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Guest post by: Pam Lokker Become an Author

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Now, I'm going to discuss further with you about what a virtual assistant should look for in a phone system. While there are a few different options that you can look at such as a landline, a cell phone or VoIP, I'm going to suggest that you look at an online phone service.

An online phone service should be inexpensive.

It goes without saying that you need to watch your expenses, especially in a down economy. Look for a service that will have a wide variety of options at an economical price.

An online phone service should have a wide variety of features.

It's interesting what peoples' thoughts are as to what they should have as features. At the least, you will want options like voice mail, caller ID, call forwarding, and perhaps the ability to have conferencing or fax capabilities. You will want to have the ability to customize your phone service to fit your needs.

An online phone service should have a customer-service oriented support desk.

There's nothing worse than trying to set up an extension or have something go wrong with your phone system only to have no one to help you out when you get into trouble. Who are you going to call -- or email -- or phone? Does your online phone service have 24/7 service. You might even want to check and see if they have answers to common questions in an easily-accessible place that you can look at. Or, better yet, do they have live chat?

An online phone service should be user-friendly.

I've used online phone services that are extremely difficult to figure out, and you couldn't get any support; so you want a phone service that is user-friendly. It should be easy to use and to operate. I have found that Phone.com

As a virtual assistant, it is critical that your clients be able to reach you sometimes by phone. If you can't always be available by phone, they should be able to leave you a message and have a return call within 24 hours. You should shop around for the best phone system that will handle the things you need it to handle; however, you should always look for a phone system that is inexpensive, flexible with multiple features, have a support system where you can get help, and be user friendly. After all, your phone system is going to be the first impression that a client gets of your virtual assistant business. You want to start out on the right foot with them.

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Referred by: http://www.margiewarrell.com

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