But setting up a 1300 or 1800 number with eVoice is easy, and once you’ve done it, you don’t have to worry about hiring a receptionist. This is because along with your toll free plan comes eReceptionist – the hardest working receptionist you’ll ever know.

Instead of answering phones, redirecting customers and sometimes missing important messages, your time will be freed up to handle business calls when and how you want to. eReceptionist redirects calls, takes messages, sends you emails and faxes, and greets customers with the same professional message – all day, every day.

The technology behind eReceptionist

A number of different communication technologies are combined in eReceptionist. For example, you can send voice messages and faxes to your email account or link your Sydney office phone to your mobile when you’re in Melbourne. In the past, someone would have had to be present to redirect incoming calls in both these cases, but eReceptionist has twelve features to connect you more efficiently to your customers, and they’re free with every eVoice toll free plan.

Take Call Distribution for example. If you have a partner in your business, you may want to share incoming calls between you. So you could specify a percentage of calls to go to your phone, say 60%, the remaining 40% going to your partner. It saves you time because you are spreading the workload, but you don’t have to keep track of the calls because eReceptionist is doing that for you.

eReceptionist will look at where your calls are coming from and send them to a particular person in your organisation, a process called State Routing. So calls from Adelaide could be sent to person A, while Melbourne calls go to B. It frees up your time because you don’t have to ask where a customer is calling from and put them through to the right person yourself. (Keep in mind this is all coming off the same 1800 number.)

Customised Greeting is the eReceptionist feature that saves you the most time. Just like a much larger company, your customers will be greeted by a message recorded professionally through eVoice. The greeting will give options, directing phone traffic to where it needs to go, saving you the time it takes to listen to what the customer needs and putting them through yourself. The quicker the customer gets to where they need to be, and the fewer people they have to speak with to get there, the better the impression your business makes.

The clever receptionist

There’s a lot more that the clever eReceptionist can do for you, including recording your incoming calls. You can also get your phone messages turned into audio files and emailed to your computer, and receive data reports on your incoming calls, such as when they are being made and from where.

You can use this data to build up a picture of your business’s reach, streamlining your advertising for example to where it’s needed most. And it’s all thanks to that clever eReceptionist you hired, the one who never takes a sickie!

Choose the right 1300 number for your business

So the decision as to what kind of 1300 number you purchase mustn’t be taken lightly. It’s an investment in a number of areas. You’re investing in marketing and dramatically boosting your brand profile. You’re also investing in better customer care and improved customer access. Finally you’re getting your communication systems to work for you through flexibility and better accessibility. Generally speaking, a virtual 1300 number such as those available through eVoice, where you pay a monthly fee and get access to eReceptionist features, is an effective, affordable way to get a 1300 number fast.