---
title: "Every call answered by a person who knows your name"
description: "Full-time or overflow phone answering with warm transfers and message delivery to your channels. Call +1-657-777-0006 and talk the hours through."
url: https://assistbpo.com/services/phone-answering/
updated: 2026-09-21
publisher: AssistBPO (SS Support Network LLC)
language: en-US
---

# Every call answered by a person who knows your name

AssistBPO's phone answering service for small business puts a named, employed receptionist on your line for the hours you choose, full time or as overflow. Every call is picked up by someone who knows your name and your team; messages reach you by SMS, email or CRM note, and callers who need a person get a warm transfer.

- Named assistant plus backup
- Front desk & phones
- Employed, screened, managed

[Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) [Hear our demo receptionist](https://assistbpo.com/demo-line/) In short

- Full-time line coverage or overflow after a set number of rings
- Warm transfers, screened messages and CRM notes, all in your company name
- One employed receptionist plus a backup, in US, UK, Canadian or Australian hours

## What is a phone answering service?

A phone answering service is a staffed desk that picks up a business's incoming calls, either every call or the ones the in-house team cannot reach, greets the caller in the company name, answers routine questions, takes messages and transfers calls that need a specific person. AssistBPO staffs it with one employed receptionist rather than a per-minute call center queue.

Updated September 2026 · Reviewed by [Issabela Masters](https://assistbpo.com/team/issabela-masters/)

[The role behind it **Hire a remote receptionist** Calls answered in your name by one named receptionist, not a queue](https://assistbpo.com/roles/receptionist/)
## Who is the phone answering desk for?

**Trades and field service**
: Plumbers, electricians and HVAC companies whose owner is on a ladder when the phone rings. Every job call answered, the address and problem captured, the visit booked.

**Solo professionals and small firms**
: Accountants, insurance agents, consultants and two-partner law offices that lose new clients to voicemail. Calls screened, appointments set, the important ones put through.

**Retail, e-commerce and local services**
: Stock and delivery questions answered from your product sheet, order status looked up in Shopify, refund requests routed to the person who approves them.

**Agencies and small teams**
: A shared main line handled by one person who knows which account manager owns which client and where a new-business call should land.

## What does the phone answering service include?

These 12 tasks are what AssistBPO's phone answering desk handles as standard for a business that lives on its phones.

- Live answering in your company name, full time or on overflow
- Greeting, FAQ answers and pricing guidance from a script you approve
- Warm transfers with a whispered introduction, or a message if busy
- Messages delivered by SMS, email, Slack or CRM note minutes after the call
- Caller screening: sales pitches filtered, regulars recognized, VIPs put straight through
- Basic appointment booking in your calendar when a caller asks for a time
- New-inquiry capture with name, number, source and reason for calling
- Voicemail box cleared each morning with a prioritized callback list
- Callbacks on your behalf with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing
- Missed-call log with reasons: after hours, line busy, caller hung up
- Admin between calls: data entry, inbox triage, order lookups
- End-of-day report listing every call, message and transfer with timestamps

## Deliverables and KPIs

AssistBPO reports 6 measures on the phone answering desk: what lands on your desk, what we count, and how often you see the number.

| Deliverable | KPI we report | Cadence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Calls answered in your name | Answer rate and average speed to answer | Daily, in the end-of-day report |
| Messages delivered | Message accuracy, minutes from call to message | Per call |
| Warm transfers completed | Transfer success rate, transfers declined by staff | Weekly review |
| Inquiries logged in your CRM | Records with complete fields, source tagged | Daily |
| Missed-call log | Missed calls by reason and hour of day | Weekly review |
| QA scorecard | Greeting, accuracy, tone, script adherence | Monthly |

KPIs are what we measure and report, agreed per engagement in the weekly review. Service-level commitments are set in your agreement, not on this page.

## How does the phone answering desk work?

1. ### Match
A discovery call covers call volume by hour, who callers ask for, what they usually want and how you like messages delivered. Within 72 hours we propose a named receptionist whose accent and pace suit your caller base, plus a trained backup for breaks, sick days and leave.
2. ### Onboard
We write the greeting, the FAQ sheet, the transfer tree and the message template with you, then connect a softphone to your RingCentral, Dialpad, Aircall or Zoom Phone line, or forward your number to one we provision. Test calls run before day one so transfers, hold music and voicemail fallbacks all behave.
3. ### Daily rhythm
The receptionist logs in before your opening time, clears the voicemail box, answers calls through the shift, transfers or takes messages by your rules, and fills the quiet minutes with the admin tasks you assign. The end-of-day report lists every call with a timestamp and an outcome.
4. ### Weekly review
Twenty minutes with the team lead: call counts by hour, missed-call reasons, the questions the script did not cover and next week's coverage. Each month the team lead scores a sample of recorded calls on the QA scorecard and shares the sheet with you.

## Hours, coverage and models

AssistBPO staffs the phone answering desk on 4 models. US Eastern to Pacific, UK and Australian Eastern hours, covered from the group's two offices. Spanish or French answering is available on request.

- Dedicated receptionist, 80 or 160 hours a month, on your line
- Overflow answering after a set number of rings, priced per call
- Evening, weekend and holiday desk as an add-on
- 24/7 answering pod on request

See what is staffed in your zone on the [coverage clock](https://assistbpo.com/how-it-works/#coverage).

## Tools we work in

- [RingCentral](https://assistbpo.com/software/ringcentral/)
- [Dialpad](https://assistbpo.com/software/dialpad/)
- [Aircall](https://assistbpo.com/software/aircall/)
- [Zoom Phone](https://assistbpo.com/software/zoom-phone/)
- [Twilio](https://assistbpo.com/software/twilio/)
- [HubSpot](https://assistbpo.com/software/hubspot/)
- [Zoho CRM](https://assistbpo.com/software/zoho-crm/)
- [Google Workspace](https://assistbpo.com/software/google-workspace/)
- [Slack](https://assistbpo.com/software/slack/)
- [Microsoft Teams](https://assistbpo.com/software/microsoft-teams/)

[See all 80 tools we work in](https://assistbpo.com/software/)

## What are the terms on the phone answering desk?

The card, the contract terms and the phone answering desk's own numbers, in one place.

| Specification | What you get |
| --- | --- |
| Focus, 20 hours a week | $800 a month, 80 hours |
| Dedicated, 40 hours a week | $1,600 a month, 160 hours |
| Managed Pod, three seats or more | From $4,800 a month |
| Evening, weekend or overnight cover | Tier rate plus 20 percent |
| Desk | [Front desk & phones](https://assistbpo.com/services/desks/front-desk-phones/) |
| Standard schedule | Dedicated receptionist, 80 or 160 hours a month, on your line |
| Coverage | US Eastern to Pacific, UK and Australian Eastern hours, covered from the group's two offices. |
| Tools | 10 platforms, including RingCentral, Dialpad, Aircall |
| KPIs reported | 6 measures: daily, monthly, per call |
| Setup fee | None |
| Minimum term | Month to month, no lock-in |
| Notice | 30 days, to stop or to change hours |
| If the fit is wrong | Trained backup covers the desk the same day, re-match at no charge |
| Continuity | One named assistant, one named backup, one team lead |
| Who does the work | Employed by SS Support Network LLC, never freelancers or contractors |

These are rate-card starting points. What you pay depends on the hours, the desk and the coverage window, which is what the staffing plan sets. Rates improve as you add assistants. Your staffing plan states the rate for the number of seats you need. [The rate card](https://assistbpo.com/pricing/) carries the other currencies, the add-ons and the six things that move a plan off it.

## How much does phone answering cost?

Plans start at $400 a month for 40 hours, at $10 an hour, and rates improve as you add assistants. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day.

### What moves the plan

1. Hours a week and whether the desk is dedicated or shared
2. Phones: live answering needs a receptionist profile and a backup
3. Coverage zone: business hours, after-hours, weekends or 24/7
4. Tools and access to set up
5. One person or a pod with a lead

### What the market publishes

Other providers' published ranges, by market, so you have something to hold this against. These are not AssistBPO prices.

| Market | Published range | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | Per-minute answering plans from about $235 a month for 50 minutes to $1,095 for 500 minutes, with $2.95 to $4.70 a minute overage; per-call plans from about $292 for 30 calls with $9.75 a call overage | OnceHub, AIRA and NextPhone pricing roundups, September 2026 |
| United States | In-house receptionist median pay $38,010 a year before benefits; AI receptionists $25 to $300 a month flat | BLS Occupational Outlook, May 2025 data; OnceHub September 2026 |
| United Kingdom | UK-based PA and answering staff £25 to £45 an hour; employed average £15.33 an hour; dedicated receptionist teams from Moneypenny carry a $1,000 onboarding fee | PayScale, SVA surveys and Moneypenny published pricing, 2026 |
| Australia | Onshore virtual assistants A$39.90 to A$65 an hour against offshore managed staff at A$8 to A$35 an hour | Virtual Coworker, DotVA and Smart Staffing published rates, 2026 |

[Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) [How we build a plan](https://assistbpo.com/pricing/)

Proof

## Case study

One engagement on this desk, anonymized. Numbers appear only once the owner has verified them.

[All case studies](https://assistbpo.com/case-studies/) Storm nights answered, not missed

Case study
### [HVAC Company Stops Losing After-Hours Calls](https://assistbpo.com/case-studies/hvac-after-hours-calls/)

A residential HVAC company in the US Midwest was losing its best calls to voicemail. Once the office closed at five, the phone rolled to a message, and on the first hard freeze or the first heat wave of the season the overnight queue filled with homeowners who then called the next company on the list. The on-call technician was answering his own cell between jobs and taking addresses on the back of a work order. AssistBPO put a named after-hours desk on the line with a trained backup and a team lead, working inside the company's own field service software. Calls are now answered by a person overnight and at weekends, triaged against a script the owner wrote, booked into the next available slot or escalated to the on-call technician by the rules the owner set. Storm nights get extra cover.

Home services Hear it for yourself

Call our demo receptionist and hear a real greeting, a booking and a warm transfer, live.

[+1-657-777-0006](tel:+16577770006)
## Phone answering for your industry

- [Trades & home services](https://assistbpo.com/industries/trades-home-services/)
- [Law firms](https://assistbpo.com/industries/legal/)
- [Accounting & bookkeeping firms](https://assistbpo.com/industries/accounting-firms/)
- [Insurance agencies](https://assistbpo.com/industries/insurance/)
- [Real estate agents & teams](https://assistbpo.com/industries/real-estate/)
- [Property management companies](https://assistbpo.com/industries/property-management/)
- [E-commerce brands](https://assistbpo.com/industries/ecommerce/)
- [Marketing agencies](https://assistbpo.com/industries/marketing-agencies/)
- [All industries](https://assistbpo.com/industries/)

## Security and compliance

1. Employed, background-checked receptionists under a per-client NDA; no freelancers on your line
2. Calls handled on a managed softphone with MFA; no recordings or messages kept on personal devices
3. Card numbers are never read out or written down; callers are sent to your payment link
4. Recording notices are built into the greeting where state or country law requires them
5. CRM and calendar access runs through your own user accounts and can be revoked in a click

Full control list on the [security page](https://assistbpo.com/security/) and country rules for calls, texts and email on the [compliance page](https://assistbpo.com/compliance/). Certifications are listed only when held.

## Country rules for this service

AssistBPO makes outbound calls, texts and emails only with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing. Assistants never take card numbers. [Country rules](https://assistbpo.com/compliance/).

- US: recording notices in two-party consent states; callbacks stay inside TCPA calling hours of 8am to 9pm local
- UK: call handling under UK GDPR with a data processing agreement; PECR and TPS screening apply to any outbound marketing call
- Canada: CRTC Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules and the National DNCL apply to outbound calling

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does a phone answering service for a small business cost?

Plans depend on hours, desks and coverage. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day. For orientation, published US per-minute plans start around $235 a month for 50 minutes and reach $1,095 for 500 minutes, with overage of $2.95 to $4.70 a minute (OnceHub and NextPhone roundups, September 2026). AssistBPO prices a person for a block of hours instead of running a minute meter, so a busy week costs the same as a quiet one and the receptionist does admin in the gaps.

### Do you answer every call or only the ones we miss?

Either, and you can change it. Full coverage means the receptionist is the first ring on your published number through your hours. Overflow means your team answers first and calls roll to the receptionist after the number of rings you set, or when everyone is busy. Many clients start with overflow, watch the missed-call log for two weeks and then move the whole line across once they see how many calls were going to voicemail.

### How do messages reach us?

Any way you read them. The standard set is an SMS to the person named, an email with the caller's number and the reason, a Slack or Teams post to a channel, or a note on the contact in HubSpot or Zoho CRM. Urgent messages go by call to a number you nominate. Each message carries the time of the call, the caller's name and number, what they wanted and what the receptionist told them, so nobody has to ring back to find out what the call was about.

### Can you transfer calls to our mobile phones?

Yes. The receptionist puts the caller on hold, rings your mobile or desk line, tells you who is calling and why, and connects the call if you want it. If you decline or do not pick up, the caller hears that you are unavailable and a message is taken. You can set transfer rules by person, by time of day and by caller type, so a new-business call reaches you on site while a supplier gets a message.

### What does the receptionist say when they do not know the answer?

The FAQ sheet covers the questions your callers ask most, and it grows every week as new ones come up. For anything outside it, the receptionist says that the right person will call back, captures the question word for word and sends it to you as a message. Guessing is not allowed. The weekly review lists every question that landed outside the script so you can decide whether to add an answer or keep routing it to you.

### Will my callers hear an accent?

Your callers hear clear, natural English at a pace that suits your market. During the 72-hour match we listen to a sample of your existing calls and propose a receptionist whose voice and manner fit, and every receptionist passes a phone and English assessment before joining a client line. Recorded test calls are shared before go-live, so you hear the greeting exactly as your callers will and can ask for a change.

### Can we keep our number and our phone system?

Yes. Nothing about your published number changes. If you use RingCentral, Dialpad, Aircall, Zoom Phone or a similar system, we add the receptionist as a user with a softphone and set the ring rules inside your account. If you use a landline or a carrier without a softphone, you forward the number to a line we provision on Twilio or a similar platform, either always or only when busy or unanswered.

### What happens when the receptionist is off sick or on leave?

A trained backup, who has sat in on your line and learned your script, covers the shift. The backup is part of the engagement from the start, not someone found on the day, and the team lead confirms cover in the morning check-in. Planned leave is scheduled in the weekly review. Your callers hear the same greeting and the same rules, and the end-of-day report arrives as usual.

### How is this different from your virtual receptionist service?

Phone answering is about the line: full-time or overflow pickup, transfers and message delivery, with light admin between calls. The virtual receptionist service goes further into the front-desk role, with appointment booking as a core duty, lead qualification and more admin ownership. Buyers who mainly need calls caught and routed start here; buyers who need a front desk run start there. Moving between the two is a change to the plan, not a new hire.

### How do we switch from the answering service we use now?

Run both for a few days. Your current provider keeps the line while we build the greeting, the FAQ sheet and the transfer tree and run test calls, then you change the forwarding rule and leave the old plan live until its notice period ends. Nothing about your published number changes, so there is no window where callers reach a dead line. Terms here are month to month with thirty days notice, which is worth comparing against what your current contract says before you give notice on it.

### How will we know after a month whether it is working?

Read the missed-call log before the answer rate. It breaks calls down by reason and by hour: after hours, line busy, caller hung up before pickup. Put that next to the inquiries logged in your CRM with the source tagged and you can see how many calls were going to voicemail before, and what they turned into afterwards. The end-of-day reports give you the raw list, the weekly review gives you the pattern, and the monthly QA scorecard covers how the calls themselves were handled.

### What happens if our call volume doubles?

Nothing happens to the invoice, because you are buying a person's shift rather than a bundle of minutes. What changes is the shape of the day: the admin tasks in the quiet gaps get squeezed first, and the call counts by hour in the weekly review will show it. If the volume holds, the options are extending the shift, moving to the 160-hour plan, or putting the overflow desk behind the dedicated receptionist. Thirty days notice changes hours in either direction, so a seasonal spike need not become a permanent decision.

Still deciding

A 20-minute call with someone who runs phone answering every day. No sales script, and you keep the notes.

[Book a 20-minute call](https://assistbpo.com/book-a-call/) [Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) Next step

## Your desk, staffed. Wherever you are.

Tell us what is overloaded. A named person replies within 1 business day with a staffing plan, and we propose your assistant within 72 hours.

[Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) [Book a 20-minute call](https://assistbpo.com/book-a-call/) Or call [+1-657-777-0006](tel:+16577770006) during US, UK or Australian business hours, or [hear our demo receptionist](https://assistbpo.com/demo-line/).

- A named assistant proposed within 72 hours
- Employed, screened and managed staff, never freelancers
- Your hours, your tools, your data

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Source: https://assistbpo.com/services/phone-answering/ · Contact: https://assistbpo.com/contact/ · Full site map for agents: https://assistbpo.com/llms.txt