Overview About Hello Inc

What started out as a telephone answering service in 1923 has now grown into one of the largest message solutions companies in Virginia. Hello, Inc., a family-owned and operated business, began as a one-woman show when the bedridden Margaret Redmond Smith offered to answer calls for local doctors. With an old French-style telephone mounted on a scissors-type extension near her bed, she claimed to be one of the first telephone answering bureaus with "built-in" automation. She was indeed one of the pioneers of the answering service concept in the United States at that time.rnrnAfter her death in 1925, Margaret's son, Edward R. Smith and his wife, Eleanor, continued to operate Mrs. Smith's Doctor's Exchange. Services were expanded in 1933 to include commercial customers as well as medical clientele. In 1953 Margaret's grandson, Edward L. Smith, Sr. started his career with the family busines...