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New jobs being created now at Mama's, a small-business incubator in Pasadena
PASADENA - Joe Colletti was worried. After three years of planning and a series of setbacks that delayed the opening by about a year, the doors finally opened in August at the $2.6 million nonprofit Mama's Small Business Kitchen Incubator.| With Gallery
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Answering services for small businesses are on the rise. I think one of the main reasons for this is that small businesses are the companies that are really powering America right now. While unemployment is holding steady, there is no hiring. That being said, many people are out there trying to build their own small business. It makes a lot of sense, then, for a small business to either answer calls themselves or hire an external firm to answer calls.

I'm a small business with just a handful of employees. I've been a small business owner since the first dotcom meltdown in the early 2000s. I had every imaginable form of "answering" staff and service you can imagine. Initially, I hired a full time receptionist to answer phones, then went to a virtual assistant and am finally using an automated answering service, with sometimes a combination of two.

First of all, answering services for small businesses are really an important function to consider. The reason is that they provide your company with a professional image. I think this is true regardless of whether you have a live person or an automated service.

A full time receptionist is fairly expensive. This is especially true if this person is full time with benefits. In my experience, I was paying anywhere from $1,750 - $2,500 per receptionist per month, plus payroll taxes, paid vacations and holidays. Now, the benefit of a full time receptionist is, of course, he / she can greet clients, perform physical document filing and more in addition to answering the phones.

Virtual assistants can also be answering services for small businesses. The biggest difference between a full time on site receptionist and a virtual assistant is really cost, which is substantial. Now, if you need a physical person to greet clients, make copies, etc., then it makes sense to hire a "on site" receptionist. I have found that having virtual assistants solves all or my needs, including answering calls, for a fraction of the cost of a receptionist.

Other answering services for small businesses include a dedicated answering company. There are tons of them to choose from. Essentially, a client calls into a pre-determined phone number and the answering company answers as if they were your company. Actually, there are many variations of how they can answer the phone. Typically, the prices for answering service companies range anywhere from about $35 up to even several hundred or possibly even in the thousands. This is generally determined by the number of calls that come into your "office."

Automated answering services for small businesses are really a great option to consider. In fact, I use one of them myself, called RingCentral. They can range anywhere from $9.95 per month up to $99.99 or more, depending on the size of your company and your need for extensions, voice mail boxes, etc. I have the $49.99 version, which suits my company very well. I get a dedicated 800 number and fax number, unlimited minutes, 10 extensions, music on hold, custom greetings, and a whole lot more.

I feel that this service suits me very well, since I don't need to have a full time receptionist or answering service pick up my phones. However, I also have virtual assistants who handle my day to day filing, calls and general support, as well. In my case, RingCentral is the hub of our customer service communications. One tip related to RingCentral is the ability to call out from ANY phone with the outbound caller ID as your company phone number. This makes it look like your calling from the "office."

Now, there are many more tips and tricks that you can make your office / company look really big. I will be writing on many more of these topics in the coming weeks.

David Chan is a small business owner who is passionate about leveraging great technology to create truly virtual offices. He believes that these solutions save small businesses money and provide tremendous value. David reveals tips and tools on a very competitive answering services for small businesses. Grow your business and save money!

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