Virtual Office London UK Blog

About 3 weeks ago, we received a phone call enquiry with the calller asking many questions about not only the services that we offer, but also about the background of the company, level of turnover, number of staff etc etc. The call lasted about 25 minutes and as the caller did not want to leave an email address or contact telephone number, we did not followup this initial enquiry. The caller id on the incoming call was witheld.

Then, last Tuesday week, we received another phone call from what seemed to be an offshore call centre with an offer to send out ‘100 million emails’ to addresses all over the world, with a sales pitch in it. We explained that we did not get involved in spamming, but the caller was extremely careful to deny that this was spam, as his lists were all double optin, and all addresses were verified as being willing to receive sales related emails. After going over the same areas, we declined the email broadcast offer.

Yesterday, we received about 1400 returned emails, all genuine non-deliverable email addresses, but all appearing to come from one of our valid email addresses, sales@ofiz.com.

Already today more than 70,000 of these non-deliverable emails have jammed up our incoming mail servers, and within this mass of returned email are many many very angry emails from people who did not request any details about the services we offer. Once again, the originating address has been faked as sales@ofiz.com.

Has anyone else got experience of this type of campaign being done for them, even when they have explicitly declined this type of offer?

Despite all the talk of a recession, and a hard recession at that, there is no sign of a drop of in demand for virtual offices, certainly within the London market.

In chatting with other virtual office providers, we have seen a marked increase in the number of new companies that are signing up for virtual office services.

One of many reasons why this is the case seems to be that small business owners are starting to hoard cash, and are looking at ways to save costs to ensure that their company survives this market downturn. It certainly makes sense for a small company to use a virtual office is they are currently renting a premises that is only being used part of the time.

Another reason we are hearing from new clients is that they are taking the opportunity now to test new markets, as they fear that their current markets may reduce demand for their services or products.

Nowadays, with the rapid growth in communications technology, the small business owner has many advantages that previously were only available to the largest and most profitably of companies.

Small business owners can avail of the many excellent services that are offered by virtual assistants working in virtual offices to help with the normal daily administrative tasks, for example book-keeping, word processing, marketing and many additional administrative areas.

There are very many advantages to using a virtual assistant and a virtual office. Because virtual assistant services are only used as and when they are needed, there are no full time employee expenses associated with their use. No monthly salary, no statutory employers insurance contributions, no sick pay and holiday pay and importantly no need for expensive office space and equipment. You get all the benefits of a fully staffed professional office with none of the associated overhead costs!

Additional benefits of using virtual assistants and virtual offices include:-

1) Credibility
Being seen to operate from a fully staffed office in one of the best business addresses provides immediate credibility for your small business. It helps to position your business as an established and successfully company and new clients feel greatly assured when hiring you for their future projects.

2) Reduce Costs
Many small businesses are particularly challenged at present by a combination of weak consumer and business confidence, and also by rapidly increasing business costs. Recent hikes in energy costs, office space and insurance has meant that small businesses need to constantly review and reuce their outgoings if they are to stay I business and to remain profitable. Virtual offices are an ideal solution, as the fixed costs of office space and services are spread over a large number of clients.

3) Test new markets
A virtual office allows for a very cost effective entry into a new geographical location. There is no need to rent office space, sign leases and pay large service deposits. You can test market in this new location, with minimal costs, and very fast startup times.

The advantages of having a virtual office in UK are many.

A common type of home business that is currently growing internationally is the virtual assistant who is based in a virtual office. By setting yourself up as a virtual assistant you can work for clients who are located anywhere in the world. This permits you to work entirely at home, frequently without ever meeting customers in person, since all of the work is completed and transferred online using a pc and an internet connection.

The kinds of services that you offer can comprise a massive range of activities from transcription, to creating and uploading web pages, translating, desktop publishing and anything else which you are expert in and can complete over the Internet.

You work at home but can have clientèle in any part of the world with Internet access. Additionally you can having a virtual office is extremely useful to small businesses and particularly to sole traders who need sporadic help but do not have the space or funds to employ someone full time. Bigger companies can also benefit as they can call upon a virtual assistant when they have a rush job or an astonishing surge of work.

This type of business can also be set up very easily in your standby time, permitting you to strive it out before you commit yourself and giving you the opportunity to build up steadily before cutting back on the hours in your day job.