24/7 answering service for small business

What it does, how the options compare, what sets the price and what to ask before you pick one.

A 24/7 answering service picks up your business calls when you can't, at any hour, nights, weekends and holidays included. Instead of a voicemail greeting, the caller reaches someone who answers questions, takes the details and, with the better services, books the job.

It comes in two kinds. A live answering service is a call center: operators answer with your business name and follow a script you give them. An AI answering service, also called an AI receptionist or virtual receptionist, is software that talks with the caller by voice, works from what you've told it about your business and picks up the moment the phone rings.

Both do the same job. The customer who calls at 9pm, on a Sunday or while you're on a roof talks to someone, gets an answer and doesn't move on to the next business on the list. You get the details afterward, so you can call back, or show up to a job that's already on your calendar.

Any business that gets calls when nobody can pick up. Plumbers, HVAC techs, locksmiths and roofers get emergency calls at night. Auto shops, salons and dental offices get calls during appointments and after closing. Property managers hear from tenants at midnight. A one-person business misses a call every time the owner is busy on a job. When a caller who reaches voicemail can simply call the next business instead, an answering service keeps that call yours.

Voicemail costs nothing extra but answers nothing. A live service puts a person on the line and bills for their time. An AI receptionist answers at any hour, in more than one language, and books the job, but it can't do everything a person can.

A live service suits a business that wants a person on every call and can budget for every minute. An AI receptionist suits a business whose calls are mostly the same questions, prices you've set and appointments to book, and whose busiest hours are nights, weekends or time on the job. Victoria, our AI receptionist, tells callers she's an AI when they ask.

It depends on how many calls you get, how long they last and what you want done on each one. Most services charge in one of these ways:

• Per minute: you pay for time spent on your calls, often as a monthly bundle of minutes plus a rate for each minute over it.
• Per call: a set amount for each call answered, short or long.
• A monthly plan: one price for a set number of calls or minutes, or for the service as a whole.

What moves the price: how many calls you get and how long they run; whether nights, weekends and holidays cost the same as daytime; Spanish; booking into your calendar instead of taking a message; setup and script changes; and what you pay in a busy month when you go over.

There's no number for ours on this page because yours comes from your own calls: the free 2-minute assessment works out your price. Night and weekend calls cost the same as daytime calls, Spanish is never an add-on. It's month to month, plus a one-time setup fee, with a 30-day money-back guarantee on your first monthly payment (setup fee non-refundable).

Call it yourself, at night, and ask what your customers ask. Then get a straight answer to each of these:

• Who answers, and does it say it's an AI when a caller asks?
• Is it really 24/7, holidays included, and does a night call cost more than a day call?
• Can it answer in Spanish at every hour?
• Does it book into the calendar you already use, or only take a message?
• What happens with an emergency: who gets called, and how fast?
• What do you get after each call: a recording, a summary, or both?
• What's in the contract: setup fees, minimums, overage and how to cancel?

Victoria answers in English and Spanish around the clock, books into your calendar during the call, rings your phone for real emergencies by your rules, records every call, logs it in the CRM we set up for you and sends you a summary after each one, so no customer gets lost or ignored.