We often ask our clients why they chose us and the top three reasons are usually:

• We have simple fair and easy to understand pricing and we charge by the second and not the minute.
• Our company size is important to so many businesses, both large and small alike, as many prefer to work with smaller friendly teams rather than the large call centres.
• 24/7 is now high on the 'must have' list of requirements for many businesses

30% of businesses fail to answer all their calls and lose business as a result. Even with a well staffed reception, most businesses experience some unexpected absences and times when too many calls come in at once. Your virtual receptionist can act as a valuable overflow to ensure that you stand out from your competitors by always answering your calls and not missing a new business call or an important client call. You will impress your callers even more if your receptionist answers your calls whatever time they ring in–24/7.

Are there times when you are a slave to your mobile? If you switch your mobile off during a client meeting you are able to give your client your undivided attention, but you may not want your other callers to be greeted with an answer-phone / voicemail either.

80% of people will not leave a message and 80% of first time callers won't ever ring back. If you divert your mobile to your Virtual Receptionist, you can be confident that your calls are being answered professionally all of the time, day or night when you are unable to take them yourself.

No. It doesn't matter if you are diverting a business line, home line or even ten mobile lines, we do not charge you any extra. The only costs that you will pay are for the minutes that our receptionists are taking calls on your behalf.

Having a Virtual Receptionist is more likely to save you money. For less than £1 per day, you free up time you may otherwise spend answering unimportant calls (like sales calls). When we send you an email / SMS, you can prioritise your important calls. Many clients realise that they more than make up for this small outlay when they gain business from a client they would otherwise have missed by being unavailable or engaged.

By giving you a unique phone number to divert your calls to, your Virtual Receptionist's computer screen automatically 'pops up' with only your details when a client rings your number.

We give you a simple password protected web page to allow you to type in a few lines about your business that automatically 'pops up' on your Virtual Receptionist's screen when a call of yours comes in.

You can even give us daily instructions or ask us to ask your callers a few specific questions. It makes your Virtual Receptionist a 'real' part of your team, by enabling them to sound knowledgeable and professional at all times. No one expects a receptionist to know everything, but they do expect their receptionist to know basic information, give them a warm welcome and take a message.

We do not offer dedicated receptionists for individual client accounts. However, we have a relatively small highly professional team of receptionists who are dedicated to providing you with the best service possible. Each receptionist gets to know the individual accounts extremely well, receive ongoing training and updates on a regular basis.

We work in small teams to ensure that by and large the same people Virtual Receptionists always look after your clients so there will always be a familiar team to take your calls. Our clients tell us that when they have used other services, where only 3 or 4 receptionists are trained to take their calls, things can fall apart when all are not available. This cannot happen with us as everyone has access to all of the same information and can take your call equally professionally.

You can divert as many lines as you would like to a single DDI (i.e. mobile, office and home line). There is no way for the receptionist to differentiate which of these lines has been diverted at any one time. You have two options: Answer all of the lines in a generic name–this way we can act in a similar way to a switchboard or they can have the two accounts answered under different names. This will require two separate DDI's (phone numbers), which will be charged on two separate tariffs.

No, you can divert only when it suits you and you can arrange for calls to be diverted when the line is busy, after a delay or all of the time, whatever suits you best.

We explain that you are not available and ask if we can take a message and if you have given us specific questions, we take the details that you have requested. If however you have instructed us to call transfer your calls, we call you and check whether you want us to put the caller through or take a message. You are always totally in control.

We recommend that an account has no more than 4 contacts. These contacts can be for individuals or can go to specific departments. Too many contacts can be confusing for the receptionist to ascertain where the message should go. Messages can be sent by email and SMS.

Your Virtual Receptionist sends your message automatically at the end of every call, which means that most messages arrive within seconds. However, we cannot offer a guarantee on timescales for messages to reach your inbox, as this is dependant on your service provider.

Travellers often find that they use the SMS facility much more whilst they are away from their computers. Many of our clients also catch up on their messages when they get home via the Internet too.

When you set up your back office, you set the default fields that you require our team to complete. Additionally, you are able to enter 4 questions that will also automatically appear on the screens when the call is answered making the service exceptionally personalised. You can change these questions as often as you like, which is especially useful if they are based on specific advertising or promotions.

You can alter how your calls are answered by logging into your Virtual Receptionist Control Centre. Here you can alter your address, leave messages for the receptionists and change your contact details. Instructions for using your back office will be given to you in your welcome letter. Alternatively, you can call us on your own line, which brings up your specific screen and we will quite happily discuss or amend any aspect of your account.

Your messages are sent to your individual email address, but they are also stored in your Account Control Panel. Your username and password will be given to you when you sign up for the service.

We are open 24/7, 365 days of the year for all those clients who use our 24/7 tariff. The 24/7 package includes bank holidays, but not the other tariffs, so this is worth considering if your business would benefit from being 'open' on bank holidays.

All you need to do is give us one month's notice from the next payment date. Full instructions are detailed on your invoices.

Absolutely not. The Virtual Receptionist really is as simple as it appears to be. All of the charges are clearly outlined. We also only charge on a per second basis, unlike some other providers so you genuinely only pay for your exact usage with absolutely no rounding up. It can make a significant difference in costs.

Being an International client does not affect the setup process. We would simply ask you to be aware that setup may take a little longer as an account cannot be made active until the relevant funds have cleared into our account.

If you would like to alter any of your billing details, please contact us and we can ensure that these details are changed for you. Please can you ensure that we have these details at least 10 working days before the invoicing or Direct Debit date otherwise we cannot guarantee payments will be taken from the correct account.

A basic Virtual Receptionist call, where we are taking a name, company name, contact telephone number and a brief message will last approximately between 30 seconds and two minutes depending on the nature of call.

It may be possible to purchase the number that has been allocated to you. If it can be released there is a one off £30 release charge. The number is then sent over to the new provider. Once the transfer is complete, you will continue to pay a 1p per minute charge for the life of the number on top of what the new service provider charges.

The Divert codes for most providers are:

*21*.... Divert Number... # for all calls.
#21# to remove divert

*61*.... Divert Number... # for no reply (approximately 20 seconds).
#61# to remove divert

*67*.... Divert Number... # to divert on busy.
#67# to remove divert