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Telephone Answering Service FAQ

Introduction

Working with your telephone answering company

Diverting your calls

History

Miscellaneous

About this FAQ

This is a collection of Frequently Asked Questions about telephone answering services, also known as live call answering or virtual telephone answering services. It is aimed at anyone considering using, or currently using, a telephone answering service for their business.

This FAQ was last updated July 2009.

What is a telephone answering service?

A telephone answering service is a company that answers incoming calls for other businesses. These calls may be transferred to an employee's phone, or a message recorded in their absence. For many small and medium businesses this is a cost effective alternative to hiring a dedicated receptionist. All call answering companies can:

Answer your calls during office hours
Calls are answered throughout the day (including the lunch hour) from 8.30-9am in the morning until 5.30pm-6pm in the evening, Monday to Friday. Some services can also answer your calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Bank holidays etc will vary from company to company.
Answer your calls in your company's name
Call answering services use software that identifies the source of each incoming call, and enables them to answer calls with the appropriate greeting, e.g. "Good morning, Widget & Co?". If you require a different greeting (such as "Kangaroo Website, G'Day" or "You're through to Sandra at The Watering Hole, how can I help?") your chosen call answering company will be more than happy to oblige.
Transfer calls to a landline or mobile number
Calls can be easily transferred (or 'patched') through to any standard telephone number (VOIP numbers may be a different matter). Mobile calls will probably cost more. You can specify who you want transferred, e.g. by providing a 'whitelist' of approved callers, a 'blacklist' of callers to screen, or a criteria for judging callers on a call-by-call basis. Either way, the caller is announced first, and you have the option of declining the call discreetly.
Store your messages and calls on a database
Names, telephone numbers, calls etc are generally either recorded on a caller database, or a more sophisticated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. You can call your telephone answering service and ask them for information about old calls, and in some cases you can even access the database yourself using your web browser. Some systems can generate reports and graphs, e.g. to display the number of calls for each month.
Send your messages via SMS, email or fax
Messages can be emailed or SMS texted as soon as the call ends. Faxes may be sent less frequently. This allows you to take a call at your desk and almost immediately bring up the caller's details (e.g. name and address) on your screen. Emails can be sent to any device capable of receiving them, such as an iPhone or Blackberry. Different types of message can be sent to separate email addresses,
Assist with typing, book-keeping, dictation etc
Some live call answering services are part of secretarial businesses and can assist with other administrative tasks, ranging from basic typing to marketing consultancy or Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

How does call answering work?

The virtual answering business gives you a dedicated telephone number
You wouldn't put this number on your business cards, vans or advertising - it's just for diverting. (In the event of you terminating your contract with the answering service, they would prefer not to receive calls from people seeing your old adverts)
You divert your calls to that number
You can divert your calls on a permanent basis if it is rarely convenient to answer the phone. You can also choose to divert calls only when your number is busy (prevents the caller from hearing an engaged tone), when you are away from your phone (prevents the caller from waiting forever for someone to answer, or going through to voicemail), or as and when required.
Your calls are routed to the answering service
The name of your company appears on the operator's screen - this is how they know how to answer the call.
Calls can be transferred, or a message recorded
They can to transferred (or 'patched') to any landline or mobile number, although mobile calls cost a bit more. Message can be emailed, faxed or SMSed.

How many live call answering services are in the UK?

over 80, most of which are listed in the UK Telephone Answering Directory.

What information will my call answering company need?

The more information you provide to your telephone answering service, the more professionally they can answer your calls. This helps to ensure your callers do not suddenly find themselves talking to people who don't appear to know everything they should. It is inevitable that you won't be able to think of everything - they will call you if they have any more queries.

How do you want callers to be greeted?
Think about how you and your employees answer the phone - do you refer to your company using its full name (e.g. "Dorset Welding Industries Ltd"), a slightly shorter form ("Dorset Welding") or even just initials ("DWI")? Do you want operators to identify themselves by name? ("...you're speaking to Sarah").
What does your company do?
Explain in basic terms what your company does, without using industry jargon ("We obsfuscate and frobnicate AJAX frameworks for SEO") or marketese ("We provide cost-effective, professional and reliable pro-active marketing solutions"). And while a caller may not receive the same expertise from a telephone answering service as from you or your employees, a little explanatory information (e.g. how a block-paved driveway is constructed or roughly how long it takes to paint a kitchen) will help maintain a professional appearance.
What information can be given out?
You probably won't want mobile numbers or home addresses disclosed, this is usually assumed but it's best to make this clear.
Where are you based?
Does your company have multiple locations? Directions are useful for people wanting to visit your premises - your call answering company will probably not know the area.
What is your website address?
A website is a useful source of additional information about your company, and can be used by your telephone answering service to familiarise themselves with your company. They can also use it to stay up-to-date with price changes, news etc. You might want to set aisde a dedicated page on your website to update your call answering service with information not relevant to your other customers.
What are your main (enquiries/sales/etc) email addresses?
You might not want your employee's individual email addresses given out to everyone who asks, which is why a generic email address is useful. You could even have an email address set aside for very low priority enquiries from cold callers.
What should they do with your calls?
  • Calls can be handled differently depending on urgency, who they are for and why the person is calling
  • Callers can be transferred to landline or mobile numbers
How should they send your call reports and messages?
  • Messages can be sent by fax, SMS text and/or email
  • Call answering systems usually record the time/date of each call they take, to whom it was transferred and the message taken
  • You can call up your telephone answering company anytime and enquire about old callers or messages
  • Urgent messages/repairs/sales/etc can be sent to different email addresses
Who are your employees?
At the very least, your call answering service will need telephone numbers (home/work/mobile) for calling employees or transferring calls, and email addresses for sending messages. They will also benefit from knowing the names, telephone numbers, email addresses and roles of all your employees - even if calls aren't transferred to them as your telephone answering service will need to know who does and doesn't work for your company.

How do I get the most out of my call answering service?

Communicating clearly with your call answering service and keeping them up-to-date will ensure the best quality service.

They're not psychic!
Your call answering service knows virtually nothing about your business, until you tell them. Don't assume that they know, for example, who your favoruite clients are or how you like your calls answered.
Keep them up-to-date
A call answering company's ability to present themselves as your business and provide quality customer service is dependent on them staying on top of:
  • New employees joining your company, or existing employees leaving
  • Internal restructures, promotions etc
  • Employee daily or weekly whereabouts (ins and outs)
  • Change of telephone numbers or email addresses
  • Holidays and events
  • New products, recalls or changes to existing products
  • New services or changes to existing services
  • Changes to how calls should be answered or transferred
  • Changes to how or where messages should be sent
Don't send them 'junk calls'
Your answering service may charge you based on the number of calls you send them. This is okay if many of these calls can eventually be converted into sales leads, either by your staff or the answering service, but may prove costly if you are sending them large numbers of 'dead' leads. This could happen, for example, as the result of poorly targeted advertising.

Why/When would I want to divert my calls?

There are a number of reasons why you would want to divert your calls to a telephone answering company. You might be driving, in a meeting, having lunch, running errands, busy with clients, in an area with poor reception, trying to concentrate on a task that demands absolutely no interruptions (e.g. programming), taking a break or, well, just doing your job!

You have three options when deciding when to divert your calls:

Divert On Busy
This is only necessary if you will be in your home or office, taking incoming calls or making outgoing calls, and thus causing some callers to get an engaged tone.
Divert On Unanswered
This will divert the call if it is not answered with approximately 15 seconds or 4 rings (exact times may vary). Use this to prevent callers from going to voicemail (provided of course the voicemail doesn't kick in for 15 seconds).
Divert All
Use this if you never want to take calls yourself.

How do I divert my BT number?

In the examples below, it is assumed you want to divert your calls to 0118 952 6900. You will need to contact BT to have this feature enabled. Allow 24 hours.

ActionTo divertTo testTo cancel
Divert On Busy ✱67✱01189526900# ✱#67# #67#
Divert On Unanswered✝ ✱61✱01189526900# ✱#61# #61#
Divert On Busy/Unanswered ✱66✱01189526900# ✱#66# #66#
Divert All Calls ✱21✱01189526900# ✱#21# #21#

✝ Callers will hear a "Please hold the line. Calls to this number are being diverted" announcement. You will probably want to contact BT to get this removed, as some callers will hang up on hearing this message.

How do I divert my NTL number?

In the examples below, it is assumed you want to divert your calls to 0118 952 6900. You will need to contact NTL to have this feature enabled. Allow 24 hours.

ActionTo divertTo testTo cancel
Divert On Busy ✱67✱01189526900# ✱#67# #67#
Divert On Unanswered ✱61✱01189526900# ✱#61# #61#
Divert On Busy/Unanswered ✱66✱01189526900# ✱#66# #66#
Divert All Calls ✱21✱01189526900# ✱#21# #21#

How do I divert my Telewest number?

These codes apply to the following Telewent Franchises: North London, West London, Langley, Windsor, Slough, Birmingham, North East England, Scotland & South West. For other areas use the BT codes above.

In the examples below, it is assumed you want to divert your calls to 0118 952 6900. You will need to contact Telewest to have this feature enabled. Allow 24 hours.

ActionTo divertTo testTo cancel
Divert On Busy ✱76 01189526900# #76
Divert On Unanswered ✱77 01189526900# #77
Divert All Calls ✱70 01189526900# #70

How do I divert my Vodafone mobile number?

ActionTo divertTo testTo cancel
Divert On Busy ✱✱67✱01189526900# [SEND] ✱#67# [SEND] #67# [SEND]
Divert On Unanswered ✱✱61✱01189526900# [SEND] ✱#61# [SEND] #61# [SEND]
Divert On Busy/Unanswered ✱✱66✱01189526900# [SEND] ✱#66# [SEND] #66# [SEND]
Divert All Calls ✱✱21✱01189526900# [SEND] ✱#21# [SEND] #21# [SEND]

ActionSequence
Cancel all diverts # #002# [SEND]
Set number of rings before divert
(This may not work on pay-as-you-go. This example assumes
your mailbox number is 01189526900 and a delay of 15 seconds)
 ✱✱61✱01189526900✱10✱15# [SEND]

How do I divert my o2 mobile number?

ActionTo divertTo testTo cancel
Divert On Busy ✱✱67✱01189526900# [SEND] ✱#67# [SEND] # #67# [SEND]
Divert On Unanswered ✱✱61✱01189526900# [SEND] ✱#61# [SEND] # #61# [SEND]
Divert On Unreachable
phone switched off or poor reception
 ✱✱62✱01189526900# [SEND] ✱#62# [SEND] # #62# [SEND]
Divert All Calls ✱✱21✱01189526900# [SEND] ✱#21# [SEND] # #21# [SEND]

ActionSequence
Cancel all diverts # #002# [SEND]
Set number of rings before divert
(This may not work on pay-as-you-go. This example assumes
your mailbox number is 01189526900 and a delay of 15 seconds)
 ✱✱61✱01189526900✱✱15# [SEND]

How do I divert my Virgin Mobile number?

You can't.

What was the first telephone answering company?

A telephone mounted on a folding extending scissor mechanismThe first telephone answering service is probably Hello, Inc in Virginia, US, which began under the name of Mrs Smith's Doctors Exchange in 1923. A bedridden Margaret Redmond Smith offered to answer calls for local doctors, and operated her business using an old French-style telephone mounted on a scissors-type extension near her bed.

After her death in 1925, Margaret's son and his wife continued to operate the company. In 1933 they expanded to include commercial customers as well as medical clientele, in 1955 the business was moved from the Smiths' residence into downtown offices, and in the 1980s they moved to a fully computerized system.

What kind of people use telephone answering services?

"Former clients include a previous winner of a popular reality show on ITV, a former Heavyweight Boxing Champion and a freelance musician violinist who played with various London Orchestras." - Jam

How do you annoy a telephone answering service?

Refer to them as a 'call centre'. They hate that.