How to Be a Good Receptionist

Are you trying to land a new job as a receptionist? Or maybe you’re a business that wants to hire one to help manage the administrative work in the office. Whether you’re looking for candidates or hoping to become one, it’s helpful to understand the skills and qualities that make a good receptionist.

A receptionist becomes the face of an organization. These professionals play essential roles for all types of companies. Discover their responsibilities, helpful skills and whether a virtual receptionist could be an ideal business choice for you.

Key Responsibilities of a Receptionist

The typical duties of a receptionist may vary depending on the company needs and the general organization of the working environment. Most companies will require their receptionists to handle responsibilities like:

• Greeting clients, both face-to-face and over the phone
• Managing call traffic
• Scheduling appointments and managing the company’s main calendar
• Taking messages in a friendly and professional manner 
• Assisting with administrative tasks
• Conducting research for company projects
• Overseeing data entry

While these are the core tasks of a receptionist, responsibilities are always subject to vary based on the office and industry. To support these tasks, a receptionist candidate should also offer the right skills for the specific position.

The Top 5 Receptionist Skills

The qualities of a great receptionist focus on hard skills and soft skills that support the responsibilities above. As an employer, you can highlight these skills in your job listing to encourage candidates with the right skillsets to apply.

1. Communication

Communication skills are among the most in-demand skills when it comes to customer service in general. It’s safe to say they carry even greater importance when it comes to a receptionist job description. Communication abilities extend to verbal and written communication, allowing a receptionist to interact with callers and coworkers over the phone, in person and via email. 

Another important aspect of communication skills is active listening. While a receptionist needs to be able to share ideas and convey messages effectively, they should also understand what other people are asking for. This skill is especially valuable over the phone where non-verbal communication like body language is not available.

2. Interpersonal

Interpersonal skills are also considered one of the top qualities of a receptionist and are required to fill the receptionist job description. This soft skill ensures that the receptionist can get along with coworkers, managers and vendors, consequently making the business run smoothly.

A key part of interpersonal skills is emotional intelligence. A receptionist needs to be ready to respond to all types of emotions. In some cases, a customer or client on the phone might feel angry or frustrated. Emotional intelligence empowers a receptionist to remain calm and help the caller feel heard when emotions are high. 

3. Organization

People with a great sense of organization are built for receptionist positions. They have an innate capacity for keeping everything in order even when under a considerable amount of stress. They develop a record-keeping system (or adopt an existing one) that lets them stay systematic and efficient even when they encounter unexpected situations. Having the ability to access a file or find a phone number in the heat of the moment is critical to being a good receptionist and a valuable asset to a company.

Keeping a tidy workspace, setting up calendars and prioritizing tasks are all strong organizational skills.

Decision-making skills are also an advantage when it comes to being a receptionist. While making decisions regarding company affairs is mostly done by the CEO, there will be situations when the person in charge is not available, and the client needs a solution right away. In these situations, the receptionist needs to make the decision that will keep the client happy and be in tune with the company’s policies.

4. Technical Abilities

Receptionists are responsible for using a lot of technology, such as chat software, online tools and software specific to your business or industry. Professionals filling these roles should have some familiarity and comfort with technology. If you have proprietary software or industry-specific tools, you’ll likely need to train your new hire — but a receptionist candidate should feel confident about picking up these technical skills.

5. Efficient and Effective Multitasking

Receptionists are counted on to handle multiple responsibilities at the same time. While this may sound overwhelming to some, exceptional receptionists handle these environments well and often thrive within them. This type of multitasking can include maintaining a steady workflow while simultaneously answering client calls, managing call routing, giving out crucial information and keeping track of daily duties and important meetings. Multitasking can become easier as the individual gets more familiar with their working environment and establishes a routine.

While smaller businesses might not have the daily pressure that bigger businesses have, receptionists working for smaller companies are often given even broader responsibilities that might include administrative tasks, online research and assisting on projects of great importance.

The Rise of Virtual Receptionists

Many businesses depend on receptionists to stay organized and interact with clients or customers. While hiring an in-person receptionist can be valuable for your business, virtual receptionists can offer a similar level of support without the need to recruit, train and manage an in-house employee.

Working with virtual receptionists through a call answering service like AnswerHero™ is typically a more cost-effective solution. This approach to hiring a receptionist helps you save on costs for onboarding, training and payroll. Virtual receptionist services are also designed to be highly scalable. As your requirements grow, your answering service can grow with you. 

A virtual receptionist can operate 24/7, helping you improve business availability. Even when your office is closed, a virtual receptionist can take important calls, schedule meetings as needed and take messages. During office hours, your virtual receptionist can also route calls to the right people. For example, if a caller has a billing question, your virtual receptionist can route the call to the financial team.

Choose AnswerHero™ for Virtual Receptionist Services

At AnswerHero™, our virtual receptionist services are designed to scale with you. Our flexible, contract-free pricing plans make it easy to choose a service level based on your call volume. Update or cancel your service any time without penalty, and count on us whenever your call volume shifts. Plus, every agent on our team is fully bilingual to support interactions with Spanish-speaking callers.

Ready to get started with a virtual receptionist? Contact us today!