I also have a person on the phone. I have someone locally and while they aren't on the phone they are doing a defined list of tasks.
Previously, I had a VA that was doing it and it was way less expensive. You can get someone in the Philippines for $7ish bucks per hour. That sounds great but you have to consider some things.
1- It's going to be a challenge to get them to understand and get comfortable with your service area, getting familair with neighborhoods etc
2 - They'll need a lot of training. I mean, most people do but it will be harder to do being online because you'll need to be super focused on training them on a google meet.
3 - Depending on the country you hire from, you have to be prepared for power outages and things like that.
You will definitely want to write up a script, and keep it relatively fluid (like definitely make sure to ask these questions or mention these specific things) then give them flexibility to carry the conversation. When you interview, do role playing phone calls to see how personable they are. This is really important. You absolutely don't want people feeling like they called a call center.
I would say that having someone in this position only make sense if they are 100% in charge of answering the phones. Having them on only when you need them isn't going to make economic sense. Spend all that time training someone just for a day or two a week.
Another thing we tried is a call center. I really didn't like this option. Yes they are always available however you really lose a personal touch in there and a lot of times the phone calls are super awkward.
What we landed on was having someone local do it for us. It costs more but they can work on a lot more, it's easier to train, and you don't have to worry about people feeling like you're calling a call center.
