Not all virtual receptionist services are created equal — especially concerning the features included and the virtual receptionist pricing structure of those services.  Unfortunately, many companies try a virtual receptionist service only to be slapped with unexpected fees and overage charges. Some are even billed for minutes related to spam calls or unengaged calls.  At…

Whenever a customer calls, they allow your business to build and strengthen its relationship with them to keep them coming back. Creating a great customer experience is about fulfilling a customer’s needs efficiently while making them feel valued.   Hiring a virtual receptionist service for your business is not the same as a simple answering service.…

Hiring a virtual receptionist service is a big decision. Why? Because it costs you money and affects your company’s image. This easy-to-consume guide helps you make an informed decision so you only hire a service that represents you right. We want to make sure small business owners are making the smart choice, not the flashy…

Have you been considering the assistance of a live virtual receptionist service? If so, you may be wondering whether it’s in your budget.  There are many variables to consider when hiring a live virtual receptionist, which is why it’s important to remain aware of how pricing works, and what that means for the quality of…

As the holiday season rapidly approaches, small and midsize businesses are preparing for what’s ahead — the holiday season.  Considering nearly 7 in 10 small businesses see the winter holiday season as their top sales opportunity, it’s important to prepare ahead, not just in terms of revenue, but also customer satisfaction. For many SMBs, this…

“Stay engaged when interacting with the customer. At the moment, they are your most important customer.” — Shep Hyken, International Leading Authority on Customer Service and Experience Missing customer calls can equate to major losses. Not only will you potentially lose that customer or client, but they will likely conduct business with a competitor instead.…

If you’re like me, you were probably surprised (or relieved!) to learn that not every administrative task has to take place at your business’s physical location. In fact, a lot of tasks can be done remotely by a virtual receptionist. But what about your front office staff? Don’t they take care of all the office…

“The secret to marketing success is no secret at all — word-of-mouth is all that matters.” – Seth Godin, Author and Former Dot-Com Business Executive. Words can spread like wildfire within a community, especially when it comes to customer experience. This is exactly why word-of-mouth is so powerful. On average, word-of-mouth drives $6 trillion in…

It may seem obvious that there are many benefits of customer service. This is especially true for small businesses, which typically have limited budgets. Fortunately, customer service often costs only a little time while reaping long-term rewards. However, not all the benefits of great customer service are obvious. Why Customer Service is Important for Small…

The places I enjoy being a customer at all have the same thing in common: they treat people with dignity, respect, and, most of all, like humans. But not all small businesses get customer service right and it shows. You almost want to send them “How to Improve Customer Service” for dummies. Customer service matters.…

How to grow a small business into a large business is the question every business owner wants the clear answer to. There are 31.7 million businesses in the United States, 99.9% of which are small — meaning those that employ fewer than 500 people. That’s an incredible number of businesses with the same mission: grow…

Everyone is at a different place in their entrepreneurial journey. But, each entrepreneur reaches a point when they need to expand their customer service capabilities. This leads many of them to seek the best live chat for small business. There are plenty of options to choose from, but you want the offering that’s right for…

When a small business first starts out, it’s hard to tell whether it will last in the long run. Countless factors affect every company’s overall performance, and even offering a great product or essential service doesn’t guarantee success. One factor that can make or break a company is it’s customer service. And when you have…

In today’s world, customers who need support, want to speak to someone immediately. Yes, emails are an option, but responses typically take too long. Then there are phone calls, which are an excellent strategy, but they do not always work across varying time zones. What about self-service options?  Well, they just lack the personalization that…

When businesses cooperate and work together, there is an opportunity to grow and thrive side by side. The benefits of going above and beyond the call of duty can have some transformational effects that make putting in that extra bit of effort worth every second.  It’s not every day that you get to discover just…

Running and growing a small business seems glamorous to outsiders, but those who are actually doing it know how stressful it can be. In fact, 30% of new businesses fail within the first two years of operations, and 50% close shop in the first five years. Even for the legacy small businesses, many have experienced…

Companies like ours claim to save small businesses like yours money with virtual receptionist services. But how much, exactly? I’ve created this guide so you can crunch the numbers and calculate the true ROI of a virtual receptionist for your small business.  A Virtual Receptionist Is Cheaper Than a ‘Regular’ Receptionist The average receptionist in…

Like most people, I’ve had more meaningful experiences with companies over the phone than on any other technology. I can’t remember a ‘great’ email or live chat, but I can certainly recall several positive phone conversations. That’s because there’s an intimacy with a voice conversation that you don’t get with the written word. Small businesses…

Small business owners around the country face the same glaring problem: they don’t know how to improve their customer service. Why is this an issue? Because customers are the lifeline of your business, and no customers means no revenue. We understand how stressful owning a business is, we hear about it from our clients every…

National Employee Appreciation Day lands on the first Friday in March each year, this year falling on Friday, March 5th. Why do we celebrate it, you ask? Well, why not? The truth is we can always celebrate our employees any day of the year. But like many jobs that we work, much of what we…