How a Telephone Messaging Service Works for Your Business

“What is a telephone messaging service and how can it help my business?” If you’re typing this popular question into Google, this article spotlighting our answering and messaging services will give you the information you seek.

Read on to learn, in detail, how a virtual receptionist team can answer your calls 24 hours a day and forward your phone messages in real-time.  

Benefits of having a telephone messaging service for your business

Custom Training on Your Account

When you hire our team of virtual receptionists to answer your lines the first thing you’ll do is teach us how to answer your phones. We provide you the ability to fully customize your phone procedures so we can assist your callers.

To be sure we answer your lines according to your exact specifications, you’ll be able to customize the following information:

• Custom Answering Greeting

We can answer your business lines with a general, “Good morning / afternoon / evening,” answer phrase. Or, we can answer all calls with your business name, slogan or a special announcement.

• Business Information

Give us your hours of operation, when your staff normally takes lunch, holidays and days that your office will be closed, etc. Let us know if you have multiple locations so we can be as helpful and knowledge as possible.

• Employee List

Give us a full employee list and we can direct your calling customers to the correct contact person. Provide us with the contact information for your on-call or in case of an emergency employee for afterhours assistance.  

• FAQ Information

Make a list of your callers most frequently asked questions and give us the answers. Our virtual receptionists can quote your standard fees, areas of expertise, product/service information and more. 

• Handling Emergency Calls

We understand that you and your callers may have entirely different definitions of what an emergency is. You tell us what constitutes an emergency and we will follow the emergency procedures you prefer.     

• Dispatching Procedures

If you need calls dispatched to service professionals or to on-call employees, we’ve got you covered. Just teach us your dispatching preferences and procedures and we will follow them exactly. We can even verify that a service call has been answered or completed by getting confirmation from your service technician.

Forward Your Lines at Your Convenience

The great thing about our answering service is that we answer your calls whenever you need us to. All you have to do is push a few buttons on the telephone and voila, all of your business calls will be forwarded to your new virtual receptionist team.

If you have an onsite receptionist, you can elect to forward your calls only when he or she is away from their desk. So when they leave for the day at 5:00 pm, just have them forward the calls to your new telephone messaging service and we’ll make sure you never miss another call. When your onsite receptionist come in at 9:00 am, they can press a few buttons to un-forward your calls.

For business owners that answer their own phone lines, we can act as your 24-hour receptionist and assistant by screening your incoming calls for you. This means you will never have to be surprised by a calling customer or get interrupted by a ringing phone during an important meeting.

Sample of an Incoming Call

Sometimes, in order to get a clear understanding of a new process, a good ol’ example is needed. Here is a general and basic sample of how we can assist your callers by being available and taking a message. (Don’t forget, you get to customize the call script if you’d like). 

***

Virtual Receptionist:           “Good morning and thank you for calling Law Offices of David Smith. This is Sara, how can I be of assistance?”

Caller:                                    “Good morning, can I speak with Attorney Smith?”

Virtual Receptionist:           “Mr. Smith is currently in a meeting, but I’d be more than happy to take down a message so he can give you a call back at his earliest convenience.”

Caller:                        “Yeah, that would be great. This is Tom Ramirez and I am calling to find out what I need to bring to my hearing on Friday.”

Virtual Receptionist:           “Okay, Mr. Ramirez, and that’s R-A-M-I-R-E-Z, right?”

Caller:                        “Yup.”

Virtual Receptionist:           “Perfect. Mr. Ramirez, what’s the best telephone number you can be reached at?”

Caller:                        “He can reach me on my cell at 407-789-0123 or email me the information at TRamirez@mail.com. Email is probably better for me.”

Virtual Receptionist:           “Okay, Mr. Ramirez, I will leave a message for Attorney Smith as well as his paralegal, Jennifer. You want to know what paperwork you need to bring to your hearing this Friday, September 30^th. I’ll have them email you the information to TRamirez@mail.com and if they have detailed instructions, they’ll give you a call at 407-789-0123.”

Caller:                        “Sounds great. Thanks so much, Sara.”

Virtual Receptionist:           “You’re very welcome, Mr. Ramirez. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

Caller:                        “No, I’m good.”

Virtual Receptionist:           “Thank you, Mr. Ramirez. I hope you have a great day and please be sure to give us a call back if you need anything else in the meantime.”

Caller:                        “I will, thanks again. Goodbye.”

***

Delivery and Retrieval of Messages

Your virtual receptionist team will forward any phone messages you receive in real time. Since we exist solely to make your life easier, you tell us the way you want your messages delivered and we’ll be happy to oblige.

So taking the last example, you would receive a text message, email, phone message or facsimile with the following information:

Existing client, Tom Ramirez, would like to know what he needs to bring with him to his hearing this Friday, September 30, 2016. Please email him the information at TRamirez@mail.com. If you need to speak with him in person, he can be reached at 407-789-0123. 

This phone message will be forwarded to you in real-time so that you can send him the information at your earliest convenience. And it really is that simple.  

Let Our Telephone Messaging Service Start Working for You! 

We hope you now have a full understanding of how our professional telephone messaging service can help you and your business. With over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications and customer service industry, we’re confident that we can meet (and even exceed) your expectations.

Give us a call at 1-800-785-6161 to speak with our account specialist to discuss your particular business’s needs in detail. We offer a wide range of services that can streamline your customer service and telecommunications.