3 Things to Avoid When Using a Virtual Receptionist

Around-the-clock coverage of your business' phone is expensive to provide. Especially for a smaller business, having someone sit at the desk all day just to answer calls, it just doesn't make sense!  But, you'd already know that if you're looking for a virtual receptionist. What you may not know are the ways some answering services make "creative" shortcuts.

Having been in the answering service industry for most of my professional life, I can tell you that there's no shortage of cost-cutting. Sometimes they're non-issues, sure. But, how would you know if they're impacting your service levels or quality?

In this blog, we're going to make sure you're informed on the three biggest "NO's!" when shopping for a virtual receptionist. 

1. Using Voicemail After-hours

Let's say you already have a virtual receptionist through an answering service. Now, not a lot of calls come in after-hours for your business, but people would still reach the virtual receptionist anyway, right? Well...sometimes not. See, the answering service is still a business. So, they think "Hey, instead of staffing people now, let's just send them to voicemail! That'll save money". 

This automation functions essentially like a high-end answering machine—answering calls and prompting callers to leave messages.

If a caller is heard to be having an emergency, a smart service may automatically patch them through to you or your on-call.

In other cases, the system mechanically contacts you whenever anyone leaves a message. Both scenarios, as you could guess, can result in many unneeded interruptions.

"Wait, what's the problem with this? I'm saving money still, right?"

Yes, you are! And this operation is fine (assuming they let you know and you agree to this). But if your business is looking to provide true customer service—helpful, friendly, and human—your callers may not be pleased.

You ever call into a business with a pressing question, then hear the first note of a voicemail greeting and hang up? I’ve done that. I bet you have, too.

How many of your callers, potential customers, hang up in frustration and then called your competitor? 

A generic voicemail, which is different than a voicemail prescreen, sends the wrong message. It communicates that callers and their concerns aren’t that important. It says “We’d rather save money than serve you to the best of our ability.” Is that the message your business wants to send?

Hidden Costs Using Voicemail Only After-Hours

1. Irritate Customers

What if your customers don’t like the impersonal nature of voicemail? When a customer calls with a complaint, their anger can escalate as they interact with technology instead of talking with a person who can help. Plus, in the time it takes you to call back, their frustration can fester even more. Instead of voicemail being a customer service tool, it becomes a customer disservice tool.

2. Lose Customers

Even worse, some customers won’t tolerate automation. If you exasperate them too much with your recordings, beeps, and inefficiencies, they will simply take their business elsewhere. When you look at the lifetime value of a customer, suddenly your inexpensive voicemail has become very expensive.

3. Waste Time

With voicemails you need to listen to all the messages. Then you need to write down the key information. Some people will drone on for five minutes and give their phone number just before they hang up. Others talk too fast and you have to listen to their message over and over, especially for addresses and phone numbers. What if you jot the number down incorrectly? What if you can’t read your writing or make sense of your notes? It happens.

If you still have the recording, you can listen to it again. If you already erased it (which is the efficient thing to do), then you need to scour your customer files and database to find their number. Or maybe all you have to show for your efforts is that you’ve lost the opportunity to respond. (Refer to the first two items.)

4. Play Telephone Tag

After a while of listening to messages you realize how much some people ramble. They can talk for two minutes and still not leave the key information you need. Then you need to call them back just to find out what they want. If they’re out, you leave them a message. Then they return the call and leave you a message, hopefully a complete one this time. Now that you’ve learned the reason for their call, you need to research the situation and call them back again.

But what if you need even more information from them? The game of phone tag rages on.

A virtual receptionist answering service is staffed by real people. A live answer is the best answer for your ringing phone. Answering services have people available to answer your calls.

Their staff are true professionals. They are trained on how to best communicate over the phone. They answer with a smile in their voice. They provide needed information to callers. They take accurate messages. And then they thank the caller for calling. That is so much more enjoyable than an impersonal recording with a beep.

Yes, some businesses need to use voicemail because it’s all they can afford. Maybe that describes your company. But other businesses hire an answering service because they can’t afford not to. I hope that describes you.

2. Outsourcing Their Virtual Receptionists

As an alternative to fully automating call processing during slow times, some answering services outsource their third shift or some weekend work to other call centers, often overseas.

Usually, the virtual receptionist services won’t tell you if they sometimes reroute your calls to another call center, or offshore it. They don't need to.

So, how will you find out? And note we did say "will".

Assuming your callers are American (which we'll get to what that means in a moment), they're probably going to report to you saying:

"I called into your business last Saturday and I couldn't understand a word that your people were saying!"

Sometimes they'll say "answering service" instead of "people" if that's how your virtual receptionist identifies themselves to your callers.

"Wait, how are you so sure that's what they'll say?".

Because I get told this *routinely* by American businesses defecting from their virtual receptionists that outsource their calls overseas. It almost always goes the same way.

But, anyway, what do they mean by "couldn't understand what they were saying"?

Usually, they mean their accents. You see, it's a lot cheaper for a virtual receptionist service to outsource their calls to call centers in the global South. Will you see a single dollar knocked off your bill for this cost-cutting? According to our average cost of answering services taken this year: No.

You see, if you're running an American company, serving Americans every day, like we are, you're going to want a virtual receptionist that matches your culture. It's not just about sounding the same, although it is in part, it's also about understanding your callers' accents, their jokes about the local weather, and the verbiage they use.

Can you say with confidence that your outsourced virtual receptionist can provide your callers that experience? If not, there's still time to work with an answering service that actually lets you reap the benefits of a virtual receptionist.

3. Limited Training on Your Business

One of the most overlooked issues when selecting a virtual receptionist service is the level of training they provide.

A good virtual receptionist doesn’t just answer the phone—they should sound like an extension of your team. Again, this is why an American call center is recommended for American businesses.

But some virtual receptionist services are bought out by companies that have no real understanding of the industry. They're known as "private equity firms". They aren't all clueless, but most are.

What's for certain: Many are private equity firms which tend to focus on profits and ROI more so than delivering great customer service. 

They acquire call centers and quickly consolidate their operations into other locations.

So, some virtual receptionist who has no clue about your company even being a customer of their service, is now taking your calls for you. Think of how much of a shock it is to them. Now, if you were in their shoes, could you really provide your A-game, customer service wise, on that phone call? Now imagine that repeating for every single phone call that comes in.

Incorrect or irrelevant information may be shared due to this stress, which can make your business seem disorganized or even untrustworthy.

Before signing up, ask if the virtual receptionist service is ran by a private equity firm. Better yet, inquire as to the training their agents have to go through. A true partner in customer service will make sure every agent is well-versed in what matters to your customers.

Is a Virtual Receptionist Really Right For Me?

Okay, we didn't mean to scare you at all. But, it's important you know how shrewd the customer service world is. That way, you know what to avoid, and better yet, what's right for your business.

Now, you might be confused in seeing the terms "answering service" and "virtual receptionist" used almost interchangeably in this blog. There's a lot they have in common, but it's important you know the difference between a virtual receptionist and an answering service.

If not, you may be ready to get started using a virtual receptionist! If that's the case, you may want to know how much a virtual receptionist costs today!