What is a telephone answering service
As a small to medium sized business owner you probably hear people talking about answering services quite regularly however maybe you are unsure of exactly how to answer the question of what is an answering service? and how it can help someone in your position.
You should consider a telephone answering service
The concept of a telephone answering service has been around for quite some time however the development of cloud technology has made outsourcing your telephone answering significantly easier. Basically, a telephone answering service is where you outsource the answering of all or some of your incoming calls to a third party business. This business can then either answer those incoming calls or they can transfer the call to the appropriate extension number.
There are a whole bunch of terms that people use to mean telephone answering service. These include receptionist service, outsourced reception, outsourced receptionist, cloud receptionist, virtual reception and virtual receptionist. Despite the different names they basically mean the same thing. An external receptionist answering your businesses calls.
What type of businesses use answering services?
A whole range of businesses make use of outsourced receptionist services. A cross section of our customers would include lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, start up businesses, eCommerce businesses, health industry businesses plus consultants. If your business has between 1 and 200 staff then a virtual receptionist would work well for your business.
What is the process for getting started with an answering service
When you sign up for a free 7 day trial we allocate you a unique phone number. This number can either be a toll free number or it can be a local number. You then tell us what greeting you would like us to use when answering your calls and how you would like to receive your messages. After that you simply divert your existing number to the number that we have provided you with and you are ready to go.
How will I receive my messages
The majority of our customers receive their messages by email. We find that with modern technology people have almost constant access to a device that can receive emails so it makes sense to forward messages this way. The other alternative is to receive messages by text message however with the advent of smart phones we have found that less and less people are opting for this option.
Will I be locked in to a long term contract
Absolutely not. Our customers stay with us for a long time because they value our services not because we lock them in to long term contracts. If you do decide to stop using our telephone answering service then you can cancel by simply giving us notice before your next monthly billing.
How do I know what package to choose
It very much depends on how much you want to use our service. Some people give us all of their telephone calls whilst others simply give us the overflow. The great thing is that you can start off on a package that you think suits your requirements and then upgrade or downgrade when you have a better idea about what you need. We try to make it as easy as possible to change your package via our easy to use portal and our iPhone and Android APPs.
What does it cost?
There are two main ways that answering service companies charge. This is either by the minute or by the telephone call. This does make comparing apples with apples quite difficult however if you do your homework you can put all of the companies on a level playing field. Here at VirtualHeadquarters we charge on a per call basis. We believe that this approach gives our customers a reliable and cost effective way of outsourcing their telephone answering.
If you are interested in signing up for telephone answering then why not try out Virtual Headquarters service for 7 days at no cost to you. Either head over to our Free Trial page and fill out the form or give one of our friendly sales assistants a call on 866-454-3599 and we can sign you up for that free 7 day trial today. It makes really great business sense.
