Top 3 Virtual office Services to Grow your Business

Co working Space Sydney
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Virtual Offices

What is virtual offices? 

A Virtual Office functions like a commercial property, except with the convenience of a non-physical format. There are communication and administrative services available, including meeting rooms, receptionists to greet your clients and a virtual team available to help you grow. A physical address and contactable phone number are provided as part of a Virtual Office. Additionally, the business can choose to access premium meeting facilities for face-to-face client meetings when necessary.  

Benefits of a Virtual Office 

There are several benefits you can enjoy when you use a Virtual Office. Here is a list of how a Virtual office adds value to your business: 

  • Creates a professional image
    Along with increasing your business’s credibility on Google through having a searchable location, SOI’s Virtual Offices also provide you with a dedicated phone line and a virtual receptionist. They’ll take care of all your incoming calls, following your scripts with personal greetings for your customers.
     
  • Provides your very own space to meet clients
    Leverage your Virtual Office’s boardrooms and hot desks to ensure your clients have the best experience possible. SOI’s receptionists will also greet your clients and guide them to the drop-in lounge.
     
  • Budget-friendly and promotes growth
    Without the need to pay for location rent, the Virtual Office is an excellent option that enables a small business to grow within budget. The business’s employees are free to work from their own Virtual office space whilst benefiting from the professional representation of a ‘brick and mortar’ location.
     
  • Stay connected from anywhere
    Additionally, the work-life balance of businesses with a virtual offices is more positive thanks to the flexibility of the arrangement. For example, time spent commuting is eliminated through the Virtual office, allowing for that time to be allocated to more important activities. 

Pricing 

The price of a Virtual Office is cheaper than a commercial office. Rather than having to pay the types of overhead associated with a commercial office, a Virtual Office only requires the costs of maintenance of the space. Additionally, since many businesses using a Virtual Office do not require weekly use of the Virtual Office, the budgeting around virtual office spaces is also much more versatile. Prices vary based on the facilities available and the type of time frame required starting from $196 +GST per month. 


Virtual Receptionist / Phone Answering Service

What is Virtual Receptionist? 

A virtual receptionist is a key solution to growing your business, as a cost-effective way of managing client calls and bookings. A virtual receptionist is trained to answer your clients’ or customers’ questions in real-time with the same level of professionalism as a member of your team. The primary difference is that virtual receptions are located remotely to your business.  

Key industries that can benefit from virtual receptionist are :  

Allied Healthcare & Medicine: In the Allied health & Medical industry, a virtual receptionist plays an important role by being the first point of contact for your patients and assisting them through the entire appointment process. A virtual receptionist can help reduce your workload by handling incoming and outbound calls including call backs, managing appointment bookings, confirmations and rescheduling with online calendars, and general enquiries, among other receptionist tasks.
 

  • Property Management & Real Estate: The real estate market today is a dynamic and highly competitive industry, where customers always expect immediate and excellent service. That’s where virtual receptionists come in. They help you save time by managing your clients, directing them to the right person or department and even booking them into your calendar or online CRM Platform when they contact you.
     
  • Accounting/Finance: If you are a financial planner, mortgage broker, banking professional or accountant, a virtual receptionist can help save your time by managing your clients. Our virtual receptionists are aware of how busy the financial industry gets and will take care of all client-related tasks including phone calls, scheduling, confirming and rescheduling appointment bookings, and handling inquiries to make your faster, easier & stress free
     
  • Legal Industry: In the legal industry, there is no telling when the next meeting will be or when a large matter might present itself as a new opportunity. You always need to be prepared to take on something new and won’t have the time to deal with calls, bookings or scheduling appointments. As a legal practitioner, a virtual receptionist can help you or your law firm manage these matters so that you are all set to take on any new opportunity that comes along.
      
  • Corporate: Virtual receptionists make it easier for corporates to meet their client needs by providing excellent customer service and support. From taking on all your incoming calls to ensuring that they get directed to the right person or department quickly and efficiently, virtual receptionists can greatly contribute to establishing a proper, organized system.
     
  • IT & Communications: For any organization in the IT & Communication industry, excellent client service is an absolute must. However, this gets difficult even for some of the biggest giants in the industry. A virtual receptionist can help perfect your client services by managing all your phone calls and solving client queries.
     
  • Tourism, Travel & Hospitality: Whether you are small travel agency, an established hotel, or a popular restaurant, customer service of the highest standard is paramount to the growth and progress of your business. That is what your customer gets to experience with a professional virtual receptionist who is always available to handle customer inquiries and bookings with expertise.
     
  • Retail & E-commerce: In the Retail & E-commerce industry, virtual receptionists can help by taking on customer calls, orders and more. Solving key customer service issues by hiring a virtual receptionist is the best way for your business to grow faster.
     

Virtual receptionists work in an outsourced format. They are fully trained and work within a professional team such as SOI’s virtual receptionists. Your virtual receptionist will manage inbound calls professionally and distribute the call or data according to your requirements to ensure a smooth system and service for you and your customers. 

How a Virtual Receptionist Service Helps Grow Your Business?

  • Using a virtual receptionist means you can free up internal resources, thereby reducing business costs. 
  • A virtual receptionist helps improve your business’s customer experience by providing streamlined and personalised services, while simultaneously facilitating your in-house employees to focus on more critical parts of service. 
  • Appointment schedules are streamlined to guarantee that your business does not miss an opportunity to liaise at a time and place that is convenient for both you and your customers. 
  • Outsourcing your reception services makes your business appear even more professional as a virtual receptionist gives the impression that your business is successful enough to warrant hiring an outside service to handle customer calls, concerns or queries. 
  • You will never again miss an important call because your virtual receptionist will never have a sick day, be away on annual leave or resign at the worst possible time. 

 Virtual Receptionist Vs Phone Answering Services?

An phone answering service is a company that takes on phone calls on behalf of a business. Phone answering services provide pre-recorded answers and options when the connected number is contacted. According to client’s requirement, there may or may not be an interaction with a live agent during this call. Live agents are usually taken on through third parties where the action is limited to taking and relaying messages. 

However, a virtual receptionist is always a live professional receptionist who engages with your caller and provides unique details about your company.  They can also manage your online booking platform by taking bookings, rescheduling appointments and handling cancellations.  Along with answering questions about your business and services, they are also trained as if they were your dedicated receptionist and complete other standard administrative receptionist duties as well. Your virtual receptionist plays an integral role in your business by being a complete part of your team.   

Pricing 

The virtual receptionist pricing will be entirely dependent on the provider and your business’s needs. We charge on a per call basis and not on a time basis. This means, you will only pay a fixed amount for a call, no matter how long the call. Our virtual receptionists never rush since our priority is to ensure that each caller gets the right and the best experience. 

Virtual Bookings

Virtual Bookings are best suited for businesses that manage regular meetings or sessions with patients. Your virtual receptionist leverages your business’s online appointment booking system to seamlessly manage your appointments, cancellations and business calendar. Spend less time on the phone and more time servicing your customers. 

Your virtual receptionist will guide your clients through the booking process so that your employees can action client contact in a timely fashion, convenient to your business’s needs. The communication of appointment information will also be handled by your virtual receptionist, so that your employees are free to focus on what they do best. 

The benefits of having a virtual booking service include: 

  • Reduces team costs 
  • Allows you to focus on more important tasks in your business. 
  • Agnostic integration with your business processes 
  • Improves customer service 
  • Helps grow your business by managing and fast-tracking communication, resulting in increased bookings. 

 Additionally, a virtual booking service is versatile. Whether your business is small or large, removing a time-consuming task such as appointment setting is a valuable feature to utilise. Additionally, virtual booking through a virtual receptionist can grow with your business to take on other appointment-related informative duties. Since the virtual booking receptionist is remote, there is an added layer of flexibility to when and how your business requires the availability of the virtual booking system. 

 

Article by Buck Samrai

June 30, 2022