By Victor Mataraso, MBA If you're in business for yourself and have considered hiring staff or leasing a traditional office to grow your small business, there may be a more intelligent way to enhance your professional image, improve customer service and manage your workload more effectively.  Unlike a traditional telephone answering service, a remote receptionist (also known as a virtual receptionist or off-site receptionist) can provide you many of the same benefits as a traditional receptionist without the need to hire an employee. Having a live receptionist answer your business telephone calls is one of the best ways to inspire confidence in your callers and maximize your professional image.  With recent advances in telephone technology, it is no longer necessary to lease office space and hire staff just to have your phone answered professionally.  A remote or off-site receptionist has the ability to answer your business phone calls at their location, assist callers as you've trained them to do, then privately announce and seamlessly connect only the calls you want back to you on any phone number. Even more compelling, with the advent of current web-based tools, your remote receptionist can schedule appointments, place orders, register seminars and perform many other phone based and administrative assistant duties from a remote location.  Unlike a large call center, the best receptionist companies will provide you a small dedicated team of receptionists who you can train to function as your employee for each phone call.  Done properly, your callers won't even realize your receptionist is not at your location. Considering the high cost associated with office space and hiring employees, with a little research you may find that using a remote receptionist is a more intelligent option than leasing an office. Victor Mataraso, MBA is the founder and president of Reliable Receptionist.  Based in the San Francisco East Bay Area city of Walnut Creek, CA, Reliable Receptionist provides personalized, off-site telephone reception and appointment scheduling services for companies with 1 to 100 employees.  He can be reached at (925) 627-4200 or at www.ReliableReceptionist.com.