RIP Receptionists’ – but will the sales profession miss them?
Rapid growth in popularity of remote virtual receptionist services like Heart Communications (www.heartcommunications.co.uk) suggests in-house switchboard operators are a thing of the past.
The recession is being blamed for thousands of receptionists across the country being replaced by companies that provide remote ‘virtual assistant’ services, which have seen a huge spike in business as a result.
Sales Professionals have had a love-hate relationship with receptionists in the past, sometimes as gatekeepers, then as worthy adversaries, and finally acting as their own support against unwanted sales calls!
The growth of the outsourced receptionist service could either act for or against the sales professional looking to target key decision makers within their target. Will there be more or less chance of getting through to key personnel?
For the thousands of receptionists who have been made redundant over the past eighteen months, Heart founder Bradley Vincent has a positive message. “Businesses will always need their calls answering, so there is always demand for efficient professional receptionists,” he says. “It’s just that increasingly these receptionists will operate virtually, for several clients.”
Tags: Call Answering, Call Centre, Call Handling, Heart, Heart Communications, Message Taking, Telephone Answering, Virtual Reception, Virtual Receptionist