Increase Lead Conversions with a Virtual Receptionist for Small Business
Getting leads is crucial, but lead conversions lead to business revenue. However, many small businesses tend to agonize over achieving this mainly because they’ve not established their brand or lack enough resources. From the initial in-depth planning and startup costs to marketing the products and services, small businesses need to see a positive return on investment in their efforts.
Lead conversions help businesses grow, creating new opportunities for more referrals, potential sales, positive reviews, and more satisfied and loyal clients. Unfortunately, most small businesses use the same lead conversion strategies, such as social media and email campaigns. Over time, these strategies will become less effective. With emerging automation and technology, conventional strategies are guaranteed to get a little rusty. One invaluable tactic to increase lead conversions is to partner with a virtual receptionist who brings in human interaction for improved customer service.
This article looks at how a virtual receptionist for small business can help increase lead conversions.
Challenges Facing Small Businesses
Small businesses often face numerous challenges. As a business owner, you’re tasked with increasing sales, hiring the right people, filing taxes, making payroll, providing excellent customer service, and then there’s marketing. Small businesses are often short on money, time, and other resources and must get smart about how to market effectively. Below are the main challenges facing small businesses in their marketing efforts.
Limited Resources
Small businesses usually struggle with cash and cash flow with so many places where the money is needed. They also lack funding or working capital, and most small business owners aren’t aware of how much revenue is generated by selling services or products.
Lack of Experience
When you run a small business, most responsibilities will fall on you, and you may lack knowledge in some sectors. Besides, you may lack business savvy and relevant leadership experience in sectors such as organization, strategy, structuring, capitalization, compensation, hiring, and managing employees. Lacking these skills in the modern business world could leave your business uncompetitive, which leads to reduced lead conversions.
Poor Lead Quality
Without quality leads, you have no customers; without customers, you have no business. Even if your business maintains enough leads to survive, you will constantly acquire more leads for growth. Most small businesses face a shortage of leads, leading to many business failures. On the other hand, given the current sales capacity and time constraints, you may have too many leads to effectively follow up on them. Also, you may not have ample operational capacity to produce enough of your service or product to meet the market demand.
Why Consider a Virtual Receptionist for Small Business?
Small business owners usually wear many hats when running a business, implying they lose the one currency they can never get back: time. A virtual receptionist for small business can be a great benefit to your business. Below are the main reasons you should work with a virtual receptionist for small business.
Capture New Leads
Most mobile users call your business when they’re ready to purchase, which means you must be ready to convert whenever they call. Even if your caller is not looking to buy, your small business should be ready to respond and evaluate their needs. Hiring a virtual receptionist for small business can take messages and calls, resolve issues when they appear, and qualify leads. New leads become important when you can pursue them. With a virtual receptionist ready to identify and prioritize new leads, you can use your time to engage with your customer base and better manage your business.
A Real Person on the Other Line
Let’s face it, nobody wants to talk to a machine, and in an increasingly automated world, the freedom to talk to a real person is invaluable. So, offering on-brand and people-powered services can’t be overstated for a small business. According to research, people are more receptive to human voices and will respond better. A virtual receptionist for small business will offer friendly service to clients and act like the human face of your company.
Contact Prospective Leads Immediately
According to a consumer report survey, 75% of customers are annoyed when they lack a live person on the phone. Every missed call is another missed opportunity. Also, in a 24/7 economy, every customer expects an instant response when they have an issue, not when you’re just available. Hiring a virtual receptionist for small business means your clients receive round-the-clock support, even after you’ve closed your business. So, a new lead in your sales pipeline must be immediately linked to an available salesperson with fast access to all the necessary information.
Other reasons why your business should hire a virtual receptionist for small business include the following:
- Increased productivity
- Minimized distractions and protected time
- Reduced call handling times and higher caller conversions
- Increased client satisfaction
- Strengthened business reputation
- Screen and patch calls
- Offer multi-lingual support
- Manage your CRM better
- Better access to data for analysis
- Offer a personalized service
How to Choose the Right Virtual Receptionist for Small Business
Hiring a virtual receptionist for small business can take a lot of stress off you and your staff. However, finding the right one can make or break your business. Below are the factors to consider when choosing the right virtual receptionist for small business.
- Cost: It should be within your budget
- Experience: Should have vast experience within your industry
- Should have the same ethics and personality as you
- Should meet your needs
- Decide on what you’re hiring a virtual assistant to do
- Their technology should be compatible with your own
- They should handle all technical issues
Consider How You’ll Use the Virtual Receptionist’s Services
You must get an idea in mind for how you’ll use the virtual receptionist’s services. For example, a chiropractor’s office might be looking to manage cancellations and appointment bookings. Also, a small catering business could be looking to handle incoming calls during events such as weddings. So, depending on your business, determine why you require the services to help you determine the required features, the expected call volume, the compatibility with your software, and more.
The Virtual Receptionist Should Provide the Services You Need
You must choose a virtual receptionist for small business capable of providing the services you need now and in the future. As a result, it’s important to consider whether you need to capture lead information and qualifying leads, inform callers about your different price points, take orders, answer product questions, process payments, and more. Armed with this information, you’ll be sure to choose a VR that will offer the services you need.
Find Around-the-Clock Coverage
The best thing about hiring a virtual receptionist for small business is that your clients can be assisted 24/7, 365 days a week. Offering your customers a live, friendly voice to process payments, gather information, register for events, answer questions, and book appointments around the clock is a great asset to see your business grow exponentially while strengthening customer experience.
What to Avoid When Choosing a Virtual Receptionist for Small Business
- Added costs for integrations
- Added costs for call handling types such as payment processing or appointment-scheduling
- Any service that doesn’t provide 24/7 coverage, 365 days annually
- Contracts locking you into call volumes, rates, or services for year-long periods
- Limited call handling instructions reading like scripts and not your small business
A Virtual Receptionist for Small Businesses is a Smart Investment
Click here to learn more about a small business answering service that can increase lead conversions with a virtual receptionist for small business. If you want to learn more, click here to contact us and get started.