SPower started this topic @ 15:07 on 20/04/2006
Hello,
As most new businesses, I am combining my full-time job with a new venture. I therefore need a menas of calls to be answered at any time of day and messages passed through. Does anyone have any experience of using a virtual assistant service? If so, how was it, and what were the problems encountered?
On a similar note, I am thinking of taking a virtual office at regus. Here they answer the phones (office hours only) and provide an office address (as opposed to having an address as my conservatory!). Does anyone else do this, and what alternatives exist?
Thanks in advance.
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Sean Power
www.quadrigamotivation.co.uk
http://startup-it-security.blogspot.com/
"What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it."
RE: Virtual assistants/telephone answering
repepper | 20/04/2006 03:25 PM
I used Office Response (www.office-response.co.uk) for my calls and found them to be very professional, although at £100+ pm for up to 30 calls it was quite a big committment. However, for this they offered several scripts depending on the key words used (e.g. complaints could have a different "script" to brochure enquiries) and they also did full order taking too (order, delivery details, credit cards, the lot).
The only thing that was a pain was when the business closed, I was tied into a notice period so paid £100+ for a couple of months. Worth bearing in mind.
Regards,
Richard.
RE: Virtual assistants/telephone answering
Kevin76 | 20/04/2006 08:30 PM
Hi
I use a sevice called AllDayPA. They're very professional and have a number of additional services on offer to match your business.
RE: RE: Virtual assistants/telephone answering
sarahc | 15/05/2008 03:40 PM
I would highly recommend First Response - for highest quality telephone answering service and PA office support services. 
RE: Virtual assistants/telephone answering
virtuallysorted | 21/04/2006 03:33 PM
Virtual Offices / Virtual Assistants are ideal to either run the business part-time (whilst appearing to be full-time!) or freeing your time up so you're not tied to the phone.
We offer call answering, but we don't do 24 hours as, to be honest, the calls you get after hours are not great quality business leads unless you are specifically targeting consumers at home (e.g. with TV / Radio ads). You pay a lot of extra money for this service and you have to weigh if it's justifiable based on the quality of the calls.
Things to look out for would be:
who's answering the phone?
what's their staff turnover like?
how long do they take to answer their own calls?
what other services are they able to offer? (e.g. basic info about your product/service, order processing, mailing address, call transfer/reception)
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Caroline Melville
www.VirtuallySorted.com">href="http://www.VirtuallySorted.com">www.VirtuallySorted.com
www.SocietyOfVirtualAssistants.co.uk
RE: Virtual assistants/telephone answering
SPower | 24/04/2006 10:21 AM
Thanks everyone for your responses. It seems these services have improved recently - I'll be checking my options!
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Sean Power
www.quadrigamotivation.co.uk
http://startup-it-security.blogspot.com/
"What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it."
RE: Virtual assistants/telephone answering
NewOpportunities | 19/05/2008 07:23 PM
Hello,
Our company, New Opportunities PLC, provides Telephone Answering Services.
We have several offices through-out the UK, so your calls are handled promptly and professionally by local operators.
New Opportunities is a local call centre for local businesses.
Please call us on 0844 745 1845 for a FREE 1 WEEK TRIAL.
Website www.newopps.co.uk
Thanks
