Delivering gold standard quality Virtual Receptionist support is what we’ve done for over 20 years. It’s our bread and butter, and we’ve come to know exactly what a business should be looking for when finding the right service for them. So, we thought we’d share 10 of the most important questions you should be asking yourself when looking for a service like this for your business.
1. Will my calls be sent around hundreds of people in a call center?
No one wants their precious business bouncing around teams of people, keeping callers waiting. The person answering your phone is the first point of contact for customers calling your business. This is a big responsibility, and they should know everything about you, your team and exactly how you like to run things. For these reasons, and many more, having knowledgeable receptionists you trust to always do the right thing and represent you in the right way is crucial. Despite this, it’s not something every phone answering provider offers, which is why it’s one of the most important things to consider when shopping around. Here at Moneypenny, we give you a team of Virtual Receptionists, all trained to handle every call with professionalism, warmth and care, to represent you perfectly. With lots of experience and a natural flare for customer service, they’ll work together to ensure every call to your business is answered and callers are always smiling.
2. Do they offer account management?
How a virtual rceptionist provider offers ongoing support to you and your business in your journey to success is hugely important. It’s so much more than just answering your emails or phone calls when you have a question. Good account management means acting as an always-on stakeholder, providing continuous support and advice to better improve your service, but not every provider recognizes this. We’d never leave you to struggle. Whether you have a problem, need help with a technical aspect of your account, or are looking for recommendations on how to maximize our services, our Support Team is there whenever you need them.
3. Are they 24/7?
A lot of businesses aren’t as available to their customers as they’d like to be. Especially these days, when customers are increasingly inquiring outside of ‘normal’ working hours. Many other virtual receptionist providers find themselves in a similar situation, but not us. We understand all too well the importance of being available around the clock, which is why our support can be used 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. With us answering your calls whenever they come in, you can be sure your callers are enjoying an incredible customer service experience, night or day. No waiting, no frustration, just a professional Moneypenny Virtual Receptionists taking your calls exactly as if they were based in your business.
4. Is there a setup fee
Charging a setup fee is pretty common amongst the standard virtual receptionist services out there. Even if the setup itself is relatively straightforward, you can be hit with a hefty price to pay. But that’s not how we do things here at Moneypenny. Our seamless onboarding process is completely free of charge to you as a new client, so you can be confident the beginning of your Moneypenny journey is 100% transparent and clear.
5. Will they tie you into a long-term contract?
There’s nothing worse than being tied into a lengthy contract, especially if the service isn’t what you were expecting. A lot of other providers benefit from holding you to a multi-year contract that will leave you exasperated. After your free trial with us, all our smaller Virtual Receptionist packages have a minimum contract length of three months with only a month’s notice to close the account, should there be any problems.
6. Do they charge per minute?
Pricing is one of, if not the most crucial factor when weighing up your options. Most companies that provide a virtual receptionist service round up to the nearest minute when it comes to billing for calls. We don’t think that’s the best way to look at things. For example, if a call lasts for 1 minute and 31 seconds, it’s not fair to charge you for a 2-minute phone call. That’s why Moneypenny’s per minute billing rounds up to the nearest 15-second interval. There’s no extra cost for transferring a call, and if a call lasts for less than 5 seconds, we won’t charge you a cent.
7. Do they have an online portal dashboard to manage the service?
We all like to keep tabs on the numbers for any service we use, and any decent virtual receptionist service provider will be aware of this. Here at Moneypenny, we have our very own online portal dashboard, which you’ll have exclusive access to as our client. Here, you can view a full audit of your calls and messages, analyze call stats, see when your busiest day and time is, how many minutes you have used on your plan – the list goes on. You can also update your Moneypenny Virtual Receptionists throughout the day with your real-time availability. The portal comes with a toolkit as well, where you can prioritize your VIP callers and redirect those cold callers that won’t leave you alone.
8. What else can they do for you?
While doing your research, you may find that the support other providers out there are offering is relatively limited. Past answering your calls (usually with scripts!) and taking a message, there’s often little more they can do. When we take a call for you, we want you to feel you’re getting as much value from us as possible. This is why we can help with things like booking appointments, qualifying leads, filtering and fielding inquiries, conducting post-call surveys and much more. For us, it’s all about doing the heavy lifting and taking away any distractions so you can focus on what you do best.
9. Do they have integration capabilities?
One criteria that many businesses have when looking for a virtual receptionist service is whether they’re able to integrate with the platforms they use every day. It means they can enjoy the benefits of call support, while working seamlessly alongside their other platforms. As a business, we’re continually investing in technology and innovations so that the services we offer our clients can ultimately do even more for them. When you come on board, you can add on as many system integrations as you like – right now, we have over 3000 of them, including Zapier, Slack, Outlook and Calendly. And then there’s our world-first Microsoft Teams integration, which allows us to view your real-time status information and transfer callers to you via the Teams platform.
10. Do they offer a free trial?
There’s nothing worse than committing to a service, only to find out it’s not quite what you expected. Unlike most virtual receptionist providers, Moneypenny offers a completely free trial – no small print, no hidden extras, just the opportunity to experience our full service for yourself. Taking the steps to outsource your communications in any capacity is daunting at best, which is why we believe trialing us is the best way for you to see exactly the kind of support your business needs. What’s more, there’s absolutely no obligation to continue with the service afterwards, so you’ve really got nothing to lose!
Of course, there are many other factors at play when deciding which virtual receptionist provider is right for you, but rest assured, you’ll be in safe hands here at Moneypenny. Whether it’s our awesome people delighting your callers, or bespoke technology helping you streamline operations, we’ve got you covered. Get in touch with one of our New Business Team today on 866.202.0005 for a tailored quote and information on how to set up your free trial.
