6 Signs Your Business Needs A Virtual Receptionist In 2024

A growing business is a good thing. So why doesn’t it feel like it? Chances are, if you’re one of the businesses experiencing rapid growth, then you might also be part of the 52% of workers feeling burnout. Even though your goal has always been to grow your business, sudden growth can introduce all sorts of new problems. And until you get these problems sorted, it can feel like your business is taking over your life.

How to fix it? You may need a virtual receptionist. A virtual receptionist can handle incoming calls, serving as a filter between you and the outside world without any of your customers ever feeling like they’re lost in the shuffle. The convenience of a virtual receptionist is that you can add one to your business without the full-time salary of a permanent receptionist. 

But how do you know when you’re ready for one? Here are 6 clear-cut signs:

Sign #1: You need to appear professional.

When you started out in business, you might have worked for a few select clients and customers. But over time, you might also notice that the size of these accounts has gone up. Now, you need to appear as more than a one-person operation. If you’re going to make sales to bigger companies, you need to look like a company that has its stuff together.

A virtual receptionist does that by giving your phone presence the feeling of a much larger company. After all, people may figure, a company with its own phone reception service must have a lot of clients—otherwise, they wouldn’t need one in the first place.

Sign #2: Your employees are getting too busy.

The good thing about growing as a business is that you don’t have to worry about the money coming in. The bad thing about growing as a business? You’re so busy that you don’t have time to enjoy your success.

This is particularly true if you have employees that are so busy that it’s throwing a wrench in your entire business calendar. If you’ve had to put one employee on phones, that’s less time they’re spending being productive in the business itself. It’s time to get a virtual receptionist.

Sign #3: People keep calling you 24 hours a day.

You might leave the office at 5 o’clock. But what about those phone calls that come in afterward? What about the potential clients from the other side of the world who call at 2 a.m.? You can’t physically be there, but your virtual receptionist can step in and direct your clients’ calls accordingly. Even better, you can train a virtual receptionist to handle some problems; this means that while you sleep, a client might have their question answered with the client support you weren’t able to provide at the time.

Sign #4: Your customers are slowly losing patience.

When a customer calls in, they want a response. It’s that simple. The more you avoid them (or simply become too busy to take their calls), the more that frustration will build up. If that’s the case for your growing business, then a virtual receptionist can nip this problem in the bud. And you certainly don’t want customers growing so frustrated that they decide to take their business elsewhere.

Sign #5: The quality of your reception is dwindling.

Sometimes, it’s tempting to think you can do it all. You can run a growing business and answer phones. But if you’ve noticed that there are scheduling conflicts and other issues caused by poor receptionist work, a virtual receptionist might be able to step in and give you higher quality work. 

Sign #6: You’re spending too much on a receptionist.

Maybe you’ve experienced these signs before. Maybe you’ve invested in reception. But because of how expensive it can be to employ a full-time receptionist, you’ve noticed that it doesn’t quite feel worth it. Maybe you’ve gone too far in the other direction, investing more money than you need to invest. If that’s the case, what are your options? Hire a virtual receptionist before you add another receptionist, just to test it out.

Bottom line? If your business is growing and you don’t have the receptionist services to handle it quite yet, you don’t have to go for the full employee just yet. Consider adding a virtual receptionist who can give you all the benefits of a new receptionist without the expense.

To get a free quote or speak to our Sales team on how a virtual receptionist can help your business, visit here.