Answering every call is essential to the growth of all businesses — but it’s especially important for those in the service industry.
Whether you’re a lawyer, real estate agent, consulting firm, financial advisor, or any other service provider, every call that comes in could equate to a deal resulting in hundreds or thousands in revenue.
If you don’t pick up the phone, you’re likely to lose the deal: According to a recent survey, 82% of customers expect an immediate response to a sales inquiry. That means, over 4 out of 5 people who call, interested in your service, expect a live voice answering the phone.
But as a small business owner, the odds are stacked against you. You may only have a few employees available to answer the phone — or it might just be you. Plus, you’re busy running the business, doing administrative work, and actually providing the service you charge for.
Growth is hard when you’re constantly shuffling between the work you’re paid for and generating new business. But, if you’re running a small business and trying to keep overhead costs low, hiring a full-time receptionist may not be in the cards.
In this case, a virtual receptionist service is the best option for having all your calls answered (24/7), freeing up your schedule to do real billable work.
What is a virtual receptionist?
Virtual receptionists are real people who answer business calls as a service. Businesses can forward some or all of their calls, and they’ll be handled professionally, according to custom instructions.
So how do virtual receptionists help with client conversions? The first step to capturing every client is to have your phone answered every time. But your prospective client needs more than a voice on the other line: They’re looking for quality answers to their questions.
In addition to answering with a friendly voice, the receptionists will answer frequently asked questions while they collect the lead’s contact information. While on the line, they can also qualify leads, book consultations, take payments, and transfer calls directly to your line — depending on the client’s situation and your instructions.
More calls answered and information collected will result in happier leads. Plus, with unqualified leads and spammers filtered out, you now have the time to spend on the quality leads who will convert into paying clients. And you will have more time to get productive work done.
Who can benefit from a virtual receptionist service?
Most small businesses can benefit from a virtual receptionist service, but there are a few service industries for which call answering is a perfect fit. If the following statements are true, you could likely see significant value in an answering service:
- My clients have large lifetime values
If your client value, also known as a customer lifetime value (CLV) is more than a couple hundred dollars, you can’t afford to lose a single lead. Think about it — if a potential client calls your business and you don’t answer, even if it’s late at night or on the weekend, they’re likely to quickly move on to your competitor. You could risk missing out on hundreds or thousands of dollars in new revenue each time a call isn’t answered. If you compare that to the price of a virtual receptionist service, it’s a no brainer. - My hourly billable rate is over $50
This is particularly important for professional services. When you’re doing billable work, how much does each hour of your time cost? Keeping in mind that every call you answer will not only take at least a few minutes of your time, but will distract you from what you’re currently working on. And, according to a University of California Irvine study, “it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task” after each distraction. That’s time in addition to the distraction itself! Do the math — is answering the phone a valuable and profitable use of your time? - My billable work requires concentration
This is a more qualitative than quantitative calculation, but it’s nonetheless important. Getting into “the flow” of work is difficult, and it becomes particularly important when you’re working on a difficult specialty. Imagine trying to draft a legal argument, write a well-researched article, or construct a financial plan with regular interruptions from the phone. It would be difficult, frustrating, and unenjoyable. You can take this weight off your shoulders permanently by signing up for a virtual receptionist service. (Hint: you can even opt to have the receptionists answer “for the next 2 hours,” without needing them to answer 24/7 or setting up a schedule in advance.)
If these three statements sound familiar to you, try an outsourced receptionist service and see if it can offer the relief that you need. Many lawyers, financial planners, marketing professionals, real estate agents, home service providers, and other small businesses have done the same — and found they couldn’t live without it.
How to use a virtual receptionist service with Daylite
The true power of an answering service is revealed when you connect it with the software you’re already using to manage leads and clients. That way, when the receptionist answers a call, all the client information they gather will be logged in your CRM for you to check when you have to follow up.
Here’s what a typical new client intake flow might look like:
- A new lead finds your website and calls to ask about prices.
- The receptionist picks up, answers the price question (based on your instructions), and qualifies the lead to ensure your business is able to assist them.
- The receptionist then gathers more information about the potential new client and books them for an appointment directly on your calendar (using AcuityScheduling, Harmonizely, or a similar platform).
- After the completed call, the client’s information including name, email, phone number, additional information, and a detailed summary of the call are automatically logged in ] Daylite as a new Person or Company.
In this workflow, a new lead has called into your business and has been qualified, scheduled, and logged into your CRM without you ever needing to be distracted from your current task. You can then review the details of the call in your own time to prepare for the appointment. It’s a seamless lead capture process and bound to increase your lead-to-client conversion rates overall.
About Smith.ai virtual receptionists
Smith.ai is an integrated virtual receptionist and chat service for small businesses. In addition to answering your calls, our receptionists can qualify and intake new leads, schedule appointments, take payments, and much more. Smith.ai can help you set up an integrated and comprehensive intake process that prepares your clients for the beginning-to-end process they’re looking for — often on the first call.
How to connect Smith.ai virtual receptionists to Daylite
Ready to get started? Here’s how to set up Smith.ai, a popular virtual receptionist and intake service, to Daylite using Zapier. Note that you must first have active Smith.ai virtual receptionist, Daylite, and Zapier accounts.
- Sign into Zapier and create a new Zap.
- Connect your Smith.ai or Smith.ai Chat account to Zapier via invitation.
How to connect Smith.ai to Zapier
How to connect Smith.ai Chat to Zapier - Set up a trigger with Smith.ai. Attach your account using the API key, and test it to grab data (you’ll need to have at least one recent call or chat).
4. Next, set up your Zap’s action. Choose app Daylite and action Create Person (or Create Company) as shown below.
5. Customize your Person or Company with the Smith.ai account data. For example, in this case I’ve set up the lead to be populated with:
- First Name: {{Caller Firstname}}
- Last Name: {{Caller Lastname}}
- Details: {{Summary}}
- Email Address: {{Email}}
- Phone Number: {{Primary Phone}}
- Street: {{Caller Address}}
- City: {{Caller City}}
- Postal code: {{Caller Zipcode}}
- State: {{Caller State}}
Note: Daylite’s input fields are extensive (this screenshot has been edited for readability). Look through your call or chat data to see if you want to add additional information that will be useful in the new Person or Company.
6. Test your Zap by calling your Smith.ai number (don’t worry, you won’t be charged for a test call).
7. That’s it! You’ll now have all of the information you need from calls taken by your virtual receptionists.
How to get started with Smith.ai
Use the promo code DAYLITE for $100 off Smith.ai calls or chats, and visit Smith.ai to sign up or get started with a free consultation.
About the author:
Kelsey Johnson is the product marketing manager at Smith.ai virtual receptionists. She is a legal tech expert focused on helping small businesses with their practices through tech-enabled operations, digital marketing, and communications. Kelsey can be reached at kelsey@smith.ai or connect with her on LinkedIn.