Here's What Your New Virtual Office Membership Should Include

Are you considering investing in a virtual office for your new or growing business? Here are some features that the membership you choose should offer:

A Forwarding Physical Address

Anyone can get a P.O. box to do business with, but if you want to make sure that prospective customers and partners see you as an established business, you likely need a physical address to represent your business with. The virtual office membership you choose to enroll in should offer you the choice of physical addresses in major cities throughout the country, if not the world, that will be reserved only for your business.

No other business or person should ever receive mail at your address. When mail does arrive at your personal residential address, your service provider should immediately forward it to whatever address you want to receive it at. They should also be able and willing to hold your mail for you until you are ready to receive it, whether it is 3 days or 3 weeks after it arrives.

A Phone Package

Every business needs a reliable phone number which customers, colleagues, partners, and investors can use to reach you. The virtual office provider you decide to work with should be able to provide you with a dedicated phone number to field calls that come into your business. You should be able to choose between a regional or toll-free phone number, depending on where you do business and the types of calls you anticipating getting.

When someone calls your business phone number, your service provider should forward the call to whatever number you instruct them to. You should be able to change your forwarding instructions and phone number at any time of your choosing. When necessary, your service provider should take messages and provide basic announcements to callers when you are not available to take their calls.

Physical Workspace Options

You may be able to effectively work at home while running your business, but there could be times when you need to meet with a client or potential investor and your living room just won't cut it. Luckily, there are many virtual office providers that maintain office space in most large cities. If you live close enough to an office space that your service provider manages, you should be able to reserve a workspace or meeting room within the office whenever you want to sit down for an in-person meeting or have a quiet place to work away from your home.

Keep these tips in mind when looking to lease a virtual office for your business.