5 Things to Look For in a Virtual Front Desk Receptionist

The viability of live-streaming receptionists has proven to be beneficial for organizations, but how do you know that the provider you select is the best solution for your business? Instead of going into the search process blind, here are five factors you should consider:

Availability

Even in-house receptionists cannot be in the office 100%. Whether planned or unplanned, your receptionist cannot always report to the office due to various factors such as vacations, sick days, or emergencies.

By having a virtual receptionist, your business will never have to worry about having an empty front desk. Visitor management systems, like the one offered by WelcomeWare, always ensure that if the current virtual receptionist is unavailable, there will be someone else ready to fill in and eliminate downtime.

Reliability

You want a virtual receptionist that can reliably address different inquiries and tasks such as answering calls and emails, scheduling appointments, and reporting relevant information to the necessary departments. They should also be able to work independently and take the initiative on tasks that can help streamline your front office.

Simply hiring a virtual front desk does not mean they will be reliable in merely completing assigned tasks. You need to feel confident that they can go above and beyond the bare minimum. Having someone who can address inefficiencies and detect growth opportunities for the business will help your company evolve and grow.

Company knowledge

An excellent virtual receptionist is committed to learning your company inside and out. Because virtual receptionists are often the first point of contact between your company and customers, they need to know how to answer common questions or know where to find their answers.

It’s important that your virtual front desk can keep a healthy workflow among employees by escalating specific customer issues or concerns to the proper department. This ensures that inquiries they receive will be resolved in an efficient and timely manner.

Communication skills

It is easy to look at a virtual receptionist provider and get caught up in service specifications. You need to identify head-on if a specific virtual front desk solution is a good fit for your company and if it can be efficient and effective in communicating the value you want to provide. An excellent virtual front desk gives customers a consistent experience of what your business offers.

Your virtual receptionist must have outstanding communication skills – anything short can lead to poor customer satisfaction and impact your business. Make sure your virtual receptionist is comfortable and confident with using different forms of communication and can serve as an extension of your team. Failing to understand the customer and ineffectiveness in communicating inquiries with other teams can result in the issue being handled poorly. You obviously do not want the customer to be handed off to the wrong person and given unsatisfactory answers.

Adaptability

The best providers understand that every business is unique and has different pain points to be addressed. After all, virtual receptionists work at the frontline of your business, so it’s crucial to find someone that works on your behalf and not the other way around.

Virtual front desk personnel who cannot adapt to your company will not help your company grow. Make sure that you bring up your expectations and what makes your business unique. Otherwise, he or she will make assumptions about your company and provide services that may be good for another business but counterproductive to yours.

There are many different ways to think about improving your business, but when it comes to client interactions, the importance of finding a reliable receptionist cannot be underestimated. With many front-office solutions out there, it’s vital to guide yourself to the right virtual front desk provider that can add the most value to your business.