In today’s economy, we’re all looking for ways to save a few dollars, even on the things we know are absolutely necessary. So if you’re looking for ways to reduce your monthly virtual receptionist/live answering service charges, you might want to try to reduce the number of minutes you’re using. Whether you’re already an Alert Communications customer or are currently with another company, think about doing some of the following:

1. Instead of having your calls go to the answering service throughout the work day, forward your calls only after hours and on the weekends. This reduces the number of overall minutes used.
2. In the same vein, forward calls for portions of the day instead of all 24 hours. If you or someone else in the office can answer the phone for a few hours in the morning or afternoon, take advantage of that time to save on minutes usage.
3. Use a voice-mail screen to help prevent non-emergency calls going through to your virtual receptionist.
4. See if your service can notify you about calls using text messaging/e-mail instead of a more expensive phone call.
5. Call your customers back instead of having calls patched through. The less time spent using out-dialed resources, the fewer minutes accrued.
6. Refine your call-protocol guidelines so you have just a one-number or one-person contact. More isn’t necessarily better when you have to pay in minutes for each one.

If you’d love to save a little money each month, try implementing some of these cost-saving ideas with your virtual receptionist/live answering service provider. If it doesnt feel like money is growing in your backyard, at least you may end up with a few extra coins in your pocket.

Frances Starr, Director of Sales & Marketing for Alert Communications.  Alert Communications is a 24/7bilingual inbound call center, specializing in professional attorney answering, virtual receptionist, Spanish answering and business answering solutions.