Client Spotlight: Carolyn Young with The Verity Group

By Katie Wilson | 05.16.2012 |

Happy Customers

Carolyn Young, President of The Verity Group

We were delighted to meet Carolyn, Jacy, and Bob from The Verity Group at the ABA TECHSHOW this year, and we immediately thought of them for our Ruby Client Spotlight series. As consultants for businesses as diverse as Fortune 50 corporations, AMLAW 100 law firms, and small, independent entities, this tech-savvy group ferrets out inefficiencies and helps their clients to make the most out of their resources.

I chatted with President Carolyn Young about The Verity Group and how entrepreneurs can best use technology to build their businesses.

Tell us about The Verity Group

The Verity Group is a hybrid consultancy specializing in blending Information Technology with best practices in legal services, records management, and document review. We help clients with Data Management, Document Review, E-discovery Workflow and Litigation Readiness, and with a focus on efficiency, we work with clients to deliver better communication, processes, people, and procedures.

How do you see the role of technology in improving entrepreneurs’ lives?

Technology makes the playing field more level for all enterprises, big and small. Often, we see clients that have grown massively and so rapidly that they have lost control of the data and technology available to them – that’s where we come in. We help businesses understand what they have and help them use it to the fullest. We advise not only on technology, but the people running it, because technology is only as good as the people behind it. It all leads to a very synergistic and holistic approach to resource optimization.

You’re a Relativity Certified Admin, and both you and Bob are Relativity Certified Sales Pros. What is Relativity?

Relativity is the leader in document review platforms and is primarily used in the discovery phases of litigation. Relativity allows law firms and corporations to quickly gather information about a case and find key documents to support their efforts. Features like file review, coding options, flexible workflow capabilities, and integrated productions make for a significantly efficient document review process.

How has having Ruby’s virtual receptionist service affected your business day-to-day?

Simply put, Ruby has helped us stay in touch with our clients, no matter where we are or what we are doing. Communication efficiency is required to meet our clients’ time-sensitive needs. Ruby is always professional and that helps us ensure the right image for our small but growing consultancy.

Ruby is Saving Puppies, One Cupcake at a Time!

By Sarah Sackett | 05.15.2012 |

Ruby Happenings

The Ruby Doggie Dash team!

This weekend, a team of Rubys descended on Portland’s Waterfront Park to take in some sunshine, hang out with some cute dogs, and most importantly raise funds and awareness for a cause that is very near and dear to my heart: the Oregon Humane Society. This was the 4th year our “Ruby Rascals” team has participated in the OHS Doggie Dash, and this year was just as fun and adorable as ever!

Rubys at the starting line!

Virtual receptionists Stephanie C and Erin B

Stephanie and Erin are excited to show off their new Doggie Dash shirts!

Leading up to the dash, we put on a bake sale in the office to help our team raise funds and support the cause. With the help of some of our amazing bakers and generous teammates, we raised enough to feed all the animals in the shelter for one day and enjoyed some sweet treats in the process! We’d like to think we are saving puppies, one cupcake at a time!

My dog, Ellie, got a little tired and ended up spending the last half of the dash in my Ruby laptop bag!

Thank you to everyone who participated and contributed to our team! And special thanks to Barbara Nelson with Successfully Solo who contributed all the way from New Jersey! We already can’t wait for next year!

Receptionist Etiquette Tip: 3 Simple Ways to Make Great First Impressions For Your Company

By Phoebe Osborn | 05.10.2012 |

Virtual receptionist Erin B. greeting callers and visitors at Ruby

Our virtual receptionist team is dedicated to making the most of each interaction with a caller, from great greetings to friendly goodbyes. Our clients trust us to make standout first impressions for potential customers and provide returning callers with a warm welcome every time. That’s a big responsibility of course, and it might seem like a major stressor, but we’ve learned that showing kindness and positivity never fails.

Whether greeting folks over the phone, in person, or both, a receptionist has the power to shape a potential customer’s view of a business. A receptionist is a tone-setter, a connection-maker, an ambassador. (It’s no wonder the title of “Director of First Impressions” is catching on!) If you’re a receptionist, here are three easy ways can help your company stand out from the start:

Make the most of “yes” opportunities. We Rubys love the chance for a friendly chat, but often, our exchanges with callers are brief, so we like to make our words count. Everyone likes hearing a “yes,” but why not amp that “yes” up and really show your enthusiasm? Absolutely and Certainly are favorite Ruby replies, along with I’d be happy to! and I’d love to! A receptionist’s enthusiasm can be an important gauge to potential clients. “Hmmm, this receptionist is clearly happy to be here — must be a pretty great company!”

Mind your manners. Do you ever get tired of being treated with respect? I didn’t think so! Good old-fashioned politeness never goes out of style. Conversations peppered with please and thank you are memorable in our fast-paced world. Great receptionists always request information (rather than demanding it) and ask nicely. May I is a standby, as in “May I please have your name?” Drop “I need your name” and this I’m-too-busy-to-form-a-complete-sentence doozy: “Your name?”

Mean it. Niceties fall flat when there’s no feeling behind them. In order to make a great impression, you have to want to make a great impression. True enthusiasm shows in tone of voice, and one failsafe way to keep an upbeat tone is to smile while talking (this one’s an absolute must for face-to-face interactions). Now don’t get me wrong — I know we all have bad days. But one of the easiest ways to ditch a gloomy mood is by putting on a happy face, and reaching out to another person with warmth and kindness. Our virtual receptionist team knows that making someone’s day is an instant mood-booster. Give it a try — we know you’ll be impressed with the results!

Robot Versus Human: Who’s Better for Your Business?

By Katie Wilson | 05.08.2012 |

Virtual receptionist versus robot

I stumbled upon an article on Inc. magazine the other day about chatbots — avatars you can put on your website to answer questions and help customers (not to be confused with Autobots). While virtual receptionists are real people who work out of a remote office, chatbots reside on websites and are typically cartoons or photos of people that have been programmed to automatically respond to common questions. It got us thinking…who would win in a fight to provide the best customer service for your business? Let’s get ready to rumble!

Round I: Understanding. While a bot can hazard a guess at a person’s intent, a live virtual receptionist will be able to interpret it better. If a chatbot misinterprets something, it could be frustrating for the customer to have to rephrase their question. And a live person can always ask a quick qualifying question if necessary so that customers won’t have to repeat themselves (“Were you looking for car insurance or life insurance?”). Point: Virtual receptionists.

Round II: Tone. Sometimes it’s not what a person says, but how they say it. A live person can pick up on inflections in the caller’s voice and tailor responses to their mood. Someone in a hurry may type the same question as someone who has oodles of time; a live virtual receptionist can differentiate between the two by their tone and match each caller’s communication style. Point: Virtual receptionists.

Round III: Price. Both chatbots and virtual receptionist services are a fraction of the price of having a full-time employee in the office, but if you have a small business, a chatbot may be cheaper. Though sites with large numbers of queries may cost around the same amount per month as a live virtual receptionist, we’ll call this round in favor of the robots. Point: Robots.

Round IV: Going above and beyond. A chatbot won’t be able to make the same judgement calls a live person will, no matter how smart the programming. A human can anticipate a caller’s needs and offer to help before they even have to ask. Point: Virtual receptionists.

Round V: Personal connection. While a cartoon or photo of a human may be smiling, there is no substitute for an actual human who will crack a joke and share a laugh with your customers. People do business with people they like — and that’s the K.O. for the bots in this battle!

Winner: Virtual receptionists!

3 Ways to WOW Customers with Speedy Responses

By Katie Wilson | 05.03.2012 |

Happy Customers

Photo by Brett Jordan

Doing what you say you’ll do may be the table stakes of great customer service, but responding quickly to clients can take it one step further and WOW them. You don’t need to be the Flash to be super responsive; try these three steps to save the day!

Answer calls promptly. After five or six rings, callers tend to think no one’s there, so they may hang up (and if they’re a new client, they may call someone else who answers right away). Having a virtual receptionist service at the ready can make you look good. Our virtual receptionists cheerfully answer 95% of calls within the first two rings and 99.8% within the first four rings, and we often hear from surprised callers “how fantastic it is to speak to someone right away!” The simple act of a live person answering the phone right off the bat can impress callers and will set a great tone for the rest of the call.

Use ShortKeys. If you find yourself typing the same phrases over and over throughout the day, ShortKeys can kick start your response time and knock out pesky typos. Our virtual receptionist team uses ShortKeys to write frequently used phrases like “Declined to leave a message, just FYI” and “Solicitation“ and help us send lightning-fast, accurate messages. This text replacement software works across a myriad of applications (Outlook, Word, etc.), and best of all, ShortKeys Lite is free!

Bonus shortcut: If you’re on a PC, press CTRL and the up arrow to bring up ShortKeys and add a new phrase!

Save email templates. When responding to a timely question, having a template saved with some basic info can make a huge difference. Our Client Services team — or Problem Solvers & Happiness Makers, as we call them — also likes to follow every call with an email. For example, if a client has a question on forwarding their phone to Ruby, they’ll talk them through it over the phone. Afterward, they’ll pull up a template, customize it, and in minutes, the client will have written instructions to reference, too!

If you use Microsoft SharePoint, you can save and share your email templates with your team, or simply save them right in your email client. Templates won’t be one-size-fits-all, so it’s best to personalize them for each individual; however, they can sure help you hit the ground running!

What do you do to be extra responsive? We’d love to hear from you! Share by commenting below.

Receptionist Etiquette Tip: Why We Love FYI Messages

By Phoebe Osborn | 05.01.2012 |

Receptionist Tips

Message Taking FYI messages: Our virtual receptionist team takes them when callers decline to leave a message, and they’re just one of the many little ways we show our callers and clients Ruby_® is more than an answering service. If telephone answering is part of your work routine, you know it’s not uncommon for a caller to reply to the question “May I take a message?” with an “Oh, that’s okay — I’ll just call back.” We’ve learned that when this happens, sending a brief message with any info we’ve collected can be a big help to everyone involved. Here’s why:

FYI messages are an easy way to WOW your callers. Let’s say a fellow named Stan calls for your teammate but declines to leave a message — Stan will try your teammate on her cell phone. Let’s also say that your teammate just happened to lose her cell that morning. The messages Stan leaves on her cell voicemail won’t help him get a return call, but an FYI message might. Sending a quick note like this one could be a big help to Stan and your teammate: “Stan called for you. He declined to leave a message, and said he’d call you on your cell. Just an FYI.” (Note: When composing an FYI message, we Rubys always indicate that the caller declined to leave a message, and include the phrase “Just an FYI,” because it explains why the message may contain less information than most.)

FYI messages are an easy way to WOW your teammates. Remember Stan from the example above? Well Stan just happens to be your teammate’s attorney, and his call was pretty important. Your FYI message took just a few seconds to send, and because of it, your teammate knew Stan was looking for her, and she was able to return his call and take care of business. Looks like you just saved the day!

FYI messages are an easy way to cover your back. So your caller doesn’t want to leave a message — no problem, right? Not so fast. When the caller gets in touch with the person he’s seeking, he might just throw out one of these: “I called earlier. Didn’t your receptionist tell you?” Zing! You may not have much information about a caller who declines to leave a message, but the Ruby team knows a little information is better than no information. If you have the caller’s first name, company name, or caller ID, send it along. You’ll be glad you did!

Do you send FYI messages? Have you and your teammates found them helpful? We’d love your feedback! Post a comment below and tell us what you think.

Ruby Celebrates Success with Dress For Success Oregon!

By Sarah Sackett | 04.30.2012 |

Ruby Happenings

Ruby Celebrates Success

On Friday, a group of our fabulous virtual receptionists stepped out to celebrate with Dress for Success’s annual fundraising dinner and fashion show! We we were thrilled to sponsor a table at the event, and we enjoyed meeting some extraordinary people, hearing lots of heartwarming stories, and checking out some out fashion from local designers.

As a company primarily made up of women, Dress for Success is an organization near and dear to our hearts. Not only that, our own receptionist extraodinaire, Emily B., came to Ruby two years ago through the support of Dress for Success, and we could not be more proud to have her as part of our team! She’s wonderful to work with, a delight on the phone, and is a large part of what got us involved with this great organization!

Virtual receptionists Erin and Emily

This was our second year sponsoring a table at Celebrate Success, and recently our CEO, Jill Nelson, was honored to speak at their “Going Places Network” series about keeping a positive outlook during the job search.

To learn more about Dress for Success or make a donation, check out their website!

Ask a Virtual Receptionist! Topic: Best Part of Being a Virtual Receptionist

By Katie Wilson | 04.27.2012 |

Ask a Virtual Receptionist!

Receptionist Joni D.

Being a virtual receptionist is an unusual job; you get to talk to clients and callers all over the country about a range of topics, and you never know who’s going to be your next call. It could be someone calling to get more info on a product, someone having a bad day, a famous celebrity, or it could even be your neighbor from your hometown. It certainly keeps you on your toes!

But what’s the best part of being a virtual receptionist here at Ruby? I asked receptionist Joni D. just that question:

Getting to interact with so many people, I always find myself smiling. The opportunity to help someone, whether in a small way or a big way, is truly a blessing. I love my job!

We have so many opportunities to help throughout the day – and not just help, but really make a difference in how someone’s day goes!

Happy Secretary’s Day!

By Sarah Sackett | 04.25.2012 |

Ruby's virtual receptionists celebrate Secretary's Day

Our staff decked out in their Secretary's Day best!

Today is Ruby’s favorite holiday: Secretary’s Day! It’s actually the 60th anniversary of the holiday, also known as Administrative Professionals Day, recognizing the work of those “Directors of First Impressions” on the front lines of businesses. As an office of virtual receptionists, we are really proud and excited to be able to celebrate!

Our break room was flooded with delicious homemade treats, lovingly made by our team (seriously, cakes, cookies, casseroles, and finger foods took up almost all the counter space!). We continued our tradition of dressing up in our favorite old-fashioned secretary attire, and we treated the team to goodie bags to recognize their hard work. The office was filled to the brim with treats and smiles, and we had an amazing day!

We hope you also had a great day, and we want to wish a happy day to the other 8.9 million administrative professionals worldwide! Keep up the great work!

The Watercooler.

Keeping it personal in a virtual world.