You cannot talk to the owners of a company directly if you want any clarification. You need someone who acts as a communication bridge between you and the main person of contact. Receptionists act as mediators between the company and the customers.
They are the face of the company you want to deal with. They perform the task to break the ice to enable smooth communication.
There are certain qualities as follows that a live receptionist must have:
1. Effective Communication Skills
Effective communication is the most important point when it comes to sharing thoughts and ideas across. As a live receptionist, it is very important for people to understand you. Hence, communication becomes extremely crucial as it includes diction, modulation and grammar. You don’t need to be an orator to be a receptionist, but this job requires speech clarity.
2. Customer-Oriented
Customer is the boss of the market. It is the duty of a receptionist to attend all the customers. One miss can multiply to many missed customers in the future. A live receptionist focuses totally on customers as he or she wants to resolve their queries, directly or indirectly.
At times, a receptionist needs to show empathy too towards customers to gain their understanding or confidence.
3. Professional Attitude
Come what may, receptionists need to keep up to professionalism throughout. Maintaining their calm even in tough situations is a part of being professional. Most of them are trained to understand professionalism to the core and be an independent decision-maker.
4. Upgraded Technical Know-How
Most of the live receptionists use automated dialer phone, fax, printer and copier. They also use latest data management software called Microsoft Office Suite. They deal with daily calendar management and hence knowledge of Google Calendar is a must. They need to update their knowledge from time to time to be at par market standards.
5. 24/7 Availability
The main job of any receptionist is to attend calls and transfer few calls to the concerned department as per the need or situation. Customers feel good when their calls are answered. Hence, attending calls timely gives the customers assurance that someone from their concerned department is there to listen to their problems.
6. Multi-Tasking Ability
A receptionist’s job is not only to attend calls, but also to do few other tasks too. In some companies, receptionists book appointments, do reservations, book flight or train tickets, arrange for meetings and other related tasks.
7. Social Skills
As a receptionist, it is important to maintain customer relations. He or she uses a friendly-tone to talk to the customers to understand what and how they feel about their relationship with the company. They use their social skills to get in to the depth of any problem.
8. Organizational Skills
Receptionists keep their desks and things organized. They have proper placement for pens and other things required to write down important stuff while on the calls. They also help other departments to organize stuff as per the requirement.
9. Problem-Solving Capability
Receptionists must not only attend the calls, but also should be able to resolve certain common queries on their own. There are certain things that require prompt decision for which receptionists can take a call.
10. Listening Skills
The first point is related to this point as no communication is effective or complete if people fail to listen attentively. Listening is different to hearing. If a situation requires you to be empathetic, only listening skills can help you connect you with the outside world.
You can log on to websites such as https://www.signpost.com/ to get more information on live receptionists.