| There are many benefits to having a live, | | | | 2) Genuine desire to help - Some people just take |
| professional receptionist answer telephone calls for | | | | natural pleasure in assisting others. You want to |
| your small business. Among them are enhanced | | | | engage a receptionist who derives satisfaction |
| professional image, improved customer service | | | | from lending assistance and makes it their mission |
| and the ability to manage your workload more | | | | to see every call through to its best conclusion. If |
| effectively. As with anything, there are certain | | | | your receptionist does not have the caller's best |
| people who are naturally predisposed to doing | | | | interest at heart, this will come through on the |
| certain work and the receptionist is no different. | | | | phone. Not unlike a top salesperson who must be |
| When it comes to telephone reception, whether | | | | customer focused to succeed, your receptionist |
| you are looking to hire a full-time receptionist for | | | | should channel all their skill and knowledge into |
| your office or outsource your telephone | | | | understanding what the caller requires and finding |
| answering to a virtual receptionist service | | | | the most expeditious manner to deliver it. |
| (sometimes called off-site or remote receptionist), | | | | 3) Coachable - Another key quality you want |
| there are several key qualities you will want your | | | | your receptionist to possess is to be coachable. |
| receptionist to posses. | | | | This means they are willing to learn and adopt |
| 1) Strong telephone personality - As effective a | | | | those systems you have in place for your |
| communication tool as the telephone can be, it is | | | | business and execute them effectively. By |
| a somewhat narrow channel. By this I mean that | | | | definition, the receptionist is not charged with |
| messages and meaning can only be conveyed | | | | developing the experience you want your callers |
| verbally and are only received using one of our | | | | to have. As a business owner, you must develop |
| five senses. The result of this is that the caller | | | | the systems you wish to employ for converting |
| must rely solely on the voice coming through the | | | | callers to clients and repeat customers. The job |
| phone line to interpret the communication | | | | of the receptionist is to learn these systems and |
| effectively. This necessitates having a receptionist | | | | follow your instructions to take the caller down |
| whose natural speech pattern is animated and | | | | the appropriate path in the most amenable |
| friendly. Without the benefit of the non-verbal | | | | fashion. |
| cues that dominate so much of face | | | | While many of the skills necessary to be a good |
| communication, meaning can easily be | | | | receptionist can be taught, you will find that if |
| misconstrued if not delivered articulately and with | | | | your receptionist has these key qualities, they will |
| appropriate emotion. | | | | naturally excel in this important role. |