Do you run a small or medium-sized business that you manage largely from home? But you don’t want your customers to contact you via your home address? Then a so-called virtual office is probably the best solution for you. Here, you can rent a business address and a telephone number through which your customers can reach you – even if you’re not in the same place as them. Virtual offices are therefore also ideal, for example, for entrepreneurs who travel a great deal and are on the move all over the world. Gone are the days of high telephone bills or difficulties in being reached due to different time zones. But what exactly is a virtual office? And how do I use a virtual office properly?
How do I use a virtual office?
Virtual office providers primarily offer their customers a business address and call-handling service. The business addresses are located in prestigious neighbourhoods and can even be rented worldwide. This option is ideal if you wish to tap into new markets. But even within Germany, business addresses at Frankfurt’s Nextower, Düsseldorf’s Dreischeibenhaus or Cologne’s Rudolfplatz make a strong impression and convey a sense of professionalism. Your customers will therefore be happy to place their trust in you. A prestigious company sign at the entrance and the certainty that you can be reached by telephone and post reassures prospective clients. This helps you project a trustworthy image.
Call handling can be managed in various ways. For example, a professional team can easily answer your calls via the internet. Alternatively, you can divert your calls to a call centre or an external customer service team. This ensures that only those calls that are genuinely relevant to you and your business are forwarded to you personally. Some business owners prefer to handle their calls themselves. Setting up an electronic answering machine could be a good option for this.
Calls are forwarded there and, when you have the time, you can listen to the messages and call customers back promptly. The downside is that most customers prefer to speak to a real person and therefore do not leave a message on the answering machine. At COLLECTION Business Centres, you can also choose not to have calls automatically forwarded and have your calls answered on your behalf directly on-site. This ensures that your customers and service providers always have a trained and competent contact person on the phone.
Office on demand – renting virtual offices
The COLLECTION Business Centres offer business addresses and a convenient telephone answering service in prestigious locations, providing you with a postal collection service as well as telephone customer support. However, there are situations in which you may need a physical office. For example, because a client has arranged to visit for a face-to-face meeting, or because tradespeople are making a lot of noise whilst carrying out work in your own home. In such cases, you can also rent an office on demand and welcome your clients in a pleasant and exclusive atmosphere, or carry out your day-to-day business there yourself. When you book a virtual office from COLLECTION Business Centre, you are free to decide how the furniture in the fully equipped offices should be arranged. So that you can feel at ease at all times.
Virtual offices offer a number of advantages, such as enhancing your company’s image and making your work significantly easier as an entrepreneur. With the services provided by COLLECTION Business Centre, you can focus entirely on your core business and don’t have to struggle with time-consuming routine tasks. In a fascinating interview with Janko Siegert, the former managing director and current Head of Sales at COLLECTION Business Centres, you’ll learn even more interesting facts about ‘What is a virtual office?’ and ‘How do I use a virtual office?’.
Cover image: © Shutterstock/Roman Samborskyi
