Behind the Scenes at Ruby: What’s in a Name?

By Katie Wilson | 02.15.2012 |

How Ruby Works

Our virtual receptionist service is known for making great impressions, and we know that the right introduction can make all the difference. Though we answer phones for diverse businesses across the nation, most callers don’t know we’re remote. Here are three features we developed in our unique software to help us accomplish it:

Pronunciation guides. There’s a big difference between pronouncing ”Alicia” as ”Al-ee-sha” or “A-lee-see-a.” That’s why we add a phonetic guides for ambiguous or uncommon names for our receptionists to reference. And we can add guides for your company name, too, so your callers always know they’ve reached the right place!

Him or her? Just in our small office, we have receptionists named Pat and Casey! We have a special spot just for heads up on gender neutral monikers; when a caller asks for Alex, the receptionist can glance at her screen and respond without skipping a beat: “I would be happy to see if he is available. May I tell him who’s calling?”

Nicknames. If a caller asks for Jim, and there’s a James in the company, we’ll go ahead and try James’ line and offer him the call. However, if your name’s Bob and your friends call you “Scooter,” we can make a note of it in your account, too!

Our proprietary software makes sure we sound like we’re in the office, but we don’t stop there! Many times our virtual receptionists are the first person a new client will talk to. Eager to help, we’ll pass along whatever info we gather before we connect the call or when we’re taking a message. For example, you might receive a message like this:

If the pronunciation may be tricky, we’ll help you out with a phonetic guide, too! That way, when you return the call, you can put your best foot forward, instead of in your mouth. After all, we’re here to make you look good!

You Published Your Cell Number; Now What?

By Katie Wilson | 02.07.2012 |

Photo by Robert Engmann

A while back, I wrote about alternatives to publishing your cell number as your business line. It is tempting to give out your cell number as your business phone number; after all, you want to be accessible to your clients and potential clients! But what if you grow and hire additional employees? You won’t be able to transfer their calls to them. What if your phone starts ringing off the hook? No one will be able to help you answer calls. There are a number of reasions using your cell may not be a scalable solution.

Have you printed your cell number on your business cards and your customers already know your number by heart? Don’t panic! Here are five ways you can get around it without anyone being the wiser:

Get a second cell phone: Forward your original cell/business number to another number; you could get a landline where your on-site staff can help ease the phone answering burden or you could forward your calls to Ruby where your calls will be answered by a friendly virtual receptionist. Then, only give your new cell phone number to your friends, family, and anyone you’d like to call you directly. The catch: Your mobile provider may count the time involved in your forwarded calls against your minutes.

Convert your cell number to a remote call forwarding line: Sometimes called a “market expansion line,” this is a number that “lives” at the phone company and forwards to wherever you point it. Then, you could get a new number for your cell that friends and family (and Ruby, if you’d like us to transfer calls to you) may call you on.

Transfer your number to Google Voice: If your current provider agrees to release your phone number to a third party, you can port your number to Google Voice for a one-time fee of $20 — there’s no cost for the service itself. Google Voice has neat features like delayed call forwarding built in, along with several others. But keep in mind that since it is a free service without a contract, there’s no dedicated support if there’s a service disruption, and in the future, Google could decide to close Google Voice and potentially keep your number.

Add delayed call forwarding (also known as Ring Busy/No Answer call forwarding) to your plan: Your calls will ring on your cell a couple times, so you can grab it if it’s a family member or VIP client; your calls will only forward to another number if you don’t answer or are on another call. Verizon has a nice overview of what this looks like. Delayed call forwarding is usually an additional feature, and just like with traditional call forwarding, the call may continue to use your cell phone plan’s minutes even after Ruby picks up.

Use one of the above and phase out your cell number: Get a new number and change it on your marketing where you can (i.e., your website, social profiles, etc.). Send out an email to your clients letting them know about the new number and ask them to call it instead. Even if you don’t combine this with one of the above, the volume of calls to your cell should be more manageable. And if you’re a Ruby client, feel free to use your Ruby toll-free number as your new number – it’s yours to keep!

Did you publish your cell phone number as your business line? What happened? How did you get around it — or did it work for you?

Ruby Launches a Paid Sabbatical Program for Our Virtual Receptionists!

By Katie Wilson | 02.01.2012 |

Ruby Receptionists at the 2011 "Best Companies to Work For" event

Ruby at the 2011 "Best Companies to Work For" event

To further support our unique Core Values, we are incredibly excited to launch a new sabbatical program at Ruby Receptionists: the “Five at Five!”

In this paid sabbatical program, for every five years at Ruby, our virtual receptionists and supporting staff members will receive five weeks paid time off! During their Five at Five, Rubys are encouraged to explore our Core Values — “Foster Happiness,” “Create Community,” “Innovate,” and “Practice WOWism” – and apply them to a dream that they might not otherwise have had the opportunity to realize.

We really want our employees to succeed, so Ruby will also provide grants and coaching so that they may thrive in their Five at Five. Ruby will fund a $1,000 grant to help each employee accomplish their goal, whether that means traveling around Europe, taking a class, volunteering with a nonprofit, or anything else that would make them deeply happy. Each employee will also meet with positive psychology experts Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener and Positive Acorn in an individual coaching session to discuss his or her aspirations and strategies for making them a reality through the Five at Five program.

Traditionally, sabbaticals have been reserved for global organizations and academic institutions, and as a small business, we are thrilled to be able to offer them to our staff. In fact, when CEO Jill Nelson announced her sabbatical brainchild at our January staff meeting, many Rubys were so surprised that she had to repeat the idea. Once it sunk in, everyone got very excited and a few got a little misty. Virtual receptionist Eve T. explained, “The way Ruby genuinely cares about us and our happiness never ceases to amaze me and warm my heart. This program only furthers my love for working here, and I am already looking forward to sharing my story when I hit my fifth year!” Star Service and Receptionist Cultivator Janel Hodge will be celebrating her five year anniversary with Ruby in November, and she expressed how much this means to her, saying, “A burst of ideas came to mind immediately, and I got especially emotional when Jill announced the coaching session. I love working for Ruby, so I wouldn’t want to leave to accomplish one of my other lifelong dreams — and now I won’t have to!”

The Five at Five joins other beneficial programs at Ruby, such as our paid maternity/paternity leave, employer-matched 401k, and Alternative Transportation program. This year alone, 15% of Ruby employees will be eligible to take advantage of this new, unique paid sabbatical.

Fostering happiness is a big part of our business: when our virtual receptionists are happy, callers are happy, and our clients are happy! And when we invest in our staff’s happiness, they stay with us longer and are in turn invested in making Ruby successful; in fact, the average receptionist has been with us almost a year and a half (exceptional in a field where high turnover is the norm), and all but five of our 70 employees started out as virtual receptionists.

We are committed to living our Core Values, and we can’t wait to see what each bright, talented Ruby will do with their Five at Five!

How Virtual Offices Can Benefit from a Virtual Receptionist Service

By Katie Wilson | 01.31.2012 |

How Ruby Works

Many of our clients use virtual offices or coworking spaces for their small businesses. Renting a shared space rather than a traditional office can save money, and it can make a lot of sense for startups and solopreneurs. It’s easy to use these spaces in combination with a live, virtual receptionist service (typically as simple as forwarding your business number), and though virtual office packages may include receptionist services, there are several benefits Ruby_® offers that can’t be matched.

If you operate out of a virtual office, here are three reasons you may want to use a virtual receptionist service to answer your calls:

1. Make a stellar first impression. Front desk receptionists at virtual office buildings have a lot on their plates: answering calls for several distinct companies, receiving and distributing mail, and greeting guests all in the same breath. Hold times may be longer for your callers, some calls may be missed entirely, and helpfulness may fall to the wayside as tasks vie for the receptionist’s attention.

A virtual receptionist service, on the other hand, focuses specifically on answering phones – and answering them well. Each Ruby virtual receptionist attends “Ruby University,” training them on the best way to help callers and clients and brighten their days. With a cheerful, attentive person answering your calls, you can make the best impression possible for your business.

2. Additional call handling options. Many virtual office buildings only have the capability to “blind transfer” callers. Your caller’s experience might look like this:

Virtual office receptionist: “Thank you for calling ABC Company. How may I direct your call?”

Caller: “Hi! Is Bob Smith available?”

Virtual office receptionist: “Let me transfer you. One moment please.” Caller hears ringing until you pick up (without knowing who is calling)…or your caller reaches voicemail.

Since a virtual receptionist primarily focuses on answering calls, she can spend more time engaging with your caller and can take messages if the desired party is unavailable (instead of dropping them immediately into the voicemail abyss). Instead your caller will hear something more like this:

Virtual receptionist: “Thank you for calling ABC Company. How may I help you?”

Caller: “Hi! Is Bob Smith available?”

Virtual receptionist: “I would be happy to check for you! May I say who’s calling?”

Caller: “Fantastic! It’s Sam Jones.”

Virtual receptionist: “Thank you, Sam! One moment, please.” The receptionist would then try Bob’s line. If he picks up, she’ll let him know who’s on the line, and he can accept or decline the call. If Bob’s unavailable or declines the call, she will go back to the caller and offer to take a message: “Bob’s away from the phone at the moment. May I take a message?” And then she’d immediately send the message via email or text!

While the call handling from a virtual office may be limited, virtual receptionists are not. They can ask potential clients different questions than your current clients, route calls to wherever you are, and more! You’re welcome to customize your call handling as much as you like!

3. More features. In addition to enhanced call handling options, you can also let your virtual receptionist service know where you are. They can keep your clients informed and set great expectations on when to expect a return call: “Tim’s out of the office at the moment, but he should be back around 3:00pm. May I take a message or transfer you to his voicemail?” At Ruby, you can update your whereabouts in a flash via email, our mobile-friendly Member Services Area, or our iPhone app!

Questions about what we can do for your business? Leave a comment below or give us a call at 866-611-7829 — we’d be delighted to help!

Ruby Feature Highlight: The Free Ruby iPhone App!

By Katie Wilson | 01.24.2012 |

How Ruby Works

Ruby_® is always innovating and always using the most advanced technology; it’s just one of the ways we aren’t your average answering service. In 2010, Ruby developed a convenient, free iPhone app that our clients can use to make the most of our virtual receptionist service – and we recently updated it to provide additional features!

With a few quick taps to the Ruby iPhone app, you can:

Let us know your availability. We call these “Whereabouts updates,” and you can quickly, easily modify the way our virtual receptionist team handles your calls. It’s perfect for anything you might’ve tapped an in-house employee on the shoulder to tell them and especially handy if you’re on-the-go!

Check out your call history. Talked to a prospect this morning but can’t remember their name? The iPhone app could jog your memory! Pull up the Activity tab in your Ruby iPhone app, set your Timeframe for today (or around the time you may have talked to them), select Calls, and you’ll be able to see what calls were connected this morning!

View your messages (screenshot on the right). As with your call history, you can also filter your messages by Company (if you have Ruby answer for more than one of your companies) and Timeframe. Every phone number and email address is automatically a hotlink, so you can return calls straight from the app!

Save contact info to your phone’s address book. At the bottom of each call or message, there’s an option to “Save to Contacts.” Any info such as name, phone number, and email address will immediately be imported into your iPhone’s address book!

See your assists. If you’re optimizing your time by having our virtual receptionists return calls for you, you can reference the Assist option under the Activity tab. There you can view a brief description of any assists you’ve requested!

Receive push notifications showing recent activity. If a Ruby virtual receptionist has taken a message for your company since the last time you logged in, you’ll see a little number in red on the corner of your app icon.

Contact Ruby! Tap on the Ruby tab and our phone number and email address appear as hotlinks for a quick way to contact us! There’s also a link to an FAQ page on the Ruby app. Plus, if you’re ever in Portland, Oregon, our address is listed as a hotlink and will bring you straight to a Google map — feel free to stop by, and we’ll give you a tour!

If you’re an iPhone user, you can download the free Ruby iPhone app here! And don’t worry Android and Blackberry fans, we haven’t forgotten about you! Our feature-rich Member Services Area is completely mobile-friendly!

Ask a Virtual Receptionist! Topic: Making Someone’s Day

By Katie Wilson | 01.20.2012 |

Ellie B.

We talk a lot about Fostering Happiness at Ruby_® (it is one of our Core Values after all!), and we give our virtual receptionist team strategies to make our clients’ and callers’ days brighter. However, each Ruby is unique and each has their favorite way to make connections. In today’s feature, I asked virtual receptionist Ellie B. how she spreads cheer over the phone:

What’s your favorite way to make someone’s day?

My favorite way to make someone’s day is very simple: I like to wish them a good day at the end of our call. Our clients are very busy people – that’s why we’re here! By wishing them a good day, I usually get a thank you and they wish me a good day as well, and that puts a smile on my face, too. I feel like it ensures our clients that we do care about their day, and it reminds them that we are here to help make it a good one, too!

One small gesture can be a real mood booster! Sincerity shines – even through miles of telephone wire — and wishing someone well or genuinely asking how they are may make their day and yours, too!

Customer (DIS)Service: What’s Lacking and How to Get It Back

By Katie Wilson | 01.17.2012 |

CNBC recently aired a special entitled “Customer (DIS)Service: A Maddening Look at the State of Customer Service” where they shined a spotlight on the customer service provided by outsourced call centers, waiters, retailers, recorded menu options, and a host of other industries. Not surprisingly, most of what they found left much to be desired. Man-on-the-street interviews showed an overwhelming frustration with regards to customer service, or as CNBC puts it, “customer disservice.” For all the advancements in technology — computers, databases chock-full of information, sophisticated phone systems — it seems that customer service has actually declined over the years. But why? And why is customer service so important for businesses, anyway?

To answer the first question, we think interviewee Shaun Belding, author and CEO of The Belding Group, put it best: “All the technology was designed to connect us to each other. And that’s what we did. But we lost the beauty of connecting with each other.” Since our interactions these days are often over the phone, it’s easy to become disassociated – they’re just a name and a disembodied voice, right? However, missing that opportunity to connect is missing an opportunity to make a person’s day better, maybe even your own, and certainly make a good impression for your business. You never know who that voice may be attached to: the next evangelist for your company, someone who’s having a rough day that you could cheer up, your neighbor?

In thinking about personal connections, it reminded me of a call I took when I first started at Ruby as a virtual receptionist. We take calls from businesses across North America, and this particular business happened to be on the East Coast. In the course of taking a message for the client, I learned that the caller was from my hometown of Huntington Beach, California, and not only that, he lived at the same intersection as my childhood home! What are the odds? We had a lovely chat about the area and the lively Main Street, and we both ended the call smiling. It could’ve been a very rudimentary call; I could’ve simply taken a message, and we could’ve gone our separate ways. But I wouldn’t have remembered it nearly three years later, and my caller wouldn’t have been nearly as happy.

When people make a personal connection or have an extraordinary experience with a business, they not only become loyal to that company, they’re going to want to talk about it. They’ll tell their friends, colleagues, and family about how someone went above and beyond for them or invested in them or just plain listened to them. Word of mouth – whether it’s positive or negative – can spread like wildfire.

Making meaningful connections with callers and clients isn’t something extra, a nicety; it’s something to cultivate, and it’s imperative to the success of our business. In fact, we put it at the very top of our Ruby Hierarchy of Service Pyramid. Making meaningful connections is at the crux of truly outstanding service, and as ING Direct CEO Peter Aceto said at the end of the CNBC special, “Customer service is the new marketing. It’s the only differentiator businesses have left.”

Ruby Mentioned in Carolyn Elefant’s Book Solo by Choice!

By Katie Wilson | 01.13.2012 |

Carolyn Elefant’s Solo by Choice: How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be is an incredible resource for solo attorneys, and we at Ruby_® are extremely grateful to have been mentioned in her new edition! In her chapter on Office Technology, Elefant discusses the plethora of phone options out there as well as the dilemma of who will answer your phone: a live receptionist, a voicemail system, or an answering service.

If you decide to go with the latter, she suggests that you, ”[s]elect a secure, reputable answering service or shared receptionist…Ruby Receptionists is a virtual receptionist/answering service used by many solos and small businesses” (p.110). She also offers several tips on call handling, such as making sure the person who answers says the firm’s name in the greeting and that keeping them in the loop about your availability will make your practice look good.

Solo by Choice is a fantastic, beneficial read for solos and anyone thinking about striking out on their own, and she touches on everything from starting a practice to marketing and social media to how to take a vacation (a real one!). We’re delighted to be mentioned in such a comprehensive guide! If your interest is piqued and you’d like to pick up a copy, you can order one here.

How Ruby Uses Technology to Create Community

By Katie Wilson | 01.09.2012 |

Happy Customers

”Create Community” and “Innovate” are two of our unique Core Values here at Ruby_®, and it’s through cutting-edge technology and caring, happy people that we’re able to provide the highly personalized virtual receptionist service we’re known for. Here are just five ways we put these two Core Values to work so that we can connect with our clients and make their days a bit brighter:

Our “About” field. We have a special area in our custom-designed software where virtual receptionists can add notes so that they can get to know our clients better. In fact, in our new “Ruby WOW Story of the Month” feature, we shared an inspiring story of how virtual receptionist Whitney L. used this field to make a particuarly memorable connection with one of our clients!

Frequent/familiar callers. Our one-of-a-kind software can recognize Caller ID numbers that are programmed into the system. That way our virtual receptionists can see at a glance whether the caller is a client or client’s family member and greet them with an extra warm hello!

Time zones. Our software shows the local time in each client’s account. An enthusiastic, ”Good afternoon, John!” when introducing a call to an east coast client (even when it’s 9:00am in Oregon) can be a thoughtful way to start things off. It’s also a wonderful way for our remote receptionists to sound like part of the team when chatting with callers!

Microsoft Sharepoint. We’ve shared in the past how we use Sharepoint to Create Community among the Ruby staff, but we also use Sharepoint “Quizees” to get to know our clients and their businesses better. A Ruby ”Problem Solver & Happiness Maker” (aka a member of our innovative Client Services team) may create a Quizee asking receptionists situational questions about call handling and general questions about what the company does so that they can WOW our clients.

Whereabouts updates. Ruby clients are welcome to keep us in the loop as to their status at any time with a quick whereabouts update. They can do this via email, our iPhone app, or our mobile-friendly Member Services Area. Whichever method they choose, they will always receive a personalized confirmation from one of our live virtual receptionists — never an automated response. An update that they’re leaving for vacation might spur the responding receptionist to add a personal note to the end of her confirmation: “That sounds wonderful, John! We’ve noted that you’ll be out of the office March 15-30th and will let callers know. We wish you a relaxing time in Hawaii — don’t forget the sunscreen!”

We’ll keep on adding new features to our software and tweaking our service so that our receptionists can make the most out of every interaction — anything we can do to put a smile on a client’s face is worth it!

Resolve to Make Your Clients Happier this New Year!

By Katie Wilson | 01.05.2012 |

Photo by Caleb Roenigk

2012: A new year, a fresh start for your business! Great customer service can be an incredible boost to your company; happy customers will stay with you longer and word-of-mouth buzz can grow your client base exponentially. But how can you make your customer service wow-worthy?

Here at Ruby, Fostering Happiness is one of our Core Values, and we aim to make our clients’ and their callers’ days brighter. Besides doing a crackerjack job at answering phones, we’ve developed quite a few ways to accomplish this. Here are five ways we make our clients smile – you may find that they’d be just what the doctor ordered for your customers, too!

1. Hand-written note cards. These days, most of the snail mail people get is junk mail and bills — who doesn’t like to receive a bit of personal mail in the bunch? Just about anything can be an occasion to write — delight your customers by dropping a surprise note in the mail!

2. Following up calls with an email. Like our virtual receptionists, our Client Services department is incredibly helpful and always looking for ways to make our clients’ lives easier. One way they do this is by following every call from a client with an email. It’s a great way to summarize or confirm the information you discussed, especially if it was complicated or may be useful to have on-hand in the future. If you don’t have much to relay, it’s also a great way to create a personal connection; a simple “It was wonderful talking to you” may make their day!

3. Be flexible. At Ruby, we empower our virtual receptionists and staff to make judgment calls on based on our Core Values. Rather than sticking to policy, we believe that not all situations are one-size-fits-all. For example, if one of our clients has instructions to take messages only, of course the majority of the time we’ll only take messages. However, if a family member calls with an emergency, we’ll try to put them in touch with them right away.

In fact, virtual receptionist Kristen C. has experienced exactly that scenario. An extended family member called one of our clients’ lines, and Kristen was able to connect him to the client’s cell phone.

4. Listen. This one’s pretty basic, but it bears repeating: listen to your customers. Sometimes all it takes to make your client happy is to make them feel heard. If a caller sounds emotional, rather than interrupting them, our receptionists will take a moment to listen and let them vent. Try also repeating what your client says back to them to reassure them that you’ve understood their concerns and reassure them that you’ll make things right. Being compassionate and responsive can make a big impact.

5. Check back in. Making a big change to a client’s account? Don’t stop there! When our Client Services department revamps one of our clients’ call handling instructions, they always check back in with them to make sure everything’s working out correctly. Our Sales department also follows up with potential clients after a few days just to see if they thought of anymore questions or they can do more to help. Just knowing that your company is thinking of them and values them enough to take that time will make for some happy campers!

In addition to making your customers happier, resolve to make yourself happier! Happiness is good for you, and it’s contagious. If you’re smiling, relaxed, and have more time to focus on your work and yourself, your clients will notice. And as always, the virtual receptionist team at Ruby would be delighted to help you become more productive and foster happiness with your callers.

We wish you and your business the very best in 2012! Happy New Year!

The Watercooler.

Keeping it personal in a virtual world.

Author Archives: Katie Wilson