In terms of maintaining the professional edge your business has to have in this highly competitive market, the benefits of a virtual receptionist are priceless. This service also limits your own costs because you are not obligated to commit to the employment of a member of staff.

Here are a few keys things to take into consideration:

An employee requires by law - time off, sick pay, holiday pay and other employee benefits or perks. These are not required with a virtual service. Your virtual receptionist will work only the times and hours you need. Say for example you are paying your PA or receptionist to be in your office to take your calls. She will most likely be there between 9am and 5pm, and how much of that time will she actually be on the phone answering those calls? Unless you operate a call centre, I would guess no more than a few hours. With coffee and lunch breaks - can you really afford to maintain this overhead when there is a far better solution?

What happens when your receptionist is taking time off? Would you need to get an agency worker in to cover those hours? Or would you need to do this yourself? Wouldn't it be far less difficult overall to have a professional company who receives your calls for you, one that understands your business and your customers, and most important of all, one that's always available to meet your requirements?

So, are you convinced yet? How about if I also told you that your virtual receptionist was able to do a whole host of other things for you? Answering calls is one thing, but what if your receptionist could make your travel arrangements, book your doctor's appointment, buy your mums birthday present and have it delivered, or even do your personal shopping online. Virtual Assistants have the ability to revolutionise your business. Let's summarise the benefits of this change:

1. You can save money by just paying out for the time which is actually worked, and also by not having to pay any sort of high fixed salary - regardless of whether you're busy or not.

2. You can save a lot of hassle. The reliability of a virtual service ensures that your office is always available, and you don't have to lose important calls if your receptionist is off on lunch or out sick.

And finally...

3. Time! You can save so much time by outsourcing essential tasks to your virtual assistant. The best thing about this opportunity is that you can make this change right now - taking on a virtual receptionist is as simple as sending an email. So, what are you waiting for?