What is a virtual office answering service?

Running a business can be exciting, fulfilling, and yet almost always stressful. Being your own boss and working your own hours sounds great, and it can be an extremely rewarding way to work, but it’s rarely an easy way of life.

With the Covid-19 pandemic forcing many people to work from home, and many more people to lose their jobs, thousands of entrepreneurial-minded individuals are looking to start their own businesses.

The pandemic has legitimised the remote, home-based business and distributed teams. Pre-pandemic, it is reasonable to suggest that only a small number of pioneering companies such as WordPress operated remotely. To be taken seriously and seen as a legitimate business in many industries, you needed to lease a bricks-and-mortar office. At least in the short-term, this perception has changed, and remote working could be here to stay.

With that said, virtual offices and virtual office answering services still offer a multitude of benefits. This article will examine the various advantages of using a virtual office address and hiring a virtual office answering service. 

Remote businesses & virtual offices

While you may be happy to work from home, you may not want your home address shown on your social media pages and website. For this reason, many remote working entrepreneurs opt for a virtual office or virtual office address.

Having a virtual office address can also help potential customers to see your business as a more legitimate enterprise. You could run an eCommerce store on a drop-shipping basis, for example. Website visitors who have not heard of your brand before may want to know where the company is located before purchasing. A city centre or industrial park address may appear more legitimate than a street or residential address in this scenario.

A virtual office does not provide physical office space. However, it does give the option to have a mailing address. Customers and clients can then send letters and packages in the post to the virtual office address for it to then be forwarded to your home address.

Advantages of a virtual office

Maintaining a professional image is very important. While many multinational corporations now offer the option to work from home for many employees, your business can be perceived as less professional if it does not have an office address. When someone visits to your website, for example, they are instantly judging your business.

How your website looks and performs are significant factors. Consciously or not, visitors will be looking for social proof such as reviews and testimonials and various other trust signals such as governing body memberships and awards. Another influential trust signal is the clear display of contact details, including a local or toll-free telephone number of an office address.

Another significant advantage of a virtual office address is the ability to register your business in local online directories. While you should check the terms and conditions of each directory, it can certainly help to have a listing on Google Maps when you are targeting a specific area.

In addition, by working from home, you can not only save a tremendous amount of money on your monthly business expenses, but you can also save time on your morning commute. The amount of time and money you save each month can run into thousands of pounds and dozens of hours.

Virtual office answering service

The perfect service to accompany a virtual office is an answering service. A virtual office answering service is also called a virtual receptionist service. With an award-winning provider such as Moneypenny, our clients enjoy all the benefits of an in-house full-time hire at a fraction of the cost.

Even if your business is a side-hustle, in addition to your full-time employment, you can create the perception of a large, professional, and legitimate business with a dedicated receptionist answering your calls in your business name. Each receptionist is hand-picked according to their experience and skills with relevant businesses and industries.

Benefits of a virtual office answering service

There are many benefits to using a virtual office answering service or a phone answering service. These include:

– Never missing a business call

– Improved focus & fewer interruptions from calls

– More time to work on the core of your business

– Improved customer service

– Having a dedicated receptionist at a reduced cost

– No sick days or holidays

– Overflow service available

– No need to recruit or train a new employee

– No need to fill in lengthy paperwork for employees

– Cancel with a month’s notice*

*Moneypenny requires one month’s notice from the date of your next invoice to cancel.

Our research suggests that a huge one in three business calls are missed. This is a real issue for small businesses, and lots of money is being left on the table. Not only that, callers rarely leave voicemails or messages and are much more likely to go on to call a direct competitor. In addition, not answering a call from a prospective or existing customer gives a bad impression of your business.

Having a dedicated, highly professional receptionist answering your calls exactly as if based in your office can give a significant competitive advantage. A caller will feel valued and important and is likely to have a great impression of your business following the call.

Another benefit of a virtual office answering service is that it can reduce interruptions and unwanted calls. Research suggests that interruptions increase error rates and also heighten levels of stress and anxiety. Not only that, but the number of spam phone calls is on the increase.

With the Moneypenny Telephone Answering app, you can quickly update your status to show that you do not want to be disturbed, and you can focus on the work at hand.

With an out-of-hours answering service, you can also focus or enjoy recreational activities without having to listen out for your phone constantly. This can substantially reduce stress and the risk of burnout.

Moneypenny’s Telephone Answering service

If you are serious about creating a professional brand, then Moneypenny’s award-winning Telephone Answering service is the perfect addition to a virtual office address.

With excellent reviews on Trustpilot and Google and testimonials from npower, you can be feel reassured that your company is in safe hands.

There are no lengthy contracts and you have the option to upgrade to 24-hour cover at any time. You can enjoy all the benefits of our answering service for free, with no payment details required with a seven-day trial.

Please visit our Telephone Answering service page to find out more.