Virtual receptionist Australia

Small business owners who're required to travel or be in meetings frequently could benefit from a virtual reception service.

A virtual receptionist is a reliable, cost-effective solution compared to hiring your own receptionist. They ensure your calls are answered quickly and professionally. It takes a matter of hours to commence such a service. Placing a job ad, hiring and then training a new employee can take months.

These services are referred to as live answering, call handling or virtual offices but they’re all the same service. Tailored solutions such as out of hours answering and calendar appointment booking for small businesses are available through certain providers.

How a virtual receptionist service works...

They're similar to a normal receptionist but answering calls remotely from home, serviced office or call centre.

A virtual receptionist will answer your business calls on the phone number provided by Virtual Business Hub. You can also direct unanswered calls from your mobile to the same line.

The receptionist can tailor the call handling solution to your request. Either take a message, writing down specific information requested (name, number, reason for call etc) and email that through. The other option is to pass the caller through to your phone. 

Why choose a virtual receptionist over a physical receptionist?

There are several advantages of choosing a Virtual receptionist...

Cost; a virtual reception service will cost ~$100/month whereas hiring a staff member directly will cost you thousands a month. An employee requires holiday and sick days so will still not be able to man the phones all year.
Even if you do have your own receptionist, you can use this service for overflow. This helps when your receptionist is on lunch, having a day off or already on a call, the overflow is handled.

Professional image; Having a local landline or a 1300 number advertised rather than mobile is a straightaway advantage and  the caller coming through to a fully trained professional receptionist cements the image. This is what you’d expect if you called through to any professional business, imagine calling the major company on a mobile and have the owner pick up!

Missed sales opportunities - when someone calls your business for a quote/sale and there’s no answer, the caller will call the next business listing they see. Yes, a caller could leave a voicemail if they wanted however most callers don’t. Existing callers also appreciate that a call has been picked up and it’s reassuring when they’re informed that someone will come back to them. 

Free time - without all those calls to answer, businesses can focus their attention on what’s important to make their business succeed. In small businesses, every team member has multiple roles, answering the phones can be an inconvenience when trying to focus. Outsource this productivity killer. This time saving coupled with the low cost makes this shared resource a valuable addition to any business.

How much will a Virtual receptionist service cost in Australia?

There are different ways in which operators charge for this service, below are the most common you could expect;

Monthly subscription; virtual reception providers will charge you a monthly subscription fee, this is to cover the cost of the phone number and so revenue is gained if call volumes are low. Often within this monthly fee will be a certain amount of included minutes or calls.

Call duration per/minute; receptionists work is charged out at a fair rate, providers will charge a per-minute rate. This charge is for mobile or international calls and the base charging structure.

Ensure you know what is charged and how it is charged upfront, you’ll often see the monthly subscription fee in huge font. You might assume that’s what you’ll be paying but unfortunately, this industry has a habit of not making the additional charges so often, this can mean you’re not comparing like for like.

Phone calls being answered by a Virtual receptionist in Australia

Choose your dedicated phone number

A phone number reflects the type and span of a business, if for example, you’re a national business you’d want to use a 1300 number so potential clients don’t associate you with one location, the alternative is to have a local phone number for each state. 

For a Sydney based business with no desire or prospect of adventuring into new markets, it can be really important to show a 02 phone number, clients associate strongly with local businesses and there’s certainly interstate bias in Australia.

Planning which type of phone number you need should be a business strategy decision made upfront as you’ll want to maintain the same phone number to ensure regular callers aren’t lost.

We offer local phone numbers in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth & Melbourne.

How can I set up a phone answering service? Please get in touch and we can have the service set up in a few days, visit www.virtualbusinesshub.com.au 

You can find reviews on other providers at Clutch