So… I hear you’re thinking of getting a virtual receptionist on the team? That’s great, they’ll make your life so much easier and be a worthwhile addition to your business! Using virtual receptionist services is a really smart, efficient and easy way to offload some of the more draining and time consuming parts of admin, so that you have the time and space in your day to focus on other things that more urgently need your attention and energy. If you’re a small business, there’s probably a lot on that list, especially if you’re just starting to get your foot in the door. So much to do and not enough time to do it. But you don’t need me to tell you that, you probably know exactly where you’re losing time and what you’d do with it if you had more. Well, if you’re looking to create more time for yourself, look no further. I have a solution…
Hopefully, if you’re looking at this page, it means you’re at least somewhat convinced and on board with the idea of getting a virtual receptionist. This could be the last stop you need to make after weighing all the other variables in your head, because let’s face it, money determines whether or not this is something your business can do. We’ll talk more about the money side of things in a minute – no matter your situation we’ll work something out. Or maybe you’ve just thrown the terms ‘virtual receptionist’ into Google because you’ve heard of it but want to find out more, clicked on that first link you see, and you’ve ended up here. Either way, you’re in the right place.
In case you need a quick refresher (or an introduction) a virtual receptionist is someone that takes on the role of a traditional in-house receptionist but they operate externally to your business. This often means they work remotely, i.e. separately to your physical office space as a result have greater flexibility than might be expected in a traditional receptionist role. But what can they actually do? What does their role involve?
Well, obviously, they can make and answer calls as well as transfer them, (that’s the basics) but they can also answer questions and queries from existing and prospective customers, schedule appointments and respond in real time to live chat queries (if that’s applicable to you). The fact that they can all do this means you don’t have to which gives you greater flexibility and freedom. It gives you and your other employees the space to focus on things like growing your business, which when the time comes, a virtual receptionist is also equipped to assist with. Now, I know what you’re thinking: this seems all too good to be true, there must be a catch somewhere… maybe some huge hidden costs???
Nope. Not here. Not with Ivy Answering. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Employing a virtual receptionist with us will see you spend less money with no compromise on quality. A virtual receptionist requires none of the overhead spending that an in-house receptionist does for the maintenance of their equipment or replenishment of their stationary for example. It’s a much more efficient service suitable for all kinds of business models. We like keeping things simple and stress-free. Unlike many of our competitors who offer complicated and tricky pricing structures, with hidden costs ready to jump out at you, we believe in keeping things straightforward, easy to understand and manageable for you. Our role isn’t to create headaches or cause more for you to worry about, that’s the last thing we’re trying to do – we want to take stuff off your plate and help you find peace of mind. If we’re not making your job easier, then we’re not doing ours.
Our systems have been professionally created by experts and in the interest of creating the most efficient and well-oiled experience for your customers, we welcome tailored scripts that dictate what you want us to say and how to respond in any given situation so it’s almost as though you’re answering every call yourself with your customers completely unaware that the person on the other end of the phone isn’t in your office.
Our most basic package, simply and somewhat obviously, called “Virtual Receptionist” comes with the cost of a small retainer, $25 a month and then operates on a small charge per call basis. From there, our packages increase to a higher monthly fee which covers a certain number of calls and then for every call made past that limit, there is a small charge. Our most popular plan is the “Virtual Receptionist 25” which costs $55 a month with 25 included calls and a charge of $2 per extra call.
We pride ourselves on being incredibly flexible, with the ability to cater to any business’s needs while we maintain the quality of service at all times. If, when you’re scoping us out, you feel your business’s needs would not be met by any of our existing plans, we’re more than happy to custom design something with you that suits and satisfies us both.
Now we get it. We’re probably not the only ones you’ve looked at, if you’re seriously thinking about doing this, right? You’re probably looking at the pricing we’ve mentioned and doing some mental calculations and comparisons to try and work out who’s going to give you the greatest quality of service at the appropriate price. The thing is, comparing these kinds of services can be tricky because it’s not exactly comparing oranges to oranges. Some companies, as I mentioned earlier may offer you a deceptively low up-front rate and then blindside you with hidden costs later. Others will be cheap and financially affordable but their pricing will be a reflection of their service, where cheap equals corners cut and poor quality service.
Ivy Answering, on the other hand refuses to cut corners whilst maintaining affordability and a flexible open mind toward our plans and policies. We also take great pride in the fact that all our calls are answered locally, which you might be surprised to know, isn’t something all of our competitors can say. Many companies that offer similar services to ours outsource the answering of a business’s calls to places overseas, namely cheap call centres. We don’t believe in this method and feel that you will have a greater customer service experience with a local receptionist who understands the impacts of your needs and questions on you as a local business with intimate knowledge of the environment you’re trying to succeed and thrive in.
However, fair warning: if your business is prone to after-hours calls and might need 24/7 answering services available, then we will have to reroute your call overseas (if you’re an American business, that will be either to the UK or Australia) but don’t stress, no matter what the situation, your calls will always be answered by an English speaker whose geography will not create a language barrier.
If I haven’t convinced you by now that getting a virtual receptionist with us at Ivy Answering is the way to go for all your administrative business needs, then I don’t know what will? Maybe the fact that we don’t lock our customers into long term contracts but leave the ball in your court? If you’re not satisfied with the service or it’s not working for you, that’s OK! Just give us a month’s notice before you plan on leaving and there’ll be no hard feelings. But we do have thousands of customers across the USA, UK and Australia who continue to renew their contracts, many of them staying with us for a number of years, so hopefully that says something about our quality of service…
We don’t lock you into any long-term contracts AND we also offer you a FREE 7-day trial of our services (with no further obligations) so that you know whether what we do will work for you before you sign up for the month and trust us with your hard-earned money. As soon as you decide you want that free trial, we can have you up and running in minutes with a local or toll free number. All we need from you is an idea of what to say and away we go!
If you feel satisfied at the end of the week-long free trial, it’s really easy to switch over to a monthly plan with no awkward transition time whatsoever, you literally won’t miss a call. Our monthly plans are highly flexible and if your needs change as you go along, we can change with you. Our staff are always on hand to advise you in what’s best for your business’s ever changing needs. If, all of a sudden you’re getting a higher volume of calls and need to upgrade your plan, no worries. Equally, if things drop off and you need to downgrade your plan, we can do that too. We want what’s best for you and your business, always.
If you’re interested in working with us for all your small business needs and employing a virtual receptionist, call us on 866-833-3356 or email us at info@ivyanswer.com