Business owners often stay up late nights wondering how they can increase lead conversion rates, and how to generate those leads in the first place. One valuable tactic is to hire a virtual receptionist, for a low monthly cost. Virtual receptionists do much more than answer and make telephone calls. In fact, virtual receptionist services can effectively be used to generate leads, qualify leads, convert them to sales and even nurturing them post-sales with lower conversion costs. If you were wondering how all this is possible, let us take a look at how virtual receptionists help companies to generate leads.
1. Being available 24/7
Many times you miss out on leads because there is nobody to pick up telephone calls or respond to emails 24/7. The problem is that the moment someone contacts you is the moment they are most interested and ready but 34% of callers who do not reach a person will not call back. A virtual receptionist service helps you start a conversation when the customer is ready. This ensures that every prospect who expresses interest is given a chance to convert to being a customer.
2. Recognize when a caller is a great lead
Usually, your in-house receptionist may be good at receiving calls and taking notes. However, lead generation, lead nurturing and recognizing when a customer intends to purchase are qualities they may not trained in. With this in mind, a virtual receptionist can be of great help. They are trained to recognize when a caller expresses interest in purchasing, and they are also trained to persuade and convince to ensure the caller converts to being a customer. This requires training and experience which comes naturally to virtual receptionists who handle such calls 24/7.
3. Provide excellent customer service
Whenever a call is made or some contact is established, it is important to provide the best customer service possible. Answering service agents are trained to provide great customer service and they ensure that callers are always treated with great respect and empathy. By ensuring that their problems are fixed quickly, virtual receptionists provide a great first impression for your callers, and stand better chances at encouraging them to convert to repeat customers.
4. Screen and patch calls
Virtual receptionists can effectively connect customers with whoever is concerned, so that they are encouraged to make a purchase or become a client. For example, when a prospect calls up and asks for some information, the virtual receptionist can patch calls (divert calls) to someone higher up, so that the caller gains more confidence to make a purchase. Similarly, virtual receptionists can use technology to screen calls that may be of no importance. A lot of times, companies spend unnecessary time in receiving spam calls and unwanted sales calls that waste time and energy.
5. Manage interruptions
Most people today cite that interruptions are huge productivity killers. Did you know that it can take an average of 23 minutes to regain focus after any interruption? It’s estimated that interruptions take up total average of 2.1 hours per work day. And sometimes businesses cite that the worst interruptions are phone calls, despite the fact that a client calling in is the lifeblood of their business. This creates a predicament. You know it’s imperative for your phone to be answered and a good first impression given of your business. If you let a virtual receptionist take care of this, and only forward specific calls to you, you can regain management of your time and be more productive.
6. Engage in lead generation scripting
A lot of times, prospects don’t get converted to sales leads because the phone conversation does not have the goal to maximize the potential of sales. Virtual receptionists use open-ended lead generation scripts which provide the framework to work through a telephonic conversation and increase the chances of a sale. Scripting helps agents to recognize moods, hidden thoughts, emotions, etc which suggest that a prospect may convert to a sales lead. This unique use of consumer psychology helps virtual receptionists to capture sales leads.
7. Offer multi-lingual support
Increasingly, callers come from diverse backgrounds and many of them speak Spanish as their first language. In the US, most non-English speakers tend to come from Latin American countries, and it helps to offer support in Spanish to them. Virtual receptionists who offer support in both English and Spanish are more likely to drive sales figures up than the ones who speak only English. At Abby Connect, we have bilingual receptionists who can speak both English and Spanish fluently. We have often noticed that people feel more comfortable when they are attended to in their native languages, and that encourages them to makes sales decisions.
8. Provide a human face to your company
A number of businesses set up e-commerce stores, and hope that everything takes place online. They may respond to emails or on social media, but modern businesses look at avoiding providing telephone-based support and sales entirely. Most of the time, this hurts not only their business but also brand image. Research shows that people are more receptive to human voice and will respond quickly to a human voice than to printed text. Inbound phone calls have 30-50% conversion rates, compared to only 1-2% average for website visits. For this reason alone, you should start using virtual receptionists who will provide friendly service to customers, and act like the human face of your company.
9. Manage your CRM better
While CRM (Customer/Contact Relationship Management) tools are usually automated, entering crucial data depending on what the customer reveals during telephone calls can be very helpful. This kind of data often goes missing, especially if it’s found on social media or during a telephone call where the customer reveals important sales-related information nonchalantly. A trained virtual receptionist will enter valuable information into the CRM so that it can be used later on, during marketing or sales campaigns, making CRM integration with your phone answering service essential.
10. Better access to data for analysis
If critical information is not entered into CRM and other enterprise tools, your data may not be as reliable as you might want it to be. Virtual receptionists tediously enter information that can be used to boost sales figures. This could be something as simple as a demographic detail, to something as complex as behavioral and psycho-graphic patterns. Such information provides better qualification data, which help you to develop sales campaigns that are specific and tailor made. In the end, this helps you to increase sales and new business.
In conclusion, virtual receptionists can directly drive new business and increase retention.
As you can see, hiring virtual receptionists can help in capturing sales leads and improve sales figures. Virtual receptionists provide 24/7 service to callers, and your business will always be available, making sure that no call goes unattended. Most importantly, virtual receptionists bring a human voice to your company, and utilize technology to ensure that every prospect has a chance to convert to business for you.
