August 18th, 2008 by Stacey Barrus
Most companies cannot run successfully without staff. Yet many companies are learning that the cost of finding, recruiting, and hiring competent staff is significant enough to make them wonder if it’s worth it. Wonder no more, and instead turn to virtual assistants as a way to save on staffing costs. It’s a very cost-beneficial approach to finding qualified and competent help. How, you might wonder, is this different from calling up a temporary employment agency? Let’s take a closer look.
Virtual assistants can be hired on an as-needed basis. For example, if your company only has a need for six hours of a marketing assistant per week, that is all you would hire a virtual assistant for.
Virtual assistants can be anywhere. If your company’s clientele tends to come from the East Coast while you and your company are firmly located on the West Coast, you might run into trouble if you’re unavailable at 9 a.m. their time. However, you could enlist a virtual assistant on the East Coast who could field customer calls and requests for you. Conversely, a virtual assistant in a different time zone from you could cover customer calls on later, or extended, office hours.
Virtual Assistants Tip: Virtual assistants don’t require you to provide them with office space or equipment. That’s a huge cost savings alone. For many small businesses with no or few employees, having a virtual assistant take over administrative tasks allows the business owner to concentrate on more important business.
Relevant Tags:virtual assistant, virtual business services, virtual receptionists

August 13th, 2008 by Stacey Barrus
How many times do you suppose that your company has missed out on new business opportunities or new clients because your receptionist stopped answering the switchboard on the dot of 5 p.m.? You may want to consider looking into a virtual receptionist, whose services are offered with extended hours — 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. – crossing time zones and able to handle it all smoothly and professionally.
In addition to extended phone coverage times, there’s more to a virtual receptionist’s job than directing calls. When you think about it, virtual receptionists can have a huge and important impact on the marketing of an organization. If someone is calling your company, they’ve come for a reason: as a customer, client, potential employee, potential employer, or business partner. No matter what, there’s some sort of negotiation involved. If the virtual receptionist can change the mindset of the caller via friendly, competent, and efficient phone manners, good things can happen (or, if it goes poorly, bad things) for everyone involved.
Virtual Receptionist Tip: A virtual receptionist is very often setting the tone for the company’s business, simply by picking up the phone and saying, “hello, how may I help you today?” How the calls go from that point on are up to you, but your virtual receptionist has laid the groundwork for a successful and professional call.
Relevant Tags:virtual assistant, virtual receptionists, virtual services

August 13th, 2008 by Stacey Barrus
Many small business owners seem to have heard about using virtual assistants in some form or another. However, there is a lot of misinformation and myths about the world of virtual assistants. If you’ve considered using a virtual assistant, but have concerns, perhaps you don’t understand how valuable these virtual services really are. Lets look at a couple of the most common concerns about using virtual assistants.
Concern: My business isn’t big enough to hire a virtual assistant.
Many times, a small business owner ends up spending a huge amount of time working on administrative tasks for the business, such as billing, appointment-making, calendar maintenance, bookkeeping, travel arrangements, or tracking expenses (to name a few). With a virtual assistant on-board, the small business owner’s time is freed up. Time that can instead be spent generating new business, working on a client’s project, on research, or other high-level business tasks.
Concern: My business can’t afford to hire virtual assistants.
The truth is that hiring virtual assistants can actually save your company a good deal of money. This is because your company does not have to provide office space or equipment for the help. In addition, virtual assistants are available to work on an as-needed basis; in other words, if you have 10 hours of work a week that needs to be done, you are only paying for 10 hours a week’s worth of a virtual assistant’s time.
Virtual Assistants Tip: Many small businesses who are looking to grow would find a virtual assistant to be instrumental.
Relevant Tags:virtual assistant, virtual receptionists, virtual services

August 12th, 2008 by Stacey Barrus
Did you know that each time someone interacts with your business it leaves an impression. Your prices might be lower or your product top notch, but if you appear disorganized or unprofessional it can hurt your business. A virtual receptionist maintains and presents a consistent professional image for you.
A virtual receptionist can make a good impression for your business at a fraction of the cost of employing a “live” receptionist to sit in your office to answer phone calls. The professional image and consistency is one reason Davinci Virtual is growing with everyone from small businesses to large businesses.
Let’s look at the benefits of a virtual receptionist. Instead of getting an answering machine, voicemail, or a harried business owner, your client will speak with a live person. You can also establish a presence in multiple markets and have a local telephone number for each. There really are countless benefits for businesses having a virtual receptionist. The little details of a well-run office image through a virtual receptionist add up to offer a customer experience that can leave a good impression on your customers, partners, and clients.
Virtual Receptionist Tip: You’ll be surprised at how many lawyers, doctor’s offices, and even online businesses use our services—and might start to wonder if a virtual receptionist would be right for you, too.
Relevant Tags:virtual assistant, virtual receptionists, virtual services

August 12th, 2008 by Stacey Barrus
The explosion of new business tools offered by and through the Internet has produced not only the virtual organization, but also a new business opportunity: virtual assistants.
You may be wondering if you might have a future as a virtual assistant. Countless experienced, trusted, and valued office administrators or assistants are dreaming of a different job, one in a non-traditional office, one that will value their efforts and skills but also not require a move out-of-state or one of those nightmarish commutes. Or perhaps you wish you could be your own boss, set your own hours, and work for yourself. And many virtual assistants today enjoy some unprecedented work-life balance, enabling them to spend more quality time with their families while their take-home pay is not negatively affected.
The typical day for virtual assistants may be taking on the nitty-gritty work for independent professionals and small businesses that don’t need a full-time secretary or office manager. Their tasks may include secretarial work, meeting and travel planning, project managing, and logistics coordinating. Although it’s rare that a virtual assistant will need to make their boss a cup of coffee.
Virtual Assistants Tip: Making the boss look good and feel better by your competent, swift, and efficient completing of business tasks is a mark of a great virtual assistant.
Relevant Tags:virtual assistant, virtual receptionists, virtual services

July 31st, 2008 by Stacey Barrus
It doesn’t have to be packaged nicely with a ribbon for it to be considered a gift. And, if you’re a small business you may be giving business to your competitors without even realizing it - Merry Christmas to them!. If you’re running a small business, chances are that the majority of your workday is spent running the business. But if you can’t be there to take the call, we bet your competition will. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a receptionist who was there when you needed him/her? Well, stop wondering and get your own virtual receptionist.
It’s so simple. How it works is that your virtual receptionist will answer all your calls professionally and promptly. You can choose to send calls to your virtual receptionist as often or as seldom as needed. Your virtual receptionist will take a message for you, and then forward the message to you by either email, or text message right to your phone. Virtual receptionists are a great way to capture that business that you might otherwise lose while you’re away from your desk.
So many small businesses are discovering that virtual receptionists are an ideal solution for fielding after-hours business calls. Your virtual receptionist won’t mind working late and you’ll appreciate the potential new business.
Virtual Receptionist Tip: Did you know that a recent study showed that nearly 70% of people who call to enquire about a business service will not leave a message if they encounter voicemail—this isn’t an issue when you’ve got your virtual receptionist manning the phones.
Relevant Tags:virtual assistant, virtual business services, virtual receptionists

July 28th, 2008 by Stacey Barrus
Is billing your all-time least favorite business task? Don’t have that special knack for creating PowerPoint presentations but you find yourself being asked to knock ‘em out twice a week? Maybe you just plain don’t like to do that tedious and never-ending paperwork. We’re here to introduce you to the world of virtual assistants who are ready, willing, and completely capable of taking over these business tasks and much much more.
Part of the new wave of virtual office technology, virtual assistants are capable of managing any number of business tasks that you and your small business may require. Companies can bring on a virtual assistant to accomplish a one-time task, to act as a business owner’s practically full-time assistant, or anything in between;
Countless small businesses are finding that the convenience, professionalism, and high competency of virtual assistants is just too good of a deal to pass up. Throw in the bonus benefits of not having to cover the usual expenses associated with a traditional office assistant (such as purchasing equipment and furniture, covering employee benefits and taxes, among other things) and it’s quite clear why so many companies, large and small, are taking full advantage of this new trend in business in America.
Virtual Assistants Tip: Don’t forget, you’re only billed for the actual time it takes your virtual assistant to complete your assignments.
Relevant Tags:virtual assistant, virtual business services, virtual receptionists

July 28th, 2008 by Stacey Barrus
In situations where companies or firms have moved out of traditional office space in favor of an all-telecommuting workforce, a virtual receptionist often serves as the central hub for all incoming calls and is able to route calls to satellite and home offices seamlessly – so smoothly that the customers never even realize they’re not dealing with a company that’s not based in a single office suite.
While many companies using virtual receptionists are small professional firms that can’t justify adding a full-time staff member to their office, other companies use virtual receptionists to handle overflow calls or to answer when the on-site receptionist is away — whether for lunch, a vacation, a sick day or an errand.
The verdict is in: having a human on the other end of the line when clients or customers call is a huge factor in making a customer happy. Having a pleasant, competent, and friendly human on the other end of the line is even better. Virtual receptionists can handle this all for companies today.
Virtual Receptionist Tip: In many situations, these virtual receptionist services are offered with extended hours — 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. – crossing time zones and able to handle it all smoothly and professionally.
Relevant Tags:virtual assistant, virtual business services, virtual receptionists

July 25th, 2008 by Stacey Barrus
Do you realize that if you had virtual receptionist services your company can have an impressive office setting, an expert receptionist, and many other support services that allow you to maintain a professional appearance with limited expense.
This is where having Davinci Virutal comes in handy. A Davinci virtual office can free you from worrying about maintaining an office and managing staff. This will allow you to concentrate on building your business and serving your clientele, which we feel is one of the top goals of every business owner.
A virtual receptionist can handle an enormous number of office tasks while not actually being located in your office. Fielding incoming phone calls, faxes, mail sorting, making business travel business arrangements, these are all tasks that can be handled by a virtual receptionist.
It’s a puzzle many start-up companies just starting out in business deal with or are dealing with: how to maintain a professional image with a new-business budget. Signing on with Davinci’s Suites virtual receptionist services is a business decision that a large number of small business owners will not be regretting anytime soon.
Virtual Receptionist Tip: Your clients won’t even know that your regular day-to-day office is not on-site. In fact, they’ll appreciate how nice the building is as well as compliment you for hiring such a great receptionist
Relevant Tags:virtual assistant, virtual business services, virtual receptionists

July 25th, 2008 by Stacey Barrus
If you own a small business that is already established but ready to expand (either clientele or staff), you might want to think about looking into making your next call to find yourself a virtual assistant.
All things considered, hiring a virtual assistant can be very cost-effective for small businesses. With a virtual assistant, the small business does not need to pay for extra office space, furniture, business equipment, or software. And in return, small businesses see the benefits of highly competent and efficient work, all while being extremely flexible, too. This flexibility could be a huge plus when you’re working late on a deadline; after all, if your virtual assistant is three time zones behind you, you won’t see them punch out when it’s 5 p.m. your time.
In this country, we’ve found that medical practitioners, legal practitioners, realtors, public speakers and corporate trainers are the most prominent users of virtual assistants, although by no means are they the only industries that use virtual assistants.
Virtual Assistant Tip: There is also no additional cost for companies using virtual assistants to cover training, pensions, or work insurance.
Relevant Tags:virtual assistant, virtual business services, virtual receptionists

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