Part of your job is hiring people for your business and a big part of that is understanding what their roles and responsibilities are so that you can ensure that A) you are hiring the right people and B) you know that your business will be running like a well oiled machine.
A receptionist is often considered a minor part to play in a business, but actually your receptionist is going to be more important than you think.
Not only will you have less to manage on a day-to-day basis yourself with the help of your receptionist, but they are a person who’s going to act as the face of your company. This means that whoever you hire is going to give everybody else a first impression that lasts.
Your receptionist today will do a lot more than just answer the phone. They are the Jack of all trades for your business and they will know the INS and outs of what you do more than anybody else in every other department. They will handle general inquiries, they will schedule meetings, they will order paper from your local paper company, and they will order lanyards and badges from The Lanyards Factory so that you can identify people coming and going.
Your receptionist is your gatekeeper, and they are the person who will determine who is allowed in and out of your business.
If you want your business to run smoothly, you need a good receptionist, and here are 9 important responsibilities your receptionist will oversee.
1. They will answer and reroute any phone calls
If you are busy at work, the last thing you need is constant phone calls coming through to your desk. As the leader of a business, you’re going to have people after what you do all of the time. They’re going to be on your tail, asking questions and needing your help. With the help of a receptionist, they will be able to manage those phone calls for you.
They can streamline who gets to speak to you directly and who will need to go via an appointment system. Managing that communication on the front line is the biggest priority for most receptionists, because while the automated systems are nice, a human voice at the end of the phone will always be appreciated.
2. They will be greeting your clients and your visitors
When you hire somebody in house, they’ll be responsible for creating that good first impression that you need. There’ll be greeting visitors, clients, vendors and customers, and making sure that people feel welcome.
They are the people who signpost where people need to go and they will ensure that people feel valued from the moment they come in through the door.
3. They will be managing schedules
Receptionists are not just like PAs. They manage your schedule, but they’ll also manage the schedules of everybody else.If there’s a diary that there are appointments to be added to, your receptionist will be doing that.
Usually they’ll be in charge of the diary for the whole company, so they’ll be able to access the information for every header department and everybody working to see when an appointment can be slipped in. They also help you with other aspects of running your business and that will make all the difference to how you present yourself to clients.
4. They maintain the office
Organization and logistics in the office Start with the receptionist. They will be making sure that your office space is well organized, that the flowers are watered and that the files are properly stored.
They’ll be the ones making the coffee in the coffee pot, and they’ll be making sure that everybody who comes in is offered a drink and treated appropriately without your receptionist maintaining your office, chaos is going to ensue.
5. Mailing and shipping
If you are shipping items from your business or you are bulk posting as a business center, then your receptionist will be in charge of this. They will also be in charge of distributing all of the mail throughout the business. They’ll do this while sifting out all of the Flyers, promotional mailers, bills, reminders and everything else.
This is stuff that isn’t going to require your attention all the time, and it shouldn’t always be your responsibility. Making sure you have a decent receptionist who could take that off your hands is going to make a big difference to your ability to juggle.
6. Taking and delivering messages
Receptionists will be the ones who will reserve anytime in their day to hand over messages to the right people on the phone and in person They’ll take messages and pass them on. Any general inquiries might go to your desk for Monday morning, but any urgent matters might cause your receptionist to reach out to you after hours.
Automated systems don’t have that kind of discretion or judgment, so making sure that you have a trained receptionist on hand will help.
7. Finance
Not all receptionists will handle bookkeeping, but a few will handle other finances. Usually receptionists and office managers are given a budget for incidents and sundries for the business. This can be anything from tea and coffee and biscuits in the break rooms to making sure that there is enough paper and printing.
Making sure that these tedious tasks, such as ordering these for this equipment is taking off your desk can be helpful. Receptionists can also balance the petty cash in the office and handle travel expenses. They may even keep a Ledger of travel arrangements and receipts and so forth so that you can always back these with your credit card companies.
8. Copies, faxes, and printing – oh my
If there are any clerical tasks and collating presentations to do, your receptionist could do that. Receptionists are efficient and they know what they’re supposed to be doing. If you’re too busy trying to fax documents or making sure that you have things in order for your meeting tomorrow, your receptionist is able to do that for you.
9. Preparation of board meetings
Big company board meetings are always going to be easy to run if you have a receptionist on hand. Setting up training sessions, preparing for events and organizing meetings and seminars are exactly what receptionists do.
They can make sure that all of the paperwork for all meetings, as well as the minutes is completed and handed out ahead of time.
Article and permission to publish here provided as Contributed Content . Originally written for Supply Chain Game Changer and published on May 9, 2024.
Cover photo by pexels.com.