge of your company and product will be limited. Highly professional, attentive receptionists usually cost more money and can be a luxury for smaller businesses. 

 

More Hats Than Heads? Lately, the phone has been ringing off the hook. With valuable time spent answering calls, the actual value of your business productivity decreases. Implementing an auto attendant can help remedy this situation. This article will help you understand the benefits of outsourcing your call-answering services and address how a virtual receptionist works and the benefits of using one. 

 

Businesses in the small and medium-sized market are moving away from using auto attendants and towards utilizing virtual receptionists. Advancements in technology have made virtual receptionists not only cost-effective but also provide significant time savings. These digital receptionists play a recorded message for callers and ask them to wait, while simultaneously transferring the call to the appropriate extension without the need for employee assistance. This feature is essential for effectively managing calls and improving customer service, which is particularly beneficial for small businesses where employees often have multiple responsibilities. 

 

Freeing up employees from answering phones can increase employee productivity in other business areas. Image Freedom, an IT Services company, has experienced the positive impact of outsourcing call-answering services (As a first line of support). Outsourcing call answering allows businesses to focus. They found that directing callers to the right person and encouraging them to call back if unavailable was more efficient. 

 

With The VA Team's outsourcing services, businesses can scale their operations and focus on core functions. Virtual receptionists could seamlessly transfer calls, allowing them to focus on their clients and generate higher profits. 

 

If you feel your business needs a more efficient and professional way to handle incoming calls, outsourcing call answering may be the solution. By entrusting this task to The VA Team, you can focus on other essential aspects of your business while ensuring that your customers receive prompt and reliable service. Whether you're a small startup or a large corporation, this strategy can help drive business growth and enhance your overall productivity. 

 

Book a free discovery call, or feel free to have a chat to a member of the team via our website down on the right side of the screen below. Or give our team a call on 0203 474 0859.