A Better Virtual – USA Virtual Offices

ATLANTA—Millions of Jewish people are celebrating Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, on Monday. And what does that have to do with virtual PBXes for your small business? Well, if the likes of Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert can trust a virtual PBX to handle live answering during his “Atonement Hotline,” it’s likely good enough for your small business.

Here’s the rub: Every year, Stephen Colbert recognizes the Jewish High Holy Days by giving his viewers an opportunity to apologize to him personally during their Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Colbert’s “Atonement Hotline” is 1-888-OOPSJEW, which is a working toll free number VoiceNation supports.

And here’s how it works: When callers choose the OOPSJEW option Colbert’s personal pre-recorded message greets them and asks them to leave their apology to him stating how they have wronged him in the previous year. Colbert then chooses a handful of messages to play on a future show.

VoiceNation says the Colbert Report’s producers chose VoiceNation’s virtual PBX service for its ability to handle high call volumes associated with TV and radio spots. VoiceNation offers proprietary technology that allows the hotline to take thousands of calls and voice messages, and essentially handle 40,000 Colbert fans, within a very short time period.

So, again, if this virtual PBX can handle a spike from Colbert’s fans, it can likely handle your live answering and virtual receptionist needs. PC World named VoiceNation a “Top Provider in Industry” for its live answering service and call center solutions. VoiceNation serves the likes of FEMA, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Dell, AIG and the U.S. Coast Guard.

That said, there are many reputable virtual PBX providers on the market. VoiceNation may be more than you need—and may cost more than you want to pay. Alliance Virtual Offices strives for the most experienced and professional representatives to answer the phone for you.

“Our live receptionists have been administrative assistants for years for a variety of types of companies,” says Frank Cottle, chairman of Alliance Virtual Offices. “We know that ensuring your image of professionalism is of utmost importance and it’s the only way we remain your virtual office of choice. Our Virtual Phone System plans are one low monthly price, or are free with our Live Receptionist service.”

TAMPA, FL – If you are a social media-driven personality – and if you need an answering service provider – you might appreciate what a Tampa-based virtual receptionist has to offer.

AnswerFirst Communications, a company that provides everything from telephone answering and customer service solutions to messaging services and inbound e-mail processing, along with virtual receptionists and various other call center solutions – is providing customer support via Facebook and Twitter.

“We’ve invested a lot of time and effort into developing our social media presence and, while not all of our clients use social media, we are connected with many that do,” says April Gillmore, marketing coordinator for AnswerFirst. “Providing support via these channels is just one more way we can be available to our clients via methods that are convenient for them to use.”

AnswerFirst hopped on social media in 2009, establishing both Facebook and Twitter accounts. Today, AnswerFirst has more than 700 Twitter followers and 2,200 Facebook page likes. AnswerFirst is active in social media on a daily basis, offering customers information about services and special offers and interacting with real customer needs.

“We will continue to provide support through our website, via e-mail and over the phone so this new channel for customer support doesn’t replace our existing support infrastructure,” Gillmore says. “Instead it serves as an additional layer of customer service.”

SAN MATEO—The 2012 presidential elections are virtually right around the corner—and virtual PBX users are nearly split between voting for President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney. So says a RingCentral poll.

RingCentral polled nearly 1,300 business owners, directors, and managers from its customer base and social media followers. The objective of the poll was to determine the business community perceives the 2012 presidential candidates. Of course, these aren’t just any business users. There are virtual PBX, virtual receptionist and virtual office users in this mix.

The results of the RingCentral poll revealed a fairly even split on whether Obama or Romney will have the most positive impact on business and the economy. A deeper look at the findings suggests, however, that both candidates have an edge in certain areas. Key takeaways from the poll include:

• Business owners are evenly divided on voting for Romney or Obama in the 2012 election, and on which candidate would have the most positive impact on businesses and the broader economy.
• 57% of swing-state voters believe a Romney presidency would have a positive impact on Big Business.
• 44% of female respondents support another Obama presidency, giving him a 5-point lead over Romney.
• 42% of male respondents support a Romney presidency, giving him a 5-point lead over Obama.

Overall, the virtual PBX poll showed that female business voters are more likely to support Obama. But male business voters tend to favor a Romney presidency, and a significant majority of poll respondents—male and female alike—believe a Romney presidency would be better for Big Business.

The virtual PBX company also pointed out that Romney has an eight-point edge among respondents in swing states, which are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia. That advantage could come into play in the Electoral College, since the seven swing states have 85 electoral votes between them. Indeed, more than 270 respondents to RingCentral’s poll—roughly a fifth of the total—came from these battleground states.

LONDON—Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean you can afford to lose your business momentum. But you may want (or need) to take a break, even a vacation. What’s a small business owner to do?

The need for a vacation is real. According to eReceptionist, 82 percent of entrepreneurs say that they feel refreshed and renewed after a holiday. But who will answer your phones and deal with customers and vendors in your absence? How can you really take a break from your company? eReceptionist offers three tips on setting up your virtual office for the summer.

1. Plan ahead.
As with everything in business, one of the most important things you can do is plan your schedule. eReceptionist suggest asking yourself four questions in the planning process:

• When you are going to take that break
• When is optimal in your business cycle
• When do you expect less business activity?
• What can I do with my business calls?

2. Stop worrying about your business.
That may be easier said than done. Many small business owners experience separation anxiety from their e-mail. Psychologists recommend setting aside a specific time each day to respond to e-mail. That keeps you connected enough but not so connected that you can’t unwind.

EReceptionist recommends asking yourself the following three questions as you decide how to work e-mail checks into your vacation itinerary:

• When do you plan to carry out activities or excursions of your break?
• How does your daily ‘check in’ fits with your normal working day (morning? evening? office hours?)
• What you are going to do to ensure that while you are away you don’t miss out on business?

Having the answers to these questions ahead of time can help you relax and enjoy your vacation instead of constantly worrying that you are letting your business down.

3. Forward your calls and get voicemail as e-mail.
If you or someone else miss a customer call and it goes to voicemail, surveys show that almost 80 percent of customers, especially new ones, will not leave a voicemail message. They’ll just call someone else.

That’s where eReceptionst comes in. A virtual receptionist can help by answering your calls and directly them to wherever you want them to go. You can also have your voicemails to you as files that you can play out on your device or PC for free as part of the virtual office service. This means that you can listen to any voicemails that come through to your virtual number without having to pay the roaming fees that you’d normally get with international travel.

SAN FRANCISCO—Easy Office Phone just rolled out a new and improved Virtual Call Center solution. The business VoIP company’s latest iteration integrates tracking, reporting, and web-based management into the core phone service.

As Easy Office Phone sees it, most on-site call center implementations lack critical components like detailed performance reporting and on-the-fly management capabilities. Although some hardware-based solutions do offer these features they come at a cost—a high cost.

Easy Office Phone is tapping into the efficiencies of cloud computing to offer a virtual phone solution that offers all those features without a cost that runs into the tens of thousands of dollars. Easy Office Phone taps the cloud to provide the feature set call centers of all sizes require, with minimal capital outlay and at an affordable monthly fee.

“I think call centers are often incorrectly seen as being used exclusively by large organizations, which may have tended in the past to discourage smaller companies from considering them,” says Adam Simpson, CEO of Easy Office Phone. “Our platform lets any business take advantage of the power of a virtual call center, and removes the up-front cost barrier. In my opinion this means a greatly expanded market reach for the service.”

Active Energy, a provider of residential and commercial energy services, uses Easy Office Phone’s Virtual Call Center to manage its call queues. Shaun Pennell, CTO of Active Energy, is bragging about the service.

“In the past, when we had employees working from remote locations, integrating them into our call queues was impossible,” Pennell says. “Staff had to manually answer calls for the remote employees and forward them as needed. With this solution, all of our call center staff are tied together regardless of where they work, and in addition all staff can see at a glance whether their colleagues are available or currently occupied on calls.”

The web-based virtual call center software package offers detailed statistics on performance reporting. Pennell says the having access to those stats has led to noticeable productivity improvements.

“We’re now able to quickly and easily pull key indicators of performance and responsiveness, such as how many calls each agent is handling, how quickly on average we’re answering calls, and much more,” Pennell says. “The web-based interface allows us to gather and analyze this data literally with a few mouse clicks.”

LOS ANGELES-RingCentral is offering a special discount to users of Skype—the Microsoft-owned and highly popular VoIP calling software. This virtual PBX discount may be attractive to Skype users searching for a way to send faxes online.

So far, services like PamFax and eFax have been filling the bill for online faxing. Skype can’t handle online faxes, at least not yet, because of the way it sends voice packets. It’s not clear if Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype will change that in the future, but a year later it’s still not possible to fax through Skype.

Now, if you want a virtual receptionist and fax service all rolled up into one tidy package—and if you are a Skype user—you can get a 25 percent discount on RingCentral fax services for the first six months.

“RingCentral has been a stable platform for our phone and fax needs,” says John Schroeder of ClickFindGet. ClickFindGet has been using RingCentral actively in its business for several years.

Of course, RingCentral offers more than fax services. The company is a virtual PBX provider at heart and offers a full line up of products including its RingCentral Office program. RingCentral Office works to allow business owners to make a good first impression—an impression typically reserved for larger companies.

On the online fax front, though RingCentral also has its benefits. For example, a RingCentral fax number lets users to simply view faxes online instead of printing them out and throwing them away—and that’s good for the environment.

BOCA RATON, FL—Memorial Day just passed, but summer is right around the corner. Come June 20, the calendar officially marks the season—and that means vacations or even stay-cations, along with graduations and weddings. A virtual office can help you drive more productivity from your work day so you can enjoy your summer more.

As Yori Galel, CEO of Opus Virtual Offices, sees it, small business owners, solo entrepreneurs, and home based franchisees don’t have vacation paid from outside sources so they need to make leisure time for themselves. He’s convinced virtual offices empower this group to do just that.

“Self-employed entrepreneurs don’t usually follow set hours and can drive themselves too hard,” Galel says. “The Opus complete virtual office solution is designed to give small businesses the tools to operate successfully. But we also want them to be able to relax and have time with their families.”

With that in mind, Opus Virtual Offices is offering a summer promotion for new clients and enhanced receptionist support for all clients. Opus’ virtual receptionist is on hand to take incoming queries so small business owners can escape for a while without sacrificing any important calls. Opus is offering $100 off this service for clients who sign up this summer by waiving the set up fees when you enter the promo code: SUMMER on the Web site.

If you want more than a virtual receptionist, Opus Virtual Offices also offers a virtual office program for $99 a month. This also targets small or home-based business that want to present a professional image without a physical office. The virtual office comes with a prestigious corporate address, phone, and fax to use for all business contacts. So what are you waiting for? Get your virtual ducks in a row so you can take a little time for yourself this summer.

ATLANTA—You read a lot about virtual receptionists these days—and with good reason. Virtual receptionists and live answering services can be a major boon for small and large companies alike who need an extra set of hands—and a pleasant voice—on the phones.

VoiceNation is bragging about its success in the virtual receptionist space—or should I say its client’s success. VoiceNation is pointing to The Coffee Project as a success story with its virtual receptionist service. The Coffee Project is an e-commerce business that lets coffee lovers buy their caffeinated brew day and night. But that also means providing customer support 24/7.

“Picking up the phone and speaking to a real human is still a very important aspect of customer service in this virtual environment,” explains James Vaughn, owner of The Coffee Project. “A responsive human voice, at any time of the day or night, is probably the best way to foster trust that a company cares about its customers and cares to offer as many ways to communicate as possible.”

Indeed, the telephone customer service is often the customer’s first impression after visiting The Coffee Project website. Vaughn needed the ability to simply manage incoming calls through an online dashboard and have them forwarded to assistants located in different parts of the country depending on the time of day. Others times Vaughn wanted to take calls himself. Still other times he wanted VoiceNation’s live receptionists to man the phones.

With VoiceNation, he has that flexibility. He also has the ability to log telephone orders online, collect customer data, and direct all messages to the appropriate party via e-mail.

“We’ve used other services in the past. However, VoiceNation had the best pricing with more features, which, we could access completely online,” Vaughn says. “Because we’re an internet-based business, being able to manage everything online is an important tool. VoiceNation helps keep my company professional and responsive.”

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—In a deal that shows how the virtual office industry and executive office suites industry cross paths, TelAssistant business phone services recently hooked up with Virtual Office Advantage in a deal that sees one offering services to the customers of another.

TelAssistant business phone services if offering its services to the Sioux Falls, South Dakota e-suites provider. Essentially, the executive office suites provider is tapping into TelAssistant staff and technology to augment service to its clients.

TelAssistant is a professional call answering service that screens calls, takes messages, and forwards messages. You might call it a step above a virtual PBX, but still a service that virtual office users and mobile workers would appreciate. And it’s the perfect amenity in an executive office suite that doesn’t want to hire staff in-house.

TelAssistant specialists are custom trained to meet the specific needs of a business in much the same way an in-house employee is briefed on every customer. TelAssistant offers its phone answering services at the Sioux Falls location, along with the many other amenities that Virtual Office Advantage offers.

That’s the story of TelAssistant. Now, let’s see how it intersects with Virtual Office Advantage.

Virtual Office Advantage is a professional office space that promises plenty of perks for small businesses and non-profits. Virtual Office Advantage also boasts office space, conference rooms, shared offices and a secure working environment—at only a fraction of the cost of traditional office space.

Even if you don’t use Virtual Office Advantage, you can still use TelAssist services. TelAssist offers live receptionist, a local telephone number, small business answering, order processing, Web chat, appointing taking and much more.

PORTLAND—Ruby Receptionists is known as one of the most creative virtual receptionist firms on the market. Now, the remote receptionist company is getting innovative with a new online word-of-mouth referral program.

Dubbed Ruby Refer-a-Friend Program, the initiative aims to generate leads from would-be virtual receptionist customers from its passionate client base. That means if you get your virtual receptionist services from Ruby, you can become a brand ambassador and get rewarded for your efforts.

Here’s how the Ruby Refer-a-Friend Program works: Ruby has set up online tools to empower existing customers to extend a special offer to their referral networks. If a customer’s friend signs up for service, the standard $95 setup fee is waived. The referring customer gets a $50 Visa gift card. Not a bad deal!

“Throughout Ruby’s history, we’ve been grateful that so many of our clients have chosen to spread the word about Ruby through personal referrals and their social media networks,” said Kevin Gillam, director of marketing for Ruby. “Now, we’ve streamlined that process and made it so much easier for our clients—they can refer their friends to Ruby with just a few clicks, and we have the capability to automatically track and reward referrals efficiently and accurately.”

The new virtual receptionist referral program lets customers recommend Ruby to business associates, friends and families using an e-mail message, blog post, Twitter “tweet,” Facebook status update or personalized URL (PURL) and landing page.

And check this out. Virtual receptionist clients can even add their own testimonial that will appear when friends visit the custom Refer-a-Friend landing page.

In order to generate referrals, Ruby clients only need to log into the mobile-friendly Member Services Area of virtual receptionist provider’s website, click on the Refer-a-Friend button and follow the instructions. Virtual receptionist customers with iPhones can also click on the new “Refer” tab on Ruby’s updated iPhone app.

How serious is Ruby about its virtual receptionist referral program? The company built its own customized referral software to drive it. All you have to do is start referring. It will, of course, be interesting to see how well the virtual receptionist program works. Right now, Ruby provides live virtual receptionist services to 1,700 businesses and entrepreneurs in 49 states.