Virtual Offices
A step up from having a basic answering service is a ‘virtual office’. In addition to call fielding it can include a mailing address, fax number and other related peripheral services, giving the appearance of having an established physical base for your business without the expanse of maintaining one. Some virtual office services also include geographical phone numbers, but these can be purchased separately if necessary: when combined with a mailing address these can give the appearance of having a base in a certain geographical location. This can be very helpful in establishing a company as having a national or even international reach, rather than just being limited to a particular locale.
Mailing Addresses
If your business does not have a fixed address (or has a somewhat undesirable address), it is now possible to purchase a prestigious business address in a more central location, with the additional feature of having the mail forwarded to your present location without your clients or customers being any wiser. Costs usually include a monthly fee for address rental. If a mail forwarding service is opted for, the will also be additional costs per item forwarded, though some contracts include an allowance for forwarded items in the monthly charge; if this is exceeded then per-item charges will be paid as normal.
Mailing Addresses Vs. PO Boxes
Mailing addresses perform a similar task to PO Boxes but are more expensive, so it is worth examining the differences between these options. The first is the capacity for optional extras: though PO Boxes can include other mail-related services like forwarding, they cannot come with related services such as call answering or a bleeper service. Mailing addresses are usually provided by companies that can offer these extras.
Privacy is also an issue. In most countries including the UK it is a legal requirement that the real address of PO Box holders is revealed to anyone that enquires (sometimes for a fee); this is not the case with mailing addresses, with most companies providing mailing addresses respecting the privacy of their clients, unless an enquiry is received from law enforcement or a similar organisation.
Office Services
In addition to mailing addresses, businesses and individuals can hire a fax line, out-of-hours voicemail service, or an outsourced-reception, and have all messages screened and forwarded at a set time and location. This is ideal for smaller companies who cannot afford office rental or the wages for office staff, but who need to have a professional appearance to inspire credibility and confidence.
Virtual office staff are trained receptionists and customer service experts, and will deal with customers and clients as if they were actual employees of the company procuring the service, answering enquiries to a pre-determined script. This gives the impression that the business is large and professional, and does not alert clients to the fact that their enquiries may be being dealt with by an outsourced organization.
Geographical And Non-Geographical Phone Numbers
Depending on requirements, a user of a virtual office service can add geographical or non-geographical phone numbers to the package. Non-geographical numbers have the effect of masking the location of the company, and cost the same rate to call from any part of the company’s country of operations. A variety of types of number are available, some enabling customers to call for free and others giving part of the amount paid for the call to the company hiring the number as additional income.