Spotlight: Need a Virtual Staffing Service? Conversational Provides One Option

Hiring an assistant or receptionist can provide a big boost for small business productivity. But some businesses just don’t have the resources to bring on full time staff members to cover those duties. That’s where Conversational comes in.

The company has a staff of full time assistants and receptionists who can work for a variety of different businesses virtually. Read about Conversational and the story behind the business in this week’s Small Business Spotlight.

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What the Virtual Staffing Service Does

Provides virtual receptionist and assistant services.

Marketing Director Debra Carpenter told Small Business Trends, “We’re virtual receptionist and virtual assistant providers for small businesses and startups. We’re 100 percent North American based and employ all our virtual receptionists and assistants in-house, full-time.”

Business Niche

Providing value.

Carpenter says, “We’re proud to be the leaders in the pricing department — we offer lower price-per-minute than any of the other five major virtual receptionist providers.”

How the Business Got Started

From a desire to help small businesses.

Carpenter explains, “Our founder wanted to make it possible to get receptionist services without requiring a full-time hire or in-house help. A need that grew into an offering is how Stephanie [founder and owner Stephanie Schoolfield] created Conversational.”

Biggest Risk

Bringing on remote hires.

Carpenter says, “Everyone works in-house with the exception of a few, so we wanted to be sure we could handle a distributed team before bringing on full-time remote employees. It ended up being a great decision.”

How They’d Spend an Extra $100,000

Hiring more receptionists and virtual assistants.

Carpenter says, “The ability to take on more clients would be amazing.”

Communication Methods

Team apps and parties.

Carpenter says, “We work from an office, but have several remote employees, so we use Pidgin and Slack to communicate. Our in-house staff throws themed parties whenever possible — the last theme was 1920’s flappers!”

If the Business Were a Song

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends.

Favorite Quote

“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” -C.S. Lewis

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Find out more about the Small Biz Spotlight program

First image: (Back row) Kelsey Doucette – Virtual Assistant, Cindy Lee – Quality Assurance Manager, Sara Brehaut – Virtual Receptionist, Tanya Lamont – CEO, Tawnya Thompson – Operations and Sales Manager; (Front row) Jenna Thomson – Virtual Receptionist, Nancy Craig – Virtual Receptionist, Crystal Verhulp – Virtual Receptionist; Second image: Crystal Verhulp – Virtual Receptionist, Tanya Lamont – CEO (daughter Layne in front), Tawnya Thompson – Operations and Sales Manager, Nancy Craig – Virtual Receptionist, Jenna Thomson – Virtual Receptionist (Daughter, Josie); Third image: Kelsey Doucette – Virtual Assistant, Tanya Lamont – CEO, Cindy Lee – Quality Assurance Manager, Tawnya Thompson – Operations and Sales Manager, Crystal Verhulp – Virtual Receptionist 4 Comments ▼

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