Call Answering

Modern-day offices are nothing like what they used to be. The digital revolution has brought about great changes to the workplace that allows for a greater level of flexibility than was afforded to business owners in years gone past.In the old days, it was simply a matter of providing four straight walls, a roof and desks for their office workers to sit at for the whole of their working days, weeks, months and years.These days many businesses both large and small are demanding greater flexibility for their workers and this doesn't always mean having a permanent office style set-up in the workplace. More employers are realising that they need to incorporate more agility and amenity in their workspaces that include open-plan office space, rest areas where staff can go to get a mental break from their desks and connect and collaborate with their work colleagues.

Fully serviced offices

A lot of new tech start-ups that don't actually produce physical goods or need workshops are creating a rise in demand for very adaptable, fully-equipped, ready to go offices and workspaces that provide new business owners with everything they need to launch their business, but with the convenience of only needing to pay one monthly fee for its use.This means that many digital entrepreneurs and app developers can walk into a fully-functional office with their R&D development team and programmers and be ready to go from day one with none of the logistical nightmares of having to rent premises and set up their own workspaces.Compared to how business owners used to operate this new approach is nothing short of a workplace revolution. Fully serviced office spaces are becoming the new norm for many new start-ups and has long been an anticipated requirement for new enterprises according to many leading business experts.

Virtual office options

The huge rise in popularity for a flexible virtual office approach to running a business has also proved to be a game-changer in the business world. According to information from the Office of National Statistics, the number of self-employed in the UK increased from 3.3 million people (12.0% of the labour force) in 2001 to 4.8 million (15.1% of the labour force) in 2017.The vast majority of the self-employed are either sole traders working a home-based business, solo-entrepreneurs, small partnerships and small business start-ups with just a handful of key workers on staff. This means that the demand for virtual office services such as those offered by Capital Office, London has been steadily rising in recent years.There are obvious benefits to outsourcing many of the day-to-day administration tasks performed in your office and reception area. Freeing yourself from these time-consuming tasks will allow you to focus your time on more pressing jobs and free you up for meetings with clients or B2B negotiations. The cost savings alone will help give your bottom line a healthy boost because you will not need to employ administrative staff solely for the purpose of handling your business calls and keeping on top of your company mail.You can also make massive savings on office rent as you won't need to hire staff and provide them with office space to work from, not to mention the savings made from all the extra overheads of running an office such as your power, heating, water supply and IT equipment infrastructure.

Scalability of flexible office services

The boom in alternative office solutions offers you the agility and smooth scalability that allows for businesses to plan for rapid growth. With both fully-serviced offices and virtual office services, you have the ability to have a fully scalable solution that will grow with your business.This can be very beneficial to entrepreneurs who may be looking to expand their business and even take on staff for the first time, but still be able to run a lean set up where they don't have a large chunk of their revenue spent on administration and office rent that delivers no returns for their business.Even if you run a business without any physical office space, you can still find fantastic solutions such as our registered office service that provides a business a valuable EC1 London address, while allowing you to hold business meetings with prospective new clients by using a fully serviced meeting room to meet with and impress your clients. There is very little point to paying out rent for an office with additional meeting room space if this room is going to sit empty for the vast majority of the year.In the beginning, it can be very convenient and cost-effective to simply start off with one virtual service that can greatly help you free up your time, such as using a virtual call handling service to always be there to answer your incoming calls and handle them according to your specific instructions.Alternatively, you could choose to start off with a mail sorting service that will keep you free of the burden of having to spend your time opening and dealing with your business post each day.What is most appealing to modern business owners is the very convenient ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis that virtual office services are based upon. This means they can have a perfect solution to provide them with all the administrative support they need at a cost-effective price, yet can scale the amount of help they need according to the ebb and flow of their income and business finances. This sort of set up is of particular use to those nimble, entrepreneurial companies that need to be able to quickly adapt to change.

Capital Office over-delivering on virtual services

Because Capital Office offers virtual office services that go beyond the obvious, this has proven to be our key to success for the very many years that we have been offering business owners these top-class services. We set the bar very high for our competitors to reach and any other virtual office service provider will need to be a truly outstanding company in order to compete with us.Our team of dedicated staff are committed to a mission to keep our finger on the pulse of what our happy clients want from our services. This means that we are constantly looking to evolve and adapt to draw the best advantages from new technology and communication techniques.We are proud to offer a vibrant and innovative range of virtual services to our clients and are very passionate about continuing to refine and add to the services that we can offer to help and assist business owners across the country.

Achieving a healthy work-life balance

We at Capital Office understand that new and growing businesses are ambitious to make their company a success. This can often mean working long and gruelling hours to keep on top of everything that needs to be done, including being fully responsive to your incoming business calls and not becoming overwhelmed with your continuous incoming business post.Sometimes entrepreneurs will sacrifice a lot of their evenings and weekends to dedicate to their business, but quite often their efforts are spent just keeping on top of everything rather than to successfully push their business forward.Family life can suffer as a result, as can your own mental health and well-being. Outsourcing your essential day-to-day administration tasks to a virtual office service to handle on your behalf can not only give you the peace of mind you need to know that every single business phone call is being professionally handled, but also will free up your time from being bogged down opening your business post and sorting through acres of junk mail. The time you can free up from these tasks can be better spent at home enjoying your family life.We understand that you really want your business to become a roaring success, but you don't have to achieve this at the cost of your personal health and well-being or risk putting extra pressures on your personal relationships. Achieving a good work-life balance is crucial if you want to get the best of both worlds from your business and your home life.

Moving with the times

According to employment data predictions, by 2020, millennials will make up 50% of the global workforce. Don't forget that this is a generation that is used to using digital technology and understand how it can help them to work with more flexibility. The new upcoming workforce will be used to collaborating with work colleagues through a digital environment, so the idea of using virtual office services will be considered as being quite normal in a modern workplace, especially with start-up businesses running a lean operation.As both the fully-serviced office and virtual office solutions set to keep on booming over the coming years, most new business owners are becoming far more selective in their planning for their office set up. Many established businesses looking to expand their operations are now waking up to the additional benefits that these solutions can provide.The businesses of the future will have to present a flexible, multifaceted face to their company set up to allow them to escape the old rigidity and confinement that a traditional permanent office environment provides. To enable their business to grow and prosper while keeping their operational overheads to an absolute minimum, it will be absolutely essential that they look at working with a good virtual office service or a fully-equipped physical office provider – or both!For more information about our virtual office services, do not hesitate to contact our friendly London-based team. We are here to help your business succeed! Call us: 0207 566 3939email: office@capital-office.co.uk

For many decades going back in time, office space was an element that business owners paid little attention to. Very little thought went into the office because as far as a business owner was concerned, as long as there was enough space to house their staff and the building was cheap enough to buy or rent, that was enough for them to consider. Office design and layout was never really a decisive element of whether a building would be suitable or not.However, times are changing and now more than ever before employers are having to take into consideration the mental health and well-being of their staff. Office design and position are now being looked at in more detail to ensure that the environment delivers a positive impact on their staff and how they work.There are a number of factors that are now being looked at from open space, natural daylight levels, ergonomic furniture design, colour choice for décor, plants and greenery, lighting, heating and air circulation.A number of flexible working arrangements are also becoming more popular, such as splitting the working week between the working in the company office for two or three days per week and from home for the remainder of the week.For smaller business start-ups and micro-businesses, many more owners are now working a lean operation where they don't operate any offices at all. Instead, all administration work is outsourced to outside professionals such as Capital Offices that provide fully comprehensive Virtual Office Services. Taking this option can be a very cost-effective move and can mean that a new company will have more money to re-invest back into their business for future growth rather than see it spent on office rent, building insurance, utilities and staff wages.

Working arrangements and employees mental health

According to a report from Kelby Ergo Design (KED), nearly 90 per cent of our time is spent indoors. Those adults that are employed outside of the home will spend a whopping 33 per cent of their time within their workplace.It doesn't come as a surprise to learn then that the UK is currently suffering from a severe mental health crisis. According to the Office for National Statistics, one in four young women are reporting mental health problems, so concerns from employers for the well-being of their employees are now becoming a major consideration.Many modern business setups are moving away from old-fashioned cubicle office designs that had quite an isolating impact of their employees. Instead, more thought is being put into improving working conditions to allow more social and physical interaction that encourages stronger working relationships. This, in turn, helps to improve working collaborations, raises the mood and well-being of staff and goes a long way to improving productivity levels for the company.Improved office layout and flexible working conditions have also seen a positive rise in performance levels, reduced rates of errors, and fewer workplace injuries and sickness absences. This is why it very important to consider the psychology behind your office design should you consider running a physical office on your business premises.

Alternative design-thinking

Making positive changes to your office space can help to boost your productivity and the mental well-being of your staff. You will also be helping to create a more pleasant and enjoyable working atmosphere that will help you to retain the best talent that your company currently has. Unhappy workers will quickly seek alternative employment should their working environment be an unhappy one.Many business owners just starting out across the UK are now choosing new office space that offer well-designed layouts rather than cheap as chips commercial spaces where offices are often shoe-horned into corners without much thought. Even though the rent may be a little higher on well-planned office spaces, the saving your company can make over the longer term can be greater because of the positive effect your office environment will have on your employees' mental health and well-being.Flexibility is also another major factor for new business owners to consider here. To cater to the demand for more flexible working options, company owners are now looking at digital offices that work in the cloud and allow for collaboration from team members wherever their location. This means more flexibility for staff to work from home or on the road visiting clients face-to-face at their places of work.

Virtual office revolution

Another major change to the landscape of the working office is that of benefiting from virtual office services from professional providers such as Capital Office in London. This concept has been a positive shift in thinking by new business owners.With many new companies, the traditional corporate office set up is fast becoming a thing of the past. More businesses are adopting either a home-away-from-home approach to their office environment, incorporating more staff rest and recreational areas, organising yoga sessions, mindfulness classes and discounted gym memberships.Many more company owners are even eliminating many day-to-day administration duties such as telephone call answering and mail sorting by outsourcing these tasks to outside professionals. By doing this the company can save a lot of money by not having to employ their own office administration staff or payout for office space to accommodate them.A lot of research and design companies appreciate a working environment that offers peace and quiet to allow them to concentrate on their work. By removing the distractions of constant telephone calls, office chatter and the hustle and bustle of mail sorting duties, staff can focus more of their attention towards developing their projects without interruption or distraction.By putting your essential day to day office duties into the hands of a professional virtual office provider, business owners can be rest assured that all of their important telephone calls are being handled correctly in a timely and responsive manner. They can also greatly benefit from the time-saving mail sorting services on offer. Adopting these virtual services means that your mail sorting company can handle and deal with your business post in an appropriate way so you don't have to!Should a company owner decide to offer more flexible working arrangements for their staff, this can mean them having members of staff working from various locations, but all interconnected through modern technology to allow collaboration and teamwork to continue unheeded.By outsourcing regular office admin duties to professionals such as Capital Office, it will also mean that no piece of important mail will go astray or crucial telephone call missed. No matter where your key staff are working at any particular time, they will always be kept up to date with important phone calls and mail notifications through your virtual office service provider.We can take your incoming calls and deal with them as per your instructions. This means that if you don't want to be disturbed, we can take phone messages and forward them to you in a timely manner. Or if you are waiting for an important call from one particular client, we can ensure that they are put through to you with high priority.Important letters and documents can be scanned and emailed through to you so you are kept completely up to date with your post without having to experience any delays. We can bundle up your incoming mail and forward it on to you at regular intervals as designated by yourself, or if you are passing by our London offices, you can call in to pick up your mail in person if you so wish. This is how flexible our virtual office services are.

Freedom from the constraints of the office

Company owners are now realising that their staff don't need to spend so many working hours stuck behind a desk. More companies than ever before are offering their employees the freedom to decide how and where they work. This change in office structure has seen a rise in happier and more productive staff.Introducing flexible working conditions and outsourcing day to day administration tasks that used to tie-down staff has helped to improve their general well-being and mental health.Business owners, especially solo-entrepreneurs or sole traders, are also seeing greater savings by operating a lean company where they don't need to spend out a large chunk of their revenue on renting unnecessary office space and all the associated insurance, utility bills and maintenance costs that come with it.As the business environment evolves over time, it is becoming more apparent than ever that the days of work cubicles and cramped, clinical office settings are being left well behind.Find out more about our flexible virtual office services and how using our cost-effective professional services can save you a lot of money!

Since the creation of the world wide web, home business start-ups have sky-rocketed in number. For many, the idea of starting a home-based business can bring them a new pathway to a lucrative career without feeling that they are simply working a job that is lining the pockets of others. Many people start home businesses because it can offer them the flexibility of building a business around the needs of their growing family.By drawing inspiration from notable entrepreneurs such as Jeff Bezos, who started Amazon from his home garage back in 1994, we can realise our dreams of owning our own businesses and carving out our own slice of a niche market.The internet has made running a small or micro business much simpler. Modern technology has also enabled us to roll up many important business tasks into one, so we can now automate things that would have taken up a lot of our time in the past, such as bookkeeping, invoicing, banking and managing our business accounts.Social media tools and communications management apps allow us to stay connected with our existing clients, as well as take the hard work out of marketing our products or services to new customers. All these digital tools allow us to compete with the big boys on the same platforms and enable us to win a piece of the action.No matter what business idea you want to try out, or if you can see a gap in the market for a solution that you can provide, there has never been a better time to launch your own business.Let's take a closer look at some home-based business ideas that you may find appealing, especially if you have the desire to work from home, but haven't quite found your niche just yet.

Private Tutor

There are so many different educational, teaching and learning areas you can enter into. You don't necessarily have to be a trained academic that has a masters degree in mathematics either! It really doesn't matter whether you have a passion for algebra, can speak fluent French or German, can play the guitar, bake amazing cakes, love flower arranging, can turn a lump of wood into a thing of beauty or can code in five different computer languages – if you have a skill that you are passionate about, you can offer your services as a tutor for that particular subject.Whether you choose to run live online courses in real time via Skype, create a video course for subscribers to download and watch in their own time, or run weekly classes at your local community college in the evenings, there could be a niche opportunity for you to utilise an existing skill or passion for a subject that you can share with others.For some ideas take a look at Tutorful for inspiration, or check out what evening classes your local community college offer. You may spot a gap in their programme that you could fill with a skill, or you could approach a different college with a talent you have that your local college already provide.

Graphic designer

There are so many business opportunities open to a good graphic designer. The fact that you work from home usually makes no difference to the customer as they will only be interested in your results. Just about every business launched today needs a good foundation of design to work from. Graphic designers are constantly in demand to help create company logo's, come up with creative images for brand recognition and marketing design coordination.To be successful in this line, you will need to have a genuine creative spark, a good imagination and a willingness to learn and keep up with new design technology. The added benefit of being a graphic designer is that you don't necessarily need an awful lot of space to get going. Working from a spare bedroom or home office can help to keep the costs down while you get yourself established.

Florist

People love flowers and they are very popular gift choices for significant events throughout the year, such as birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduation, landing a new job, to celebrate a new baby arrival, Valentines Day, and Christmas. Not forgetting that flowers are the gift of choice to help cheer up poorly loved ones that are having a spell in hospital or recovering at home.Starting a floristry business from home is a great idea if you have some spare space like a garage or outbuilding that you can turn into your workshop. Hiring a bricks-and-mortar shop can help to get your business noticed, but they can come at a hefty price with commercial rent and business tax to pay out, let alone paying out for utilities such as water, heating and electricity.Because floristry is a very visual creative art, you should take advantage of raising your awareness on a social media platform that uses a lot of imagery, such as Instagram. With floristry, seeing is believing, so you can set yourself up a wonderful portfolio of work and keep photographic galleries of creations to suit every niche market.

Freelance Writer

If you have a way with words, then freelance writing can offer a very flexible home-based business to start up. Again, there are many different niches you could look at working within, so if you have a particular passion that you would find easy and inspiring to write about, then you could look at creating useful content to sell to others, or write your own books or guides and publish them yourself to sell.There are writing opportunities on freelance job portals that you can bid for, or you can attract buyers to book your writing services by creating a profile and outlining what you can offer. It is also worth approaching newspapers and magazines to pitch ideas and articles. Newspaper and magazine editors are always on the lookout for fresh content so they may be willing to pay you for topical articles or even hire you to write some copy for them.Look on Twitter and other social media sites for job opportunities. Quite often a company will circulate a journalism request, so if you spot one that is right up your street you could be on to a good thing for future bookings, especially if they like what you submit to them.

Virtual assistant services

If you have worked in admin and find yourself a natural at organising your workload, running diaries and communicate well with people, then working as a virtual assistant could be an ideal business idea to start!There are many small business owners, sole traders and solo-entrepreneurs that would really appreciate a hand with a lot of day-to-day admin tasks that need to be done, but can keep them from doing other important things.You can expect to given tasks such as handling customer enquiries and communications, uploading web content, managing diaries and appointments, inputting orders and more, depending on what your customer needs you to do.You will need to set out exactly what tasks you are prepared to do and what hours you will be available for work. You will also have to decide how many clients you can handle at one time.These are just a few of our favourite working from home ideas, but there are many more that you could look at, for example:

• babysitting
• cake making
• car valeting
• childminding
• cleaning services
• computer repairs
• DIY handyman services
• dog walking
• eBay seller
• entertainer
• garden maintenance
• Ironing services
• pet grooming
• translation services
• personal training

Don't let yourself become overwhelmed

While it can be a very exciting time to start your own business from home, it can also be very daunting. Be prepared to put in a lot of hard work in the early days and risk sacrificing a lot of your spare time to get things up and running.Once you start to get your business established then you may also face demand rising very quickly, which can put a lot of pressure on you. In this case, it would be wise to look at getting some help with your everyday tasks to allow you to focus on other important areas of your work.A lot of solo-entrepreneurs and small business owners can ease the pressure of managing they are everyday administration tasks by using professional virtual office services such as ours. Capital Office virtual office services can be an ideal solution for when you need to focus on your work, meet with important clients or suppliers, or while you are travelling for work and cannot afford to be tied to your office.We can take care of your everyday administration duties so that you don't have to! We can ensure that every business call is answered so you never have to miss a business opportunity because you were busy in a meeting dealing with clients.Our fully trained and experienced administrative assistants have years of business knowledge and service under their belts, so will work very efficiently for you. Our virtual office team will answer your calls with your preferred greeting and handle each call as you direct us to. We will take care of all your incoming business mail and manage it to your specifications. We offer a lot of flexible options for your mail sorting and handling needs, so you don't need to worry about missing an important business letter or mandatory notification from HMRC or Companies House.If you are quite happy handling your own administrative tasks by yourself, but you could do with a hand to manage your incoming business calls, then you should look at hiring a professional call handling service. There are many benefits to be had from using a call handling service and the main point of it is to free you up from being tied to your company phone for every hour of your working day.Take a look at our professional call handling services to see how we can support you and help your company to grow from strength to strength.

There are many thousands of small businesses and solo entrepreneurs that operate their businesses online. For the older generation of workers and business owners that operate and work within a physical, bricks and mortar business, it can be very difficult for them to understand that a business can exist solely online.Many people have difficulty believing that anyone can 'do business' where your company does everything online, and has no physical assets or offices. It can be hard for them to accept that in this digital age, running a company online is entirely possible.However, even if you are running a successful company from your back bedroom or from your laptop as you move from place to place on the road, there will be some aspects of it that still exist in the real world. We are talking about business phone calls, business mail and essential legal correspondence coming from HMRC and Companies House.These all need to be handled professionally and in a timely manner. This is where using a virtual office solution can work for you.

Why it makes sense to use a Complete Virtual Office

Although virtual offices have been around for quite a few years now, evolving new digital technology has meant that the services they can offer have changed drastically from what was offered originally.In fact, for anyone wanting to launch a brand-new business idea, they are now able to put 100% of their time and effort into developing and growing it without having to be distracted or have their time diverted towards other essential day to day tasks that need to be done.In the old days, setting up a brand new business meant that the business owner needed to look for offices to rent, lay out a lot of money for deposits and securities for the office space, then go through the quite long-winded process of looking for staff to man the office, such as a receptionist to answer the company phones and take in their business post.The office set-up alone could be a huge drain on resources, and with most entrepreneurs working on a very tight budget, seeing a large slice of their savings disappear on building rent and staffing costs can be very frustrating. Then there is also all of the extra expenses to add on, such as telecommunications equipment purchase and installation, building insurance, gas, electricity and water to supply and pay for, furniture, carpets and curtains to put in to make the place comfortable for the staff.All this extra time and expense paid out even before your business idea has even been launched!Luckily, there is a perfect solution that allows modern entrepreneurs these days to skip all of this expense as well as the time-consuming tasks of setting up and running a physical bricks and mortar office for their business.

Running a lean online business

Using the services of a complete virtual office provider, such as Capital Office, will allow your virtual office to become an essential part of your team. When you want to run a lean business and strip your resources down to the absolute bare bones of what is necessary to run your business, you will quickly learn that one of the biggest drains on your finances will be running a physical office and paying for your full time staff.Why would you do this if you are working from a tight budget when there is a perfect solution all ready and waiting to go in a complete virtual office set up.By choosing to use a complete virtual office service, you can have a very cost-effective way to effectively manage all of your day to day administration tasks that are essential to the successful running of your business – but you will not have to spend a single penny on office rent, equipment costs or staff wages!By outsourcing your admin needs to Capital Office, you can be giving yourself a great strategic advantage. There amount of time saved on sorting out your office can now be dedicated to developing your business idea and getting it launched ASAP.

How virtual office services work

Instead of you trying to answer all of your incoming business calls and sorting your business mail single-handedly, you can be out meeting clients, developing your marketing strategy or working on your plans for expansion.Our complete virtual office services are already set up and running in Central-London and staffed with highly trained, professionals with many years of administrative and customer service experience under their belt. You simply book our services, give us your required information, and we will take care of the rest! There is no having to rent offices or hire staff – we have everything you need and can start working for your business within a day.

Our complete virtual office services can be yours in three simple steps:

• Sign up now online

Choose a suitable package online and complete our simple online order form in under 60 seconds.

• Start using the service

Once your registration is complete you will be able to start using our prestigious City Road office address as your own instantly.

• Your post is processed & calls answered

Once we start receiving your letters and calls we will handle this the way you have asked us too.By choosing our Complete Virtual Office services, you will be benefiting from a strong partnership with us that allows you to concentrate on your urgent projects and meetings, while leaving the running of your office in our safe and capable hands. You can be rest assured that we will take good care of you and your business. Capital Office has been helping entrepreneurs and small business owners to run their companies for many years from our Central-London offices.Why not take a look at our Complete Virtual Office packages and choose one of our flexible plans that suits your needs and your budget. You will be so glad that you did!

Further reading:

What Benefits Can Your Business Get from a Virtual Receptionist?5 Benefits for New Start-ups Using a Virtual Office

No matter what size of business you operate, you will know that one of the most important tasks involved in running your business is making sure that your business calls are always answered. Not only that, but answered promptly, politely and professionally.While answering your incoming telephone calls may seem like a pretty easy task, many business owners don't give the job much thought. How your calls are answered can often influence how your company will be perceived by your potential new customers. It can take just a few short seconds for prospective customers to form a first impression of your company based on how your answer their call.Ignoring your phone while you focus on completing other tasks can mean potential new and very lucrative leads are kept waiting for you to answer. Keeping people hanging on the phone for too long can cause great frustration. Most people these days don't have the time or patience to be kept waiting on the phone for very long.We understand that your time is also very precious. If you are trying to run your business with a small team of staff, or even by yourself on your own, you will have many other pressing duties to attend to. As a business owner you need to be able to free up your time to focus on finishing off projects, meet with production deadlines, take meetings with current clients or negotiate with suppliers for your essential business supplies or services. It can be incredibly difficult to concentrate on juggling so many different tasks at once, so when your telephone suddenly starts to ring while in the middle of an important meeting or conversation, you will also feel quite frustrated.

Professional telephone manner

Another aspect of being up to your eyes trying to manage all of your day to day tasks is the fact that when you do get to answer an incoming call, you may not answer it in the best frame of mind. If you have been focusing on a project and your mind has been absorbed deeply in your work, you may answer your phone with quite a disinterested voice. To the caller you can sound tired, distracted, irritated or simply fed-up! This doesn't make for a very good first impression, and can even lead the caller to ring off and go in search of one of your rivals for a better customer service experience.Don't let potential new leads fall through the cracks because you don't have the time to answer your telephone. By using Professional Call Answering Services from Capital Office, you can have a great weight lifted off your shoulders. Capital Office are a leading expert business call answering service provider based in Central-London. We have many years of experience helping thousands of small business owners to manage their business telephone calls.Lets take a look at some of the benefits of using our professional call answering services:

Customised answering with your company name

Image is everything in business, especially when you are trying to win new customers or clients, or want to retain your existing customer base and continue to provide them with a high-quality customer service experience.With our professional call answering services, you will have all of your incoming business telephones calls answered swiftly – no keeping prospective new customers hanging on the line. Your calls will also be answered very professionally and clearly with your own company name. This can give your callers instant reassurance that they have reached the right place.Many business owners worry that by outsourcing their call answering, they will be getting someone answering their calls with a simple 'hello'. This is not the case with Capital Office. Our fully trained call answering staff are all very experienced in providing good quality customer services and are fully equipped to respond to caller queries and questions. This is because we take the time to get to know you and your business, so that we become a trusted partner that is here to help support your business and understand your needs.

Fully customised service

When you work in partnership with a reliable call answering service such as ours, you will be delivered with a fully customised service so that your virtual receptionist will know how to respond to your incoming calls. Your company name, byline, logo and preferred greeting can be easily incorporated into how we answer your calls.

A choice of message delivery options

Whether you are planning to go into a day-long meeting with a current customer, or you plan to be on the road for some time and unable to take any calls, we can tailor our message delivery to suit your needs.You can choose how you would like your messages delivered. This could be by forwarding specific calls directly to your mobile phone should you be keen to speak in person to that caller, or if you are awaiting a confirmation message from someone, we can take that message and forward it to you immediately so you are completely up to speed with your project progress.Should you want your call messages recorded and delivered to you at a specific time, such as later in the afternoon after you have finished all of your important tasks, then this is what we can do. This means that you can work all day in peace and truly concentrate on your important tasks and become fully absorbed without the risk of interruption from an incoming call.Having your thought processes or work procedures constantly interrupted can cause a lot of frustration and delay. Your productivity levels can drop, and a constantly ringing telephone can be very disrupting for any other workers in your office or workplace that need to focus on their tasks without any distractions.It makes sense to place your call handling into the hands of a professional company such as Capital Office. We can provide you with a high-quality service at very cost-effective prices. Our services can also save you a lot of money because you will not need to hire your own full-time receptionist and provide them with an office and equipment to do their job. Our virtual receptionists can take care of your calls for a fraction of the price of employing your own staff.

Real London-based receptionists

Another positive benefit from using our professional call answering services is that your incoming business calls will be handled by real-life, London-based receptionists. Many other call answering providers can use outsourced services from overseas call centres. With Capital Office you will get a professional service from our fully-trained London team, plus the added prestige of using a unique 0203 or 0207 London number for your business. This gives instant gravitas to your company because your prospective new customers will be impressed that your business has a London business telephone number.It is a known fact that when people browse the internet looking for a business, they are more likely to trust a company with a contact number that is based in London rather than an obvious residential address phone number. Having a London-based business number is more impressive and creates a more professional image in the minds of people than someone who works from home and uses their home phone number for their business.Why not sign up for our professional call answering services and get your unique 0203 or 0207 London number for your business and start impressing your clients today!

Further reading:

Can I Use a Complete Virtual Office for My Online Business?How To Get a UK Address for your Expat Mail-Forwarding Needs

With more and more companies offering business owners virtual services via the internet, a greater number of companies than ever before are taking advantage of the many services on offer, such as the one being offered by Your Virtual Office. A sole operator or entrepreneur can save themselves a lot of money by using someone to outsource different parts of the business rather than them having to hire out a large building to accommodate a full suite of in-house staff, as well as avoid all the overheads of supplying and running essential IT and telecommunications equipment.

A popular option for the single business owner or entrepreneur is to use a virtual receptionist through our professional call-handling package to help manage essential aspects of the day to day reception duties without the need for employing someone on site. But what are the benefits of hiring a virtual receptionist, and what can most businesses expect get from using such a service?

Ideal employee

For starters, a virtual receptionist can be available to your business needs 24 hours a day and doesn’t need time off for sickness or holidays – that’s because you are outsourcing to a virtual service rather than hiring an individual receptionist. The virtual service provider will have a team of people to handle all the individual services you need and this means there are none of the usual limits and barriers that you find with hiring a single member of staff to work on site.

Having a virtual receptionist service on hand also allows you to offer your callers a professional receptionist service at any time, ideal if you want to conduct in-depth or drawn-out business or client meetings where you don't want to be disturbed, but you cannot afford to miss any important incoming calls.

For those small business owners who may only need a voicemail only service to cover periods where they are out of communication, such as during business meetings, travel times or while away on holiday, then there are even low-cost services to suit you too!

The financial costs of hiring a virtual receptionist is also much less than taking on a full-time employee, especially when hiring the service over the longer term where you can get great value for money. Not only do you get that very important extensive receptionist coverage you require, but you don’t have all the associated costs that come with having someone offering this service within your business – there are no holidays to accommodate, pension plans to contribute to, sick days to cover, equipment to provide, or other expenses.

Avoid employee issues

Many businesses will have hired temporary staff over the years to do this kind of work and while this can be a great option, at other times it doesn’t work out quite so well. By using the services of a virtual receptionist, you are accessing professionally trained people who will be able to perform this service all of the time, no matter where you are based or what your line of business is. The kind of experience and professional expertise offered by a virtual receptionist would cost a lot to employ for your company, full or part-time, if you could even find someone that good.

Professional Virtual Receptionists services are also very flexible and are able to be completely personalised to suit your company – the receptionist answers with your company name, accesses your business information and will act as if they were a full-time member of your business team. This means that they can offer a fully comprehensive, seamless, and professional customer service without actually being physically present within your company, or ever having to set foot through your doorway.

Virtual Services Available

As well as ensuring that they answer your incoming business calls with a warm and friendly tone using your company name, your virtual receptionist will also know about your company background. They will be able to intercept and direct an incoming call confidently, politely and efficiently.

Depending on your business needs, your virtual reception services can be tailored to meet your requirements. This can include routing calls to the right person, transferring calls between different sections of the business, taking messages while staff members are unavailable, and even for the screening out sales calls and nuisance callers.

By simply outsourcing your essential company receptionist duties to Your Virtual Office, you can have all the professional services that a full-time receptionist offers without the need to hire any full or part-time employees whatsoever.

You can save yourself a lot of money too because you also don’t need a physical location for them to be based – no need to have an office within the premises with a phone system and a desk. There is no need to have an office at all for your administration needs if your business model doesn’t’ require one. And you can keep down the costs of overheads such as electricity, office rent, stationery, land-line and mobile phone costs by outsourcing this service while still offering the best possible customer experience to everyone who calls your company.

For many businesses, one of the first things they believe they need to acquire to become a reality, or a bona fide business, is a physical premises to operate from – usually an office or shop space. And while this remains the case for many types of business, others have begun to explore a better option to help combine their need for a company space with the lack of need for a customer facing facility – the virtual office.

As the notion of flexible working becomes more of a reality, and a central part of many businesses working life, many business owners are examining new ways to work. Technology and progressive management techniques also mean that the traditional bricks and mortar office is not always an essential requirement for a modern business. Changing business structures, flexible working arrangements and the outsourcing of services have all meant that the virtual office may be the perfect solution for your business.

What is a virtual office?

Virtual offices allow your business some of the key benefits of a traditional office without the need to hire a dedicated physical space, such as an office block, or a commercial premises that also contains a suite of offices. A virtual office can offer a professional city centre address, call handling, mail sorting and reception services that allow the business to portray a professional image to the whole world without the inconvenience of having office or building space to rent and other associated costs. Virtual office packages start with a very basic ‘address only’ options that can handle mail forwarding and create a physical business address. This means that you don't have to use your own personal home address on your business paperwork and then have to suffer being inundated with junk mail and cold callers at your home.

In addition, businesses can also use services that assist people working from home such as PA services and access to meeting rooms at a discounted price for when you need somewhere professional to meet with important clients. It even offers call management services to cut down the time spent answering the phone. These services can be a Godsend to busy entrepreneurs who need to focus on getting their business off the ground without all of their time being taken up with the necessary day to day administrative tasks of running a company.

When is a virtual office the right option?

The cost difference between a virtual office and real bricks and mortar office is obviously significant, especially for address only and mail forwarding services where you want to keep your home address private and separate from your business. Added to this is the prestige of having an EC1 London city centre location for a business address that most business owners couldn’t afford to rent for their traditional office space. But cost alone isn’t the only way to know when a virtual office is the right choice.

The trend for people working from home has grown steadily over the last ten years or so as more people either work freelance, start their own business from home, or simply conduct their company role from their home address. Rather than being a temporary solution, it has become a lifestyle choice for a wide range of people – from parents to people wanting to live in rural locations or even in another country.

However, there are still some who see this business model as offering problems – people located in far flung places, removed from the ‘real’ world of business as they work from home. Often a physical address is used as a defining factor when choosing a business to work with and a home based business may miss out due to this. By replacing the registered address from a home address to a virtual office, a business can cut through this preconception and offer a traditional style address to look more professional in the eyes of prospective new customers.

Another option is for those home based businesses who need extra services but don’t want to commit to running a full office suite just yet. Or they have an office that they are happy with but it is in a more remote location and when you are London-based, this can sometimes be seen as a negative. Some 74% of businesses currently using virtual office services are working with companies based in the City or West End of London but who aren’t ready to commit to a physical office space in these locations.

Geographical benefits

Another part of the flexible, home working business model is that employees can be remote or satellite workers that are spread across diverse geographical areas where a permanent office space for this type of business simply doesn’t make any logical sense. However, a central address to use for correspondence purposes as well as for client meetings and even to use for personal assistant services can be highly beneficial. Quite often these service are used by a sole trader, freelancer or single entrepreneur who needs PA services to support them in their work.

A high quality complete virtual office service will act as part of the team, adding an additional level of professionalism to the business, as well as helping to manage essential administration duties. It allows businesses that are using flexible and modern technology options for their business to also offer a physical address that fulfils some traditional requirements and is also a very cost-effective way to get a professional London address. The virtual office services can also be scaled up and down as needed and cancelled within a short notice period if the needs of the business should change. This is not so easy to do in the real world with live staff that you will have to hire and fire as your business develops and matures. It also allows core staff to work wherever suits them best rather than wasting time commuting into the office every morning and thankfully avoid that dreaded rush hour traffic!

The tech industry is booming at the moment, and there are new start-ups taking their first steps into the business world almost on a daily basis. However, just as quickly as new start-ups get going, just as many are floundering. Industry experts will tell you that the key to starting up a successful business is fostering, maintaining a very high level of efficiency, and having a virtual office.Most start-ups have to work to very tight budget constraints, so it makes sense for them to utilise their resources in a sensible way. This means making economic decisions with regards to business premises and staffing levels. These are two essentials that are very draining on your budget, but without them it can be almost impossible to establish and run your business.This is where having a virtual office is incredibly useful for new start-ups. When money is tight and your time is precious, having a turn-key solution that is already set up and ready to handle all your necessary day to day administration and running tasks to allow you to function can be a Godsend.Lets take a closer look at the top five reasons why having a virtual office is key to the successful grounding of a new start-up business.

A cost-effective solution

Let me ask you a question. You have a set budget to spend on getting your business off the ground. Would you like to spend the bulk of your available budget on renting premises and buying office furniture, hiring staff, and spending out on all the necessary insurances to meet current health and safety standards, or would you prefer to spend your money on developing your new product or service?Virtual offices are so very cost-effective, efficient and convenient. There is no hiring or firing to do, no staff training or providing them with facilities such as car parking, toilets, kitchens or staff rooms. There is not office furniture, computer equipment or telephones to buy. You can hire our complete virtual office that has everything you need at very affordable prices. The cost is a drop in the ocean when compared to what you would need to lay out for your own office suite.Plus on top of these benefits, you can easily scale up your services on demand to meet your growing needs as your business expands. So when you would have outgrown your first small office, had you set it up yourself, there is no need to search for larger premises, move your office and suffer the down-time while everything is being dismantled, moved and set back up again. With a virtual office, you simply have more services added to your plan. Easy!

Convey a professional image

You can never underestimate how important image is in business. A new start-up needs to get itself established as a reputable company that must be taken seriously as quickly as possible. To do this, having a good business address with some gravitas makes you look much more credible in the eyes of others, especially those you wish to do business with as well as your business peers.To stay one step ahead of your competition is important if you want to be successful. You can create, establish and maintain a strong and credible brand to attract customers and investors by having your very own prestigious City Road EC1 London business address.

The human touch

There are also added extras that you can make good use of without the need for them to be a permanent fixture of your business. For example, why pay for your own meeting room when it will stand empty for most of the time? Yes, business meetings are important, but do you need to spend a lot of money on renting premises large enough to accommodate a meeting room when it stands idle for the most part?So what is the solution? Our meeting room hire service is something that you can use as and when you need it. This can save you a lot of money, and don't forget that our meeting rooms come complete with a personalised reception service where a professionally trained member of staff will welcome your visitors and settle them in your chosen meeting room. Our high quality unbranded modern meeting rooms are very comfortable, air-conditioned, fully serviced with full rapid speed fibre optic Wi-Fi and cabled Internet solutions and have presentation whiteboards.Although we offer a virtual office solution that is perfectly tailored to suit your business needs, it doesn't mean you are going to miss out on the personal touch. Don't forget that whether you choose to use our complete virtual office service, or just the telephone answering service alone, there will always be a real life human there taking your business calls in a professional and friendly manner. This can convey a great sense of trust and reliability within prospective clients or possible business associates. The level of professionalism on offer with our virtual office services is second to none.

In-built flexibility

Flexibility is key with any new start-up business. As your business grows, you will want to quickly keep apace with your expansion needs. The flexibility that a virtual-office offers is immeasurable. You can upgrade your existing package to include extra services or have larger meeting rooms to facilitate group meetings, AGM's or small conferences. You can comfortably expand and grow at your own pace without having the inconvenience of moving offices or renting larger office premises.

Seamless continuity

Who needs the disruption of having to move office every year or so when there is no need to? With a virtual office solution you can expand your services to meet the growing needs of your business as it expands. Our services will continue seamlessly with no disruption or downtime that would be associated with an office relocation. There will be no need for a change of address on your official business letterheads, invoices and business cards. There will be no need to notify clients of a change of address and no risk of a communication breakdown that can lead to frustration and lost business.With a virtual office solution, you can avoid many common issues that comes with facilitating your own office space, plus you will be saving a fortune on overheads and administration that comes with running an office. You can free your time up to focus on what is important – the future growth of your company.

Technology is a wonderful thing, butwhat seems to be happening more and more in the world of business isthat AI including chatbots, automated answerphones, driverless taxicabs, lorries and cars, self-service supermarkets and fast-foodrestaurants are all making the headlines, but are effectivelyremoving the human element from many walks of life.

While advancements in technology canhelp to automate many a task and save big companies a fortune by nothaving to employ staff to perform certain tasks, it really isworrying that they can believe their customers are going to be happyabout these changes.

At the end of the day, a business ownershould never forget that their customers are the life-blood of theirbusiness. Without happy customers, how would any business manage tobe successful?

Howcommunication has changed

The internet has completely changed theface of business and the creation of mobile technologies such assmartphones, laptops and tablets have transformed the way we interactwith each other.

No matter whether you are a B2B or B2Cbusiness, how we communicate with each other and our customers havegone from just face-to-face meetings, letters and telephone calls tocommunicating over various messaging platforms, social media andthrough apps.

With the creation of Skype and Slack,business people no longer need to meet face-to-face, but instead caninteract with each other and directly with their customers in waysthat not too long ago were once unimaginable.

Greaterflexibility in the workplace

All of these new technologies andcommunication platforms have enabled people that work more remotelyand work together, whether that's via online collaboration sites orSkype when you can have meetings in different time zones unimpeded bygeography.

The ability for teams to work togetherremotely means businesses have a whole new level of freedom thatmeans that they no longer need to build and rely on one physicalcentral head office.

Technology has also enabled soloentrepreneurs and micro-businesses to operate on the same platformand at the same level as the much larger companies that used todominate business sectors.

Adoptingvirtual services

With so much new technology at ourfingertips, it makes sense to adopt and make good use of as much newtechnology as we can, including the creation of virtual services thatthis new technology has allowed to grow and flourish over recentyears.

As a business owner, it is importantthat you identify and utilise virtual options that could bettersupport you and your staff as well as your customers.

Depending on the size of your businessthat could be as simple as adopting one single virtual service, suchas a real-life human callanswering service, an app or piece of softwarethat will help to resolve an existing issue with your business.

Interactingwith your customers

As mentioned earlier, a lot ofbusinesses are moving more towards using AI and technology to replacethe human element of their production line or business structure.While it has meant that companies have cut their overheads and savedmoney, it has served to create a big disconnect with their customers– the very people they need to keep their business alive.

As any business improvement consultantsand managers will tell you, how you interact with your customers ishugely important. While a company can adopt technologies to helptheir staff work better with each other, they need to remember to dothis with their customers too.

Workon your infrastructure

Your business needs to be fast, agileand always connected. However, if you are a solo-entrepreneur or youare running a small business with a skeleton staff, then you will berunning at maximum capacity with little to no time to dedicate to thecare of your customers or to be able to effectively deal withprospective new clients that are calling your business 24/7.

An important part of the success ofyour business will be to realise that you need to run a human-centriccompany that makes good use of modern technology but also maintainsthat essential human element and connection that your customers needto trust your company and get the high-quality customer service thatthey want from you.

While these days it is important thatyour business needs to be connected 24/7, it doesn't mean that you asan individual must be!

Takingthe virtual option

You need to take a regular break fromyour business each day and enable yourself to step away and rest forthe sake of your own mental health. However, you don't want to miss asingle phone call from a prospective new customer that can become anew source of income for your business.

This is where our completevirtual office services can come in very handy.Not only can we help you to catch every single call from aprospective new customer or B2B company that wants to contact you byhaving your calls answered by a real-life human receptionist, we canallow you to break free of being permanently tied to your businessphone line.

Unpluggingyourself from technology

If you prefer to stay in control ofyour business phone and can answer every single incoming call on yoursmartphone during your working hours, then you can at least allowyourself to take the night off after work.

Capital Office London also offers busybusiness clients the option of a voicemailonly service that you can switch on after youleave work so that you are not disturbed by your business calls whilespending time at home with your family or friends.

By using either of our call answeringservices you can set yourself healthy boundaries between work andhome life. This will encourage you to take needed downtime andunplugging yourself from technology as and when you need to.

Protectingyour privacy

Because modern technology allowsbusiness owners to work from pretty much anywhere, this means that alot of lean business owners are able to set up and run their companyfrom home rather than to go to the expense of hiring offices to workfrom.

It can be quite eye-opening to realisejust how much company information is available online. While you wantyour business to have a strong online presence and you will beactively doing everything you can to build up your brand recognitionand raise awareness of your business, you will still be wanting toprotect your own personal privacy and the privacy of your family.

While it is important to protectyourself and your business from hacking and identity theft, you willneed to submit a lot of your information to the CompaniesHouse website for public display.

The Companies House website has aregister of every single registered limited company, a publiccompany, LLP, CIC and persons of significant control (PSC) in thecountry. This means that the details of company addresses, the namesof directors and their addresses are all available for anyone toview.

While all these details are required bylaw to aid transparency and prevent people from hiding behind nomineedirectors or control companies without having to declare an interest,it can be riskier for those running a business from their ownpersonal home address to be exposed to cold callers and disgruntledcustomers knocking on your door, or potential ID fraudsters stealingyour identity.

A great solution here would be to makegood use of our virtual office address services.

Virtualoffice address services

Registered Office Address: Byusing our virtual office address services you can have a RegisteredOffice Address in London for your business.This means that your home address will not be publicised online.

A registered office address is a legalrequirement for all UK Companies. Our service includes free statutorymail forwarding and is cost-effective, reliable and efficient. Yourregistered office address with us is HMRC approved so you know ourservices are credible and trustworthy.

Directors Service Address: Adirectorsservice address package allows your companyofficers to use our central London address as their businesscorrespondence address, which is displayed at Companies House on thepublic record. Using this service will keep your private home addressoff public display.

When using our virtual addressservices, including a directorsservice address option, you will still need tosubmit your residential address to Companies House, but this will bekept private and off the public record.

The only address for your company thatwill be displayed is your virtual office address that is based in thecentre of London's famous business district, giving your businessinstant credibility and a sense of gravitas that will do your companyimage a world of good.

By taking out any of our virtual officeaddress services, your registered office address or directorsservice address will be:

Your name

Your company name

Kemp House

152 – 160 City Road

London EC1V 2NX

Do not hesitate to contact ourexperienced team at Capital Offices to discuss your business needs,whether that is for any of our call answering services to ourcomplete virtual office package or virtual London business addressoptions.

Call our team +44 (0) 207 566 3939 oremail us office@capital-office.co.ukor call in for a chat at our London offices in Kemp House – we arealways happy to talk to you!

With 95% of all self-employed people inthe UK being sole traders, or single entrepreneurs heading up theirown limitedcompany, there is a lot of pressure on a small business owner tobe present and responsive for their business 24/7.

While you must get some downtime awayfrom your work for the sake of your mental health, you can makethings a lot easier for yourself by effectively connecting both youronline and offline presence to reassure your existing and potentialnew customers that there are real people behind your business, andyou are happy to engage with them.

Theimportance of maintaining you online and offline presence

We live in a very interconnected worldthese days, so solo entrepreneurs need to keep up both their onlineand offline presence to help generate new business and maintainexisting business.

What you need to do here is to ensurethat both your digital and real-life persona match up and that youpresent a consistent image to your customers and followers. Havingthis consistency really helps to build trust with potential newcustomers and loyalty with your existing customer base.

Presenting a fragmented image ofyourself or your company which differs greatly between your onlineand offline persona can confuse prospective new customers causingthem to pause and hesitate over whether or not to trust you withtheir money.

When you present a united andconsistent front you will be reassuring potential new customers thatyou run a genuine business and that you can be trusted.

So, what can you do to join-up youronline and offline persona to build and strengthen your overallpresence? Let's take a look at a few solid ways to market yourselfand your brand to connect them together and present a united frontfor your business.

1:Maintain consistent branding and marketing messages

Take a look at your analytics to findwhat marketing message is performing the best for you. Use thismessage to lead your brand and repurpose it to fit across all of yourmarketing and awareness campaigns.

Finding your best customer touchpointsand being consistent with your delivery is the key for reaching outand connecting with both existing customers as well as engaging withnew ones.

As your target audience continues tosee your online marketing messages and come to recognise your brand,there will be an increased likelihood that they will choose to buyyour product or service due to their consistent recognition andfamiliarity with your brand.

You must take the same marketingmessage and brand to use in your offline marketing efforts to helpbuild your online and offline connection. Those potential customersmeeting you in real-life will be much more comfortable to go onlineand buy from you when the information you provide them in person isthe same as they see online.

2:Join your local chamber of trade and commerce

Most towns and cities will have a localchamber of trade and commerce in some form or another. Check onlineor with your local council to find their contact details.

Joining your local chamber of commercecan be very useful as this is a group of local business people thatwant to help local businesses of all sizes, from large commercialbusinesses to small businesses and sole traders.

Most are run by volunteers, but othersmay charge a small membership fee. Do your research and join one thatsuits your needs the best. This may mean that your nearest large citythat covers your area may run a group that is bigger and morepro-active than a much smaller group in your town.

The meetings they run allow localentrepreneurs to gather together to learn from each other and makevaluable networking contacts. You can take advantage here bypromoting your own online or offline business to fellow businessowners who may be interested in using your services or buying yourproducts.

You can also set up a reciprocationoffer where you share your business details on their websites inexchange for you doing the same for them on your website. You couldalso set up a discount scheme for your fellow chamber members to useand they could offer the same for other group members.

3:Collect email subscribers manually

As most of you will already know,having an email list can be one of the most valuable tools yourbusiness owns. You can use your email list to send out directmessages to your existing customer base that you encourage to sign upwith you when they make an online purchase.

You can keep your email list informedof new product launches, special appearances, seasonal discounts orother special offers or news that you want to share.

While you should be using leadgenerating software on your website to encourage more emailsubscribers, you should also try to collect new email subscribers inperson. This can be done quickly, easily and in a friendly way whileyou are mingling at a local networking meeting or you are presentingat an event. You could offer them a special discount voucher or freegift that they can claim on the day and take home with them when theygive you their email address. This is a great way to connect youronline and offline marketing.

4:Hold a live online Q&A or demonstration

When you offer a product or servicethat you can demonstrate in person, then running a live online showand tell session will help to connect your online and offlinemarketing in a great way!

You can build up a lot of anticipationand excitement around your product or service by promoting an up andcoming demonstration event and live Q&A session where yourcustomers get to learn more about what you do and can get instantanswers to their questions.

Live Q&A or demonstrations work inthe real world too, so if you have booked a booth at an event, takethis opportunity to do a demonstration or a show and tell session toengage with a live audience. This can be more effective than simplystanding by your stall and handing out flyers.

5:Continue the conversation

A great salesperson never leaves aconversation open-ended! Where there is a conversation there is theopportunity to make a great close. You should be using the majorsocial media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for yourbusiness, so make sure that you recognise any customer pain pointsthat are raised during conversation, and make sure that you close outthat conversation with a solution (usually your product or service)explaining how it can help solve their problems.

Always remember to continue yourconversation and your engagement beyond making a sale. Ideally, youwant to build up a rapport with your customers to help build theirconfidence in your business and encourage them to stay loyal to youwith their repeat business.

Email a thank you message further downthe line and encourage them to feedback to you how your product orservice has helped them. If they are local to any events that you areattending, invite them along so you can meet them in person.

Meeting your customers face-to-face inthe real world can be incredibly powerful. They, in turn, will goaway as happy customers willing to talk about, spread the word andshare the benefits that your product or service brought them to theirpeers, family, friends and larger network.

6:Connect with influencers

No matter what business you areinvolved in, there will usually be some online or offline influencerthat is an expert in the field. Connecting with and building arelationship with an influencer can be a powerful move for yourbusiness.

When someone new discovers yourbusiness, they will be curious about what you can offer, but theywill be more inclined to listen to you or to trust your business ifyou are connected with a well-known and highly respected influencer.

It is important to take the time toslowly build your connection with any major influencers and not toblatantly go out to promote your product or service to them. You needto join in with the conversation or topic being discussed withoutmentioning your business.

Offer useful (free) advice or tellpeople about your own experiences and what helped you overcome anyshared issues you had. As you get drawn into the conversation andpeople get used to you and recognise your name, their naturalcuriosity will lead them to do a bit of research on you and yourbusiness.

This, in turn, can lead them to strikeup a conversation with you where they ask you about your products orservices, which then gives you a stage to start leading theconversation from and to draw in potential new customers.

7:Always be there for your customers

While all of these tips can help you toconnect both your online and offline business presence and promoteyour business, it is fair to say that no matter whether you areworking online to engage with your customers, or you are connectingin person at a live event, you simply cannot be in two places atonce!

By far the most simple, convenient,professional and effective way of always being there for yourcustomers is to have a good communication back up system.

You don't want to miss an importantphone call from a potential new customer because you are busy doing alive demonstration at a business event. You also don't want toencourage the people you meet in real life to call you only for themto be met with an ever-ringing phone that goes unanswered.

You need to capture every singlevaluable phone call that people make to your business. You can onlydo this by using a reliable and high-quality telephone call answeringservice, such as the one offered by CapitalOffices, so that you don't miss any salesopportunities.

The great thing about using aprofessionalcall answering service such as this is thatyour potential new customers, as well as your existing customers,will know their call is important to you and that their query orrequest has been noted and that you will be guaranteed to get back tothem or put directly through when you know their call is urgent.