What to Look for in Virtual Real Estate Office Receptionist — A Guide
If you’re into real estate and striving to close the maximum deals and stay ahead of your competition, hiring a real estate office receptionist should be a top priority. The industry involves answering calls, scheduling appointments and showings, growing your list of contacts, managing databases, and taking messages.
According to recent data, 34% of Americans are first-time home buyers implying that the real estate market is booming. In most cases, real estate agencies or realtors should enlist the services of virtual real estate office receptionists to help manage the workload.
This article by My Receptionist looks at how to hire a virtual relationship, what to look for, and the benefits you get from hiring one in the real estate industry.
What is a Virtual Real Estate Office Receptionist (And What Can They Do)?
A virtual real estate virtual receptionist in the real estate industry is a trained professional who handles your business processes from a remote location. They operate remotely and lend their experience and expertise to assist you in focusing on your main business tasks as they work behind the scenes to help you shine. Most real estate virtual receptionists can handle tasks such as:
- Lead generation activities
- Cold calling
- Financial tracking
- Entering and managing data
- Sourcing property details
- Limited transaction management
- Arranging closing and seasonal gifts
- Make your travel plans
- Preparing marketing materials
- Creating email campaigns
- Soliciting reviews and feedback from clients
- Researching market trends
- Handling social media posting
- Bookkeeping
- Updating your real estate website
- Responding to some emails
- Managing your calendar
Hiring a virtual real estate office receptionist is a cost-effective remedy that helps you to be a premium producer by allowing you to handle the above tasks and spend more time engaging with clients.
Types of Real Estate Office Receptionists
There are four types of virtual real estate office receptionists based on their tasks and main specializations. Keep in mind, some virtual receptionists for real estate (like the ones employed by My Receptionist) are capable of handling all of the tasks summarized below.
Administrative Virtual Real Estate Office Receptionists
Administrative real estate VAs specialize in office management, including scheduling, handling phone calls, and data entry. They also handle back-office projects such as financing, accounting, and bookkeeping. Generally, they manage everything to do with office management that can be handled remotely.
Sales Virtual Real Estate Office Receptionist
Sales real estate virtual receptionists help with the sales process by using emails and cold calling. They help generate new leads, support the projected leads and close the best deals.
Customer Support Virtual Real Estate Office Receptionist
These handle customer support and specialize in customer service and tasks like emailing and calling clients to help build a perfect customer experience. Customer support virtual real estate Vas can also help guide clients through sales by managing your CRM, responding to customer inquiries, and collecting feedback after deal completion.
Marketing Virtual Real Estate Office Receptionist
A marketing virtual real estate VA ideates and executes the marketing strategy at all levels, whether social, email or search. They help develop customized and relevant content for every channel, helping you bring your best foot forward.
Preparing to Hire a Virtual Real Estate Office Receptionist
Finding the best and most well-rounded virtual real estate office receptionist for your real estate business is one of the most important steps. It’s a goal-oriented and most cost-efficient investment you could make to scale up your business and stand out from the crowd. The first step is setting your business goals and outlining what you’ll need your preferred receptionist to do. You should then put clear and achievable metrics to help you pinpoint the type of virtual real estate office receptionist you need.
The preparation process to follow to hire the best virtual real estate office receptionist is as follows:
- Set tasks and goals for your real estate VA
- Set the work standards to follow
- Set the deadlines to hit
- Schedule for updates
- Give feedback opportunities
Traits to Look For
Regardless of where you search and source your preferred candidates, qualifying all your applicants before hiring is essential. Below are the top traits to look for in a virtual real estate office receptionist:
- Honest
- Reliable
- Attention to detail
- Fast worker
- Resourceful
- Kind
- Ability to multitask
- Handles challenges well
- Dependable
- Full of ideas
- Good time management
- High communication skills
- Computer savvy
- Basic accounting skills
- Internet research skills
- Writing skills
- Multi-lingual
- Basic social media skills
- Versatile
How Do I Find a Suitable Virtual Real Estate Office Receptionist?
When hiring your ideal virtual real estate office receptionist, you’ll have to factor in what the investment means to you. Selecting an individual with the right soft skills and attitude can go much further than you might think. Any other hard skills they have as a virtual receptionist or prior experience in real estate would be an added advantage. Still, you’ll want to focus more on interpersonal skills, communication, attitude, etc.
Ensure that you go for people with expertise in administrative tasks, attention to detail, organizing, and so forth so that they can keep the business organized. You should also hire a virtual real estate office receptionist from a reputable company with years of experience, such as MyReceptionist. This will ensure that you get a qualified VA with ample industry experience and that everything works smoothly.
Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Real Estate Office Receptionist
A real estate virtual receptionist can benefit your company for various reasons. Some of these benefits include the following.
VAs Have Specific Expertise
A virtual real estate office receptionist specializes in a specific real estate industry and uses the experience to help you stand out. This expertise can include local market knowledge, marketing expertise, or specialized training in certain tasks. They know everything about the industry and can offer expert help in whatever you need.
Boosted Productivity
Improved productivity translates to the success of any company. By handling routine tasks such as bookkeeping, answering calls and emails, scheduling appointments, and CRM management, a virtual receptionist allows you to focus on more primary tasks that will help you grow your business and be more productive. Moreover, they can offer valuable insight into your social media profiles and how to reach prospective clients best.
Increased Efficiency
Productivity is closely linked with efficiency. By managing routine tasks, which save you valuable time, a virtual real estate office receptionist allows you to focus on the more important tasks. You can start managing sales funnels, inventory, and open houses by leaving the time-consuming tasks to virtual receptionists.
Scalability
Real estate virtual receptionists provide extra support to complete tasks on schedule without breaking the bank. As a result, you spend less on training and recruiting expenses. In addition, you can delegate office responsibilities to independent VAs as needed. This provides the scalability that your business needs as it grows and evolves.
Flexibility
One of the main benefits of hiring a virtual real estate office receptionist is that they give you flexibility. You don’t need to worry about committing to full-time employees, as you can hire virtual receptionists on an as-needed basis. You can hire one depending on your current workload and business needs.
Closing Thoughts
A real estate virtual receptionist can benefit your company for various reasons. They have specific expertise in the industry, help boost productivity, and increase efficiency, scalability, and flexibility. If you want to learn more about how a real estate office receptionist can help your firm grow, click here or contact us to get started.