When hiring a receptionist, employers have two main options to take into account: an in-house, traditional receptionist or a virtual receptionist. By definition, a receptionist is an employee responsible for taking an office’s administrative support. They are directly hired, trained, and counted as an employee by the organization. Receptionists are the first face and/or voice callers, visitors, and other employees often meet.
A virtual receptionist, on the other hand, is a real person who fulfills the receptionist staffing needs but isn’t stationed in your facility. A virtual receptionist is not an employee, is always available to take your calls, and callers won’t even know that they are speaking with someone who is not physically present at the firm. Plus they provide an array of services, including answering calls, taking messages, legal intake, mail forwarding, and appointment scheduling. Take a look at the services provided by the Best Call Center.
But what will be the best receptionist staffing solution for your law firm? Here’s a quick rundown of the facets to look into:
- Costs
Cost is where traditional receptionists vs. virtual receptionists really differ.
In-house Receptionist: The annual median wage of a full-time, in-house receptionist is $29,140. Include benefits, bonuses, insurance, and miscellaneous costs and that figure skyrockets. Also, getting a traditional receptionist means that you’ll have to pay for training, office space, and materials for the job.
Virtual Receptionist: The only cost obligation with a virtual receptionist is in the service fee, which is paid directly to the agency. With a high-quality answering service like the Best Call Center, there is no overtime, no overhead, and no extra charges for after-hours or holiday calls. Because the pay for a virtual receptionist is call based, you enjoy the benefit of not having to pay idle employees when there’s no work.
- Productivity
In-house Receptionist: You cannot replace a smiling face in your front office, but here is the thing, callers expect 100% attention when they contact your firm. And a single employee may not be able to offer that. Receptionists also handle administrative tasks, but callers get annoyed when talking to an employee shuffling other tasks. That can damage your firm’s reputation and conversion efforts. What’s more, they can only handle one call at a time
Virtual Receptionist: With a virtual receptionist, the line is never busy and no call will go unanswered regardless of how large the call volume is or the time the call is made. A virtual receptionist, unlike a traditional one, is dedicated to one thing, and that is the caller.
- Absences and Breaks
In-house Receptionist: Many things can keep your receptionist from answering the phone when it rings. First up is lunches and breaks, ranging from fifteen minutes to one hour. During this time, your in-house receptionist will not be available to answer your phone. You’ll also have to provide sick days, vacation, and personal time. This results in hours’ worth of work that you’ll have to pay your receptionist but not for answering your calls. Plus you’ll need to get another employee to cover all these openings.
Virtual Receptionist: Day or night, during holidays, during weekends, during business hours or after, your virtual receptionist is available to capture every potential lead. At The Best Call Center, we have a team of virtual receptionists in every time zone. Disaster preparedness also means that we’re able to pick up the slack when Mother Nature becomes furious.
- After Hour Phone Coverage
In-house Receptionist: You can have the most hardworking and committed receptionist in the world. But they can only be available for 40 hours per week. But there are 168 hours in each week, which means that your receptionist will be unavailable 75% of the time should your phone ring. And if your in-house receptionist ends up working more than 40 hours, you have a legal obligation to pay them overtime. This can prove to be costly, especially when you’re expecting a high call volume.
Virtual Receptionist: Outsourcing overflow calls and after-hour calls to the Best Call Center is the most cost-effective way to make sure you have phone coverage at all times. Our virtual receptionists are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week and will be standing ready to take your calls when they come in. And the great thing is you only pay for the time actually worked.
The Best of Both Worlds
In-house and virtual receptionists are not enemies. The fact that you have a traditional receptionist shouldn’t keep you from hiring a virtual receptionist. The virtual receptionist takes over for after hours, picks up the slack for overflow calls, and steps in when your in-house receptionist is engaged or absent. Virtual receptionists are a great catalyst for satisfying your customers, improving business operations, and securing a competitive edge.
Have questions? Need to outsource to a virtual receptionist today? Contact the Best Call Center to discuss how to take your law firm’s communication game to the next level. Call us at 800-385-4656.