It’s Official: In Houston, Answering Services Are Now Dinosaurs of Office Efficiency – New Houston Business Launches Affordable Connect-Anywhere Service That Makes Small Houston Companies Look Big

(PRLEAP.COM) HOUSTON, TX, December 6, 2006 — In Houston, answering services are being surpassed and outdone by a new Galleria-area company that provides affordable upscale virtual receptionist services for:

•Home-based business owners who want an image enhancement only a receptionist can provide.
•Small companies on a budget
•On-the-go telecommuters and traveling business owners.

Intelligent Office, located in the Galleria Tower 1 office building next to Neiman Marcus on Post Oak Blvd., is most assuredly not just another among dozens of answering services in Houston,” say Ron and Iain Clarke, the father and son team who three months ago launched the new-age business concept in Houston. The new company provides remote receptionists – polite, professional assistants who are specially trained to speak knowledgeably and courteously about a client’s company.

“The very core of this business is the instinctive need we all have to hear a live voice on the other end of the phone,” says Ron Clarke. “A live voice establishes trust and credibility immediately.” He maintains that 80% of the business small companies bring in goes to those companies whose phones are answered by a live receptionist.

The Intelligent Office telephone system is actually a personal Houston answering service whose high-tech message capabilities are finely integrated with the Houston company’s intricate computer system," says Clarke. "When a call comes through, six pages of computer screens open on the receptionist’s computer and display the client’s information and connection points – whether for one person or several – plus any other specific instructions.”

“Technology has changed everything. With our technology, the caller has the impression that a business owner has a full-time secretary answering the phone at her desk located in the office right next door,” says Ron Clarke. “In reality, the business owner may be dressed in old jeans and a t-shirt working away at his computer in the back bedroom of his home 20 miles away in Sugar Land – while the Intelligent Office virtual assistant patches the call through from our Galleria 1 headquarters.”

Ron Clarke says — unlike typical Houston answering services — Intelligent Office receptionists take personal messages based on the small business owner’s instructions.

“No matter where our Houston clients are – even if they’re fishing in the Rockies or vacationing in Las Vegas – our receptionists can pass a call through to their cell phone – and the caller is never aware of the logistics involved. As far as our clients are concerned,” he says, “an Intelligent Office personal receptionist never gets sick, never takes a lunch break, never steps away from the phone or ever has a family emergency. If someone calls asking for directions to a client’s place of business — unlike typical Houston answering services — she can provide it instantly because the information is right there in front of her on the computer. If a client instructs us to ‘put my husband’s calls through to me but don’t tell my brother I’m in the office,’ that’s what our virtual receptionists do.”

“They are pros, says Ron Clarke, "right there with you as your gatekeeper — at a fraction of the cost of a full time staff receptionist. This means you’re not caught having to talk to sales people or overly-talkative colleagues who waste your time.”

The cost for Intelligent Office receptionist service typically runs less than $300 a month. Remote receptionists answer the phone from 8:30 to 5, five days a week.

The Clarkes say they decided to bring the Intelligent Office franchise to Houston “because Houston is a sophisticated market where answering services no longer meet the needs of small business owners who know that looking ‘big’ means putting yourself in the position to compete head-to-head with even the largest competitors. This is a business whose time has come,” says Iain Clarke.

Ron and Iain Clarke ask the following questions when small business owners inquire about the company’s remote receptionist services:

• How many Houston answering services invite clients into their offices to meet the company owners who in turn, introduce them to the remote receptionists who will be taking their calls?

• How many Houston answering services do you know where the receptionist is personally acquainted with the clients for whom they take business calls?

“Most people are surprised to learn that Intelligent Office receptionists, in fact, develop a business relationship with each client,” says Iain Clarke. “Unlike many answering services you find around Houston, we are not an impersonal call center.”

The father and son team say that virtual receptionist services are a real boon to home-based business owners.

“It means that the small Houston business owner can focus on productivity, and forget about dealing with unnecessary calls. The calls they do want to receive are announced by the remote receptionist and then connected seamlessly to their home office phone, cell phone or any other connecting device anywhere in the world,” says Ron Clarke. He says other calls can be transferred to voice mail or are handled according to the business owner’s specific instructions.

Houston small business owners who need an upscale professional office or meeting space, even for just a few hours, can reserve a private office or conference room at the Intelligent Office suite in the Galleria Tower 1 building.

“With just a computer and a cell phone, home-based business owners can operate effectively without dedicated office space, but most of them still need traditional office service and meeting space from time to time,” says Ron Clarke. "And, each of our offices has a panoramic view of the Houston skyline.”

For an additional cost, Intelligent Office clients have access to mail and package pick-up and delivery service plus a host of high-performance office equipment.

"Our clients can even have their company name posted in the business directory in the lobby of our Galleria Tower 1 office lobby," says Iain Clarke, "and our building has an impressive entry.”

For more information on receptionist and other office services that exceed those offered by typical Houston answering services, call Iain or Ron Clarke at (281) 657-3300 or visit www.intelligentoffice.com.


Focus: Houston answering services, answering services Houston, Houston receptionist services, Houston virtual receptionist,Houston remote receptionist

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