What is a virtual receptionist?
A virtual receptionist is a person who provides remote, phone- or internet-based receptionist services for multiple businesses. The services provided will include:
- answering basic enquiries
- transferring calls to the appropriate staff member
- taking messages
Who uses a virtual receptionist then?
At Sohovian we have a range of clients:
- Solopreneurs
- Micro businesses (less than 5 people)
- Tradies
- International businesses
- Mobile professionals
Some of our clients have been with us for many, many years. They stay because of the friendly, personal service that Sohovian provides. We know their business and their products/services, so we’re part of the team, not just an outsourced service provider.
What is a ‘Live Receptionist’?
The term ‘Live Receptionist’ or ‘Live Answering’ simply means that your call is answered and handled by a real person.
For example, when you ring one of the big banks, your call is handled by an ‘Auto Attendant’ which is a machine. Compare that to calling your local podiatrist or plumber, whose receptionist will answer the call directly.
What is the minimum term?
Sohovian is very flexible. Our packages are based on the volume of calls. You can use our receptionist services for a day, a week, a year or anything in between.
What other services are available?
Our premium service is designed for our clients who have more complex needs:
- Allied health receptionist services – ranging from simple calendar management through to a full practice management service
- Customer care service – assisting clients with their orders, delivery follow-up, after-sales services
Other Sohovian services include:
- Virtual office addresses
- Meeting rooms and boardrooms
- Casual and regular office hire
What do my charges include?
- Dedicated telephone number for your business
- Full-time, live receptionist 8:30am to 5:00pm (AEST/AEDT) Monday to Friday Note: Excluding National Public Holidays
- The cost of sending messages to you, either via text or email
- Maintenance of your details in our system Note: charges may apply for complex requirements
What are some of the additional charges I can expect?
- Call costs for transferred calls
- Calls answered or made on your behalf, over and above your package volume
- Faxes that we may receive or send on your behalf
- Printing, mail-out costs etc
Why wouldn’t I just employ my own receptionist?
You can. If you have the workload to justify hiring a full-time receptionist, we strongly suggest that you do hire one. For your needs, it would be more cost-effective to have a full-timer than to use our services full-time.
It’s all about what YOUR business needs and what you can afford. Even with a full-time receptionist though, you may find a need for an overflow service to cover lunch breaks, meetings etc. We can help with that.
But some businesses cannot yet support a full-time, or even a part-time receptionist.
Compare the costs:
- Full-time receptionist on a $50,000+ annual salary
- Superannuation $5,250+ annually
- Worker’s Comp insurance, office space, desk, computer, telephone, air-conditioning, tea and coffee
- Lunch break and personal leave coverage
Sohovian’s services will save you at least 50% of those costs.
Why not use a cheap overseas Virtual Assistant?
This is also an excellent alternative for some small businesses.
Our clients prefer to have receptionists who are based locally, with local knowledge. It’s not immediately obvious to callers that we are off-site receptionists.
A number of our clients don’t make any secret of the fact that they use a virtual receptionist team to answer their calls. But we’ve still had people who have regularly called us for many years and whom we know would be surprised after all that time to learn that we are not in the same office with our clients.
How do you know it’s my line ringing?
Our phones tell us! We’ve invested in commercial grade phone systems for our business.
Can I use the 1300 number that I already own and get you guys to answer it?
Yes, you certainly can. When you sign up for a virtual receptionist package we will give you an indial number in our phone system that is dedicated to your company, while you are our client. You simply tell your 1300 number service provider to point your 1300 number to our indial.
Can I use my existing number and redirect it to you to answer it for me?
Yes, you certainly can. When you sign up for a virtual receptionist package we will give you an indial number in our phone system that is dedicated to your company, while you are our client. You then redirect your phone number to our indial.
If you’re currently able to redirect calls to your mobile, then in all likelihood you can redirect calls to our number.