A virtual assistant and answering service are really different types of service however they can be complementary. When you’re trying to decide which type of service to employ, you really need to consider what type of company you are and how you plan to interact with your customers.
For example, a virtual assistant really refers to a real person, whether he / she is in the same city, state or even country or not. The term virtual really means that the person is not physically located in the same place as you. So, a virtual assistant truly is “virtual”, but can he / she do many of the things that a person in the same physical location can do, except, of course, make coffee and greet clients at the door.
My company uses a number of virtual assistants. We don’t have any physical office, so a virtual assistant makes a lot of sense. These assistants make and receive calls, schedule appointments, “file” documents, do research and many more tasks.
The filing portion of the business is quite unique. All of our documents are truly digital… proposals, invoices, spreadsheets, powerpoint, bills, etc. Our assistants file these on Google Docs. This process is such a timesaver because everyone in the company can share the documents and they’re all easy to find. And, the beauty of Google Docs is that it is free.
Virtual assistants are also great resources for research work. Because the Internet is so ubiquitous, it is the often the first place that people go to find information. This is perfect work for a virtual assistant because they can reach the Internet from practically anywhere.
An answering service is basically just that. The service will answer and route your calls to you wherever. The service will also take a message if they are so instructed. But, from a productivity perspective an answering service is pretty limited. Yes, you can have them “find” you hours by calling a specific phone number, but your options are obviously very limited.
Generally the cost of an answering services ranges anywhere from about $50 per month all the way up to $200 per month or more. A lot of the cost will depend on the number of messages the service is requested to answer. A virtual assistant, on the other hand, is generally in the range of $800 – $1,500, depending on the number of hours, dedicated or share resource and other factors.
Now, there are also automated answering services, such as RingCentral PBX. It is truly a great services for $49.99 per month for unlimited minutes, routing, call forwarding, conferencing, etc. You can set up all types of rules, depending on what phone number you will be at between certain days or hours and even define holidays for example. In this example, is much better than hiring a dedicated answering service, except, of course, for the live operator component.
In my company, we use both virtual assistants and RingCentral PBX to get the BIG company feel on a small business budget. The RingCentral PBX can answer automatically when needed and go to a live operator when we need it to. It in an incredibly functional “answering service.” The combination of virtual and answering service truly makes our company an efficient organization.
VA’s, answering services, voice mail applications like Google Voice and more robust solutions like RingCentral PBX all are designed to give the consumer and each business options to be more efficient and to enhance the experience of their callers and their customers.
There is no one size fits all solution for any individual or industry.
One must consider multiple factors when selecting a solution that is going to represent your company and your brand to the world 24/7.
I see tremendous growth in VA’s and I look forward to working with many as potential strategic partners.
The tasks assigned to a VA may include answering incoming phone calls, but studies show that an incoming phone call can result in an interuption of anywhere from 3min – 15min depending on the nature of the call. Even though a call may not last very long, it can have an effect of taking someone out of a very productive “flow”. Getting back into the “flow” can mean a slight loss in productivity.
An answering service can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of a VA by outsourcing that responsibility to a company who’s expertise is handling in bound calls and making sure complete information reaches the correct person and of course the option of each call reaching the correct person as well.
If I am paying a VA $25-$35+ an hour to perform a specific task in a specific time frame, why would i want to take the risk of delaying the completion of that task by adding the additional responsibility of having the phone answered and a message taken. I guess if i am not too worried about paying $2.00 – $5.00+ for each phone call and adding time to the project all is well.
Adding an answering service to a VA is a perfect combination. Voice mail solutions can also be a great thing but considering the Consumer Reports Study from January http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ there might be more considering to do..
Great article .. and thank you for the opportunity to respond.
All the best.