Telephone Answering

65.6 hours

saved this year for Lydia after AllDayPA handled over 1,884 calls for her in 2019.
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Telephone Answering Service

UK’s Largest Call Centre

1,400+ Fully Trained Agents

150 Years of Expertise

Call Packages from Just £180

Expert Call Handling, 24/7

Transform your business with our telephone answering service

Are you looking for a telephone answering service to help you handle your incoming calls?

You’ve come to the right place.

AllDayPA can help you manage your calls and give your customers a consistent experience every time they call in. We offer live operators and virtual receptionists, depending on how many employees you have, as well as a handful of other services.

We offer 24/7 call center services and live operators who are trained to answer your calls professionally and efficiently.

We understand that every business has different needs and requirements when it comes to their telephone answering service provider; which is why we tailor each of our plans specifically for each client’s unique situation. This means that no matter what type of business you run or how much time or money you want to spend on your phone answering service, we can provide the perfect solution for your company.

Ready to alleviate the stress of managing your incoming calls? Delegate your responsibilities to alldayPA today.

Telephone Answering Service

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Telephone Answering Service

A service tailored to you

We can take care of all incoming calls, just overflow calls, or the calls that come in after your opening hours — whatever’s best for you and your business.

A 24/7 service, 365 days a year

No matter when your customers call, they’ll always have someone to talk to. Our PAs answer calls around the clock for no additional charge – it’s all part of our service, as standard.

Stay in control and in the know

With our app, you can stay in the know about the calls that we’ve handled for you. You can also tell us your availability and customise how you’d like us to answer the phone for you.

Call forwarding & message taking included

If you’re available to take the call, we’ll put the customer through to you. If you’re busy, then we’ll take their details and pass these on to you.

An affordable solution

With a variety of memberships, we make sure you pay for what you need and not a penny more. Better still, using our service is cheaper than hiring an in-house team.

Other services are available...

Looking for something beyond a telephone answering service? We offer support for your emails, live chat, and social media enquiries — learn more about our most comprehensive packages, Virtual Receptionist and Outsourced Call Centre.

How does our Telephone
Answering service work?

1

With our business telephone answering service you know your phone lines are always covered.

2

You decide which calls we answer, whether it’s all of your calls or just the ones you can’t get to.

3

Our PAs answer the calls in your business name, just like they would in your office, and your callers never know they’ve spoken to an answering service.

The PA takes a name, number and message so you can get back to the caller when you’re ready. It’s that easy!

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The Virtual Office App

Virtual Office from AllDayPA gives you complete control over how we answer your calls. Whether it’s setting your VIPs, changing your availability, or even telling us how to greet callers – it’s all done at the push of a button.
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Telephone Answering Service

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There’s no denying that running a business is hard work – there are many diverse aspects to it that require a lot of time and effort, and that’s before you even consider the time that’s spent dealing with incoming telephone calls. When planning out your day-to-day jobs, for either yourself or your team, you may even forget to factor in the time that’s spent on phone calls, especially if they’re unexpected incoming calls. And whilst missing the occasional call might not seem like a big deal, it could potentially lead to a loss of new business, and will certainly give the wrong first impression.

Perhaps you’re a sole trader who feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day to deal with the entirety of your to-do list, including answering incoming phone calls. Maybe you run a business that lacks the time or the staff to pick up every single phone call you receive. So, what’s the solution? To answer every incoming call, you simply need more time. Thankfully, that’s exactly what we provide. We create time.


This isn’t more time to answer all of these incoming calls though. It’s time to deal with the other important aspects of your business, including the calls that really matter to you. It’s peace of mind that you can get on with these other parts of the business, that keep it moving forward, without missing a single call in the meantime. How? Well, because we take care of that for you.

With our telephone answering service, we’ll answer your incoming calls 24/7 for 365 days a year, so you never have to miss a call again. By ensuring that your customers always speak to a human at the other end of the phone, rather than a recorded message or a robot when you’re unavailable, you can provide amazing customer service at all times, with the help of the alldayPA telephone answering service.


We love talking to existing and potential clients about the ways that we can help them and add value to their business. If you’d like to find out more about our telephone answering service, get in touch with our friendly team, who will be happy to answer all of your questions.

Telephone Answering Service

What is a telephone answering service? Everything you need to know before signing up…

A telephone answering service is an outsourced service, designed to answer incoming calls on behalf of you and your company. This concept has been around for a while now – alldayPA has been around for more than 20 years! However, the idea of having a telephone answering service has become an increasingly popular option for businesses that struggle to make time for incoming calls, and modern developments in technology make outsourced telephone answering easier than ever before. With this type of service, you know that your phone lines are always covered – there’s no need to worry about missing any incoming calls. 



Using our service is a very cost-effective system to ensure your calls aren’t missed, particularly when compared to employing the number of staff you would need just to answer every single call 24/7, 365 days a year. That’s why our service is a popular choice for small and medium businesses. They reap the benefits of having a system where no incoming calls go unanswered, without the prohibitively expensive costs of hiring extra staff and additional office space to do it on their own. 

And whilst telephone answering services provide several benefits for business owners and their teams, these benefits are only ever experienced when the technology to provide the service is efficient and effective. We appreciate the importance of technology here at alldayPA, which is why we continuously strive to invest in the latest technology, to deliver an exceptional service to our customers and their customers. As such, we recently invested £15m into our call-handling technology. This is spread across four different centres, ensuring that our services can still be delivered, even in the event of power outages.

Whilst our telephone answering service is popular amongst many businesses, all of which vary in their structure, services and products, the service can be personalised to the needs of your business, the way you operate and the services and products you offer to your customers. We work with large corporations to small businesses in a variety of industries, from property, legal, marketing and finance to trades and manufacturing, florists and delivery services, healthcare and beauty, as well as anything in between.

Using our service is a very cost-effective system to ensure your calls aren’t missed, particularly when compared to employing the number of staff you would need just to answer every single call 24/7, 365 days a year. That’s why our service is a popular choice for small and medium businesses. They reap the benefits of having a system where no incoming calls go unanswered, without the prohibitively expensive costs of hiring extra staff and additional office space to do it on their own.

Telephone Answering Service
Our PAs will get to know your business and will talk to you about your requirements, including how you would like them to answer the phone calls. Our team will work with you to develop call scripts – you have complete control over how and when your calls are handled. Our PAs will always handle your calls to perfection, with professionalism and friendliness – think of us as an extension of your team. Whilst you may think of us as a call centre dedicated to answering the incoming phone calls your business receives, you may have concerns about the technical aspects of the service, given all that goes on at a call centre behind the scenes, to ensure that it operates smoothly. Whilst there are some technical considerations to be made and actions to take, you can leave the majority of that to us. We’ll only need a few things from you to make our service work – we’ll need a VIP caller list for your company, a list of staff and their contact details. It’s as simple as that! Whilst we only need these few things to get the service up and running, you should keep your PA up-to-date at all times. This will ensure that the service provided to customers that call you is as effective as possible and that any information given to them is accurate.
We’ll work with you at every step of the process to keep you involved and informed about our service, and keep you involved in your own customer journey to make sure we’re fitting perfectly into your existing processes! Updating your PA at any time is simple too! You can contact them by phone, by email or by logging onto your alldayPA portal. From this online portal, you’ll also have access to your messages, updated instructions, invoices and you can make changes to your account, at any time you like. Ultimately, if your incoming calls often go unanswered and you lack the time and the resources to ensure that your phone lines are covered at all times, then our telephone answering service is the perfect solution. Working with a telephone answering service means that you don’t need to waste your time answering phone calls or running for the phone anymore, and instead can get down to business doing what is important to you, while we handle your calls to perfection. With a tailored service specific to your business and support to help you get set up and make the most of your PA and the service they provide, you can deal with other aspects of your business with peace of mind that incoming calls are being dealt with, efficiently and effectively!

The importance of first impressions & the cost of calls…

Following a phone call that leaves a bad first impression, 74% of customers are likely to choose another business.

We’re often told about the importance of first impressions and rightly so – first impressions are crucial. They can make or break a business, and its reputation. So, what happens when customers don’t get a positive first impression from a phone call? A study from Invoca found that following a bad phone call, 74% of people are likely to choose another business (PDF) for the service or product that they are looking for. In terms of reviews and recommendations, 70% are likely to complain to people they know, and 30% would leave a bad review for the company online.



The power of a positive first impression can therefore lead to more business, loyalty amongst your customers, positive reviews and recommendations to friends and family, all of which, again, create more business for your company. We’re committed to giving a positive first impression of your business, to anyone that calls you.

Telephone Answering Service

How do professionals answer the phone?

Professionals should always answer the phone with the aim of providing the customer with a positive first impression of the company, as well as an overall positive experience. Professionals will answer the phone with the following things in mind:

  • Politeness: It’s important not just to answer the phone politely, but you should remain polite throughout the entire call. Even if the customer gets angry or begins to raise their voice about the subject of the call, you should remain calm, polite and professional. Even when you’re having a bad day and it can seem easy to forget about telephone etiquette and manners, you must remove your own personal feelings from the call. The customer won’t know what kind of day you’re having, so remaining calm and polite is key to providing a strong first impression.
  • Pace: You should speak at a pace that is clear and easy to understand. Speaking too fast will make a customer feel overwhelmed with the information that they’re receiving, yet talking too slow can sound unprofessional and as though you’re unsure of the information you’re conveying.
  • The tone of voice: Perfecting your tone of voice is essential as it can set the tone for the call and can help the customer to feel comfortable and at ease, helping them to open up. With the wrong tone of voice – such as a tone that suggests you’re distracted or rushed – the customer will begin to feel like they aren’t being listened to or taken seriously. Maintaining a positive, friendly and professional tone of voice will help the customer to feel comfortable and understood.
  • Pronunciation: Mispronunciation can provide a poor first impression and indicates a lack of professionalism. It can also lead to misspellings, which can have serious consequences if they feature on important documents, such as invoices. Your PA will always take care with pronunciations, ensuring that they pronounce your business name, and other key names correctly, to maintain a high level of professionalism and to ensure that customers think they are talking to an employee of your company.
Telephone Answering Service

What is the proper way to answer an office telephone?

The way that you answer your office telephone will provide customers with a vital first impression of not just you as a person, but of your entire business and the company you represent. As such, you want to ensure that the way you answer the phone is professional and that you give the customer at the other end of your phone your undivided attention. 

When the phone rings and you receive an incoming call, you should stop all of your other tasks before you speak to the caller. Limiting distractions will ensure that you give your full attention to the customer, which will minimise miscommunications between you both. For example, if you’re completing a task on your computer and when the phone rings, you should stop this task to concentrate on the call. Not only will you have been able to get the most out of your call, but your caller will know and feel that they have your full attention too. You should also take a moment if needed, before answering the phone, to collect your thoughts and put yourself in the right frame of mind.

When you get a call, you should always try to answer it within three rings, to prevent the caller from becoming impatient or feeling like their call could potentially be ignored. 



Remain undistracted throughout the duration of the call and do not speak to anybody outside of the call, until it is over. 



Avoid trying to communicate with anyone else whilst you are on the phone as the customer will get the impression that you are distracted. 



You should take the call in a quiet area or via a headset. 



However, when you’re running a business and lack the time to deal with incoming calls effectively, limiting distractions and answering the phone within this recommended amount of time may be challenging, which is why our service is the ideal solution. Our PAs are committed to answering incoming calls to your business within three rings, to provide a great first impression from the very start of the caller’s experience. When speaking to the customer on the other end of the phone, that will be your PA’s only focus. 

Telephone Answering Service

What should I say when answering the phone?

When answering the phone and greeting the caller, it’s important to establish the correct tone of voice with a balance between being friendly yet professional. When answering an incoming phone call at work, you won’t always know who’s calling. It could be an employee, your boss, or a customer. If you greet the caller professionally and positively, this will start the call correctly and set the tone for the rest of the conversation. 

You should also tell the caller who you are, and the organisation that you’re from. In most situations, it’s expected that you will answer the call by giving your personal name, as well as the company name that you’re calling from. At alldayPA, we’ll answer all of our calls perfectly so you get all of the information you need from your callers, every single time.

 

How much money do missed calls cost businesses?

Missing one customer call costs businesses around £1,200.



Whilst missing the occasional phone call might not feel like it’s an issue, a report released by BT Business has stated for every missed customer call, a business loses around £1,200. For businesses that are not contactable for 24 hours a day, they estimate that the figures will increase, ranging from £9,000-£20,000. This is a staggering amount of money that many businesses cannot afford to lose. This amount of money can have a huge impact on your business and can help you take it from strength to strength. In some cases, it may even save your business.



70% of mobile searchers have used the call button to contact businesses.



As many businesses have suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic and have had to cut back on resources to save money, some businesses no longer have the staff to deal with every incoming call. Yet following the pandemic, telecommunications are more important than ever. When it comes to dealing with businesses, customers want continuity and transparency. As such, now more than ever, business phone lines should be managed at all times.



Picking up the phone to call a business is an important part of the buying journey. A Google study has shown that, out of 3,000 mobile phone users that search for businesses online, 70% of these people had used the call button displayed on search engines to contact the business they needed to speak to. This is true for a range of industries – telecommunications is a key step in a customer’s purchasing journey.

Telephone Answering Service
Telephone Answering Service

Perhaps just as significant as loss of revenue is the damage that missed calls can do to your public reputation which, in the long-term, can lead to a greater loss of revenue if potential customers decide to do business with a rival company. In the age of modern technology and social media, posting a negative review and spreading the word about missed business calls has never been easier. People will soon form an opinion of your company, based on the reviews they have seen online, and may decide to avoid your business completely if they see poor ratings.



When it comes to telecommunications, there’s simply no denying the importance of first impressions and the cost of missed calls. The solution is to have a phone line that’s open 24/7, where customers can always reach a human at the other end of the phone, without having to worry about their call being ignored or reaching an automated, recorded message. And for businesses, the service provides a solution where every single call gets answered in a way that’s professional and friendly. With our telephone answering service missed calls can no longer be a cause of lost revenue.

Our packages – how much does a business answering service cost?

At alldayPA, we have a range of packages, all with differing levels of service, to cater for all businesses and their needs. From our Starter package to our Outsourced Call Centre package that provides you with the greatest level of support – including a virtual receptionist – there’s a range of options. Whatever your budget and whatever your needs, we’ll have a contract that provides a suitable service to your business.

Our Starter Package

This package is ideal for start-ups or small businesses that would like to witness our telephone answering service in practice. This package is an entry-level solution that remains fully flexible. Calls cost 99p each, and you can easily top-up using PayPal. This package starts at just £9.90, which includes credit for 10 calls, and the most expensive option is still just £39.60, which includes credit for 40 calls. This package comes with email customer support, and your PA will take caller details such as their name, phone number and message.

Virtual Receptionist

With this package, you can enjoy the benefits provided by the Telephone Answering package, as well as many other perks that will make your life, and the life of your teams, so much easier. As well as the 24/7/365 service as standard and a full human service provided by UK based staff, businesses with a virtual receptionist can enjoy remote switchboard services, customer service outsourcing, diary management, multiple staff availability and so much more. As with the majority of our packages, you can request a tailored quote for this package, based on your monthly call volume.

Telephone Answering Package

This option is a step-up from the starter package as you’ll receive more support and more options for your incoming calls. As with the Starter package, your PA will take the name, number and a message from the caller, but you will also have a call forwarding option, as part of the service. As well as email support, you’ll have app access for customer support too, and will receive a message via email and SMS to alert you of an incoming call that your PA has taken. To find out the cost of this package you can request a quote online, as the price is calculated based on your estimated monthly call volume. 

Outsourced Call Centre

This package is our biggest and provides your business with its very own outsourced call centre. This package includes all the benefits that come with the virtual receptionist contract, as well as so much more. If you use alldayPA as your outsourced call centre, you’ll have bespoke CRM integration and outbound call centre services, as well as email and live chat management and so much more. Prices for this package are based on your monthly call volume and are therefore tailored to the needs of your business.

Telephone Answering Service

Why use a telephone answering service?

In 2019, we helped save Lydia 65.6 hours to focus on her business with our telephone answering service. We handled more than 1,884 calls for her company.

Using a telephone answering service is so much more than just having someone on standby to answer any incoming calls when you’re unavailable – there are so many advantages to working with us. Using a call answering service means saving money, making money, saving time and maintaining a high level of professionalism and exceptional customer service. Ultimately, using our services can help your business to grow, achieve and succeed.

Never miss a call from a potential lead

Missing calls, and being unable to call potential leads back, means missing out on potential business opportunities and revenue. Missing one call might not feel like an issue, but with this attitude, you’ll soon be missing out on several calls, and therefore several leads, which can hinder your business growth. A telephone answering service, unlike many receptionists, will be available 24/7/365 to deal with incoming calls, ensuring that you never have to miss a lead again.

Even out of office hours, your business will have a real person manning the phone – there’s no answering machines or recorded messages – ready to provide amazing customer service. If you were to ensure that you never missed a lead, using your own staff and resources, this would mean longer opening hours and a greater expense for staff pay and any necessary training. A telephone answering service offers a cost-effective solution to this issue.

Have complete control over your calls

With our service, you’ll still have full control over your calls, even if you aren’t answering them. Thanks to our app – the Virtual Office from alldayPA, you have control at all times, whether you’re working from home, in your office or even on holiday! Wherever you are, you’ll always have access to your Virtual Office. On the app, you can:

  • Access all of your messages.
  • Adjust your availability, so we know when to transfer a call across to you or when to take a message from the caller.
  • Set greetings, so that your PA answers every call in the way that you have chosen.
  • View your call data, to stay informed about your busiest times and the number of calls that we have taken for you.
  • Provide us with a list of VIPs, so we know your most important callers names, numbers and the company that they are calling from.

Never deal with cold callers again

As much as it can be a nuisance, it’s common for many salespeople to make cold calls in an attempt to sell their product or service. Whether it’s a cold call for double glazing or something else you don’t need, or an automated message to inform you of your eligibility for compensation, dealing with cold callers whilst trying to do your job, or operate a business, can be extremely frustrating. You may even feel like it’s slowing you down throughout the day. With our telephone answering service, you’ll be pleased to know that you’ll never have to deal with cold callers again whilst you’re trying to do your job or run your company. Any cold callers that try to ring your number will be put through to your designated PA, who will deal with the caller professionally. This can save you plenty of time and energy, to invest elsewhere throughout the day.

Keep your work/life balance stable

You can sometimes be caught off guard by inbound calls, leaving you feeling unprepared, especially if you consider the caller to be one of your VIPs. You can sometimes feel as though you’re lacking the specific information the caller needs, especially if you answer the call away from your office and without access to the resources you may need. When we deal with your incoming calls and take the caller’s name, number and message, you can then prepare to call them back. This additional time means that you can gather any relevant information that you may need to inform them of during the call. This ensures that you maintain a high level of professionalism and knowledge on the call, all of which will work in your favour when it comes to a caller’s first impression of your company, or the quality of your customer service.

Get a business landline number, without needing a landline

One of the main benefits of the service is that you’ll get a business landline number, without needing a landline. Some business owners do question whether or not they need a landline number, especially if their business is new. Having a landline number is essential, we think, for many reasons. And if your business operates without a phone line, it may be time to reconsider your strategy – customers still appreciate speaking to a human when they need valuable information or when they have an issue. Having a business landline number can increase the trust between customers and your business – many people are wary about mobile numbers and potential scams, whereas a landline will indicate that your business is legitimate and well-established, increasing your credibility too. The lack of a phone number can also cause issues for your business listing on Google. Your business phone number is key in local searches and the lack of a number can often be viewed as a red flag by search engines. A landline number will also allow you to keep your business and personal calls separate – you can keep your personal mobile number private, using this for solely personal communication if you’d prefer.

Be ready for your most important calls

This package is our biggest and provides your business with its very own outsourced call centre. This package includes all the benefits that come with the virtual receptionist contract, as well as so much more. If you use alldayPA as your outsourced call centre, you’ll have bespoke CRM integration and outbound call centre services, as well as email and live chat management and so much more. Prices for this package are based on your monthly call volume and are therefore tailored to the needs of your business.

Save on personnel costs without sacrificing customer experience

For the most fabulous customer service, you’ll probably need to invest in the likes of training and performance monitoring for your staff, to ensure that they are performing their roles well and are upholding the reputation of your company. Regardless of the number of staff you have, the cost of training and performance monitoring or quality control within any business can be expensive. However, without this vital training, you run the risk of sacrificing customer service. If hiring a single receptionist to deal with calls seems like an option for your company, you have the worries of their absence and current staff spend to consider too, not to mention that for most businesses, receptionists won’t be available 24/7, or the cost of having this cover 24/7 is extremely expensive. Working with alldayPA means that we’ve got you covered all day, every day – let us handle your calls and manage your customer interactions, without worrying about compromising on amazing customer service.

Free up time to let you focus on the important things

There are many different aspects to running a business, many of which require a lot of time, effort and consideration. Dealing with incoming calls, especially those that are unexpected, have the potential to slow you down and take up a lot of time in your day. However, by removing these inbound calls from your day – with the help of our telephone answering service – you can create more time to focus on important aspects of your company such as business meetings, new projects and developments, your strategy and operations. You can take care of these fundamentals without missing out on potential new business or revenue from calls, as we’ll deal with these calls for you, ensuring that they never go unanswered. We’ll make sure that the customer on the other end of the line receives the best possible service and first impressions of your company.

Keep records of your calls, without having to take notes

Keeping a record of your calls and any relevant data – such as your busiest times – can be useful for planning ahead and distributing resources where needed. However, keeping these records, obtaining the data, and note-taking can all be time-consuming and confusing sometimes. Yet with our telephone answering service packages, you’ll have access to our Virtual Office app, which gives you access to your call data whenever you need it. You can find out information such as how many calls we’ve taken on your behalf, as well as which times are your busiest. 

The evolution of communications – how we can help you stay ahead…

Technology is always evolving, which means that customer service is ever-changing too. Here at alldayPA, we are committed to helping you stay ahead of the game when it comes to communications, whether that be business to business or business to consumer. The way that businesses operate, the technology we have at our disposal, and the needs of consumers are always changing. As such, your methods of communication need to evolve to reflect these changes and keep your consumers satisfied. We’re always investing in technology to improve the experience of the businesses we work with and their customers. When you work with us, you know that your callers will have a first-class experience thanks to our modern technology, as well as our customer service skills.
Telephone Answering Service

The technology we use is always evolving

Our first-class service is built on amazing, consistent service to both our customers and their customers, thanks to our experienced team of more than 400 call handlers, and excellent technology. Technology is always evolving and continues to improve, to deliver effective and efficient services in numerous sectors. If you don’t keep up with the latest technological trends and investments, your business could get left behind and that customer service you pride yourself on could be negatively impacted. We train our PAs to stay up-to-date on the software our customers use, so that we can fully integrate with your day-to-day, just like an internal receptionist would. Our staff can use a wide range of tools, including Salesforce, Sage, Freshdesk, Zoho, Microsoft and Google suites and ResponseTap, among a wide range of other software packages. We’re committed to ensuring that the businesses we work with never get left behind. That’s why we continue to invest in the latest technology, to ensure that the services we provide are nothing short of outstanding. Our technology is evenly spread across four different centres, so it’s business as usual even in the event of a power cut.

Businesses now operate and communicate globally

As technology has evolved, businesses have found it increasingly easier to offer their services and products to a global audience. Whilst this can mean more revenue and business opportunities, it also comes with the issue of different time zones, which can make it harder for businesses to communicate with international consumers. One of the ways to resolve this is through messaging platforms and chatbots that are available at all times, whenever the customer needs support. A messaging service allows you to reply at a convenient time, and a chatbot should provide the customer with the information and the solution that they need. But are these always the right methods of communication to implement? As we have just discovered, consumers value human interaction. In fact, a lack of human interaction can deter them from using a business, and the services and products they offer. So, if your business operates globally and your consumers want that human interaction, what’s the solution? A wise one would be a phone line that’s manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but to hire an in-house team for this can be extortionate. That’s exactly where alldayPA comes in – we can provide 24/7 customer service to your international customers so that their call never goes unanswered.

People still want human interaction, despite technological advances

Whilst technology has evolved with the use of live chat services, bots, and automated messages, most consumers will still appreciate talking to a human. Whilst it’s important to stay ahead and for your business to evolve as technology evolves, it’s just as vital that you recognise what customers want and appreciate. In other words, don’t let workplace technology affect your customer service and consumer experience – it shouldn’t hinder human interaction. If investing in the latest interactive voice response (IVR) systems may seem like a good idea, we’d invite you to think again. According to a recent study, 61% of customers dislike IVR systems and believe that it harms customer experience. Another study highlighted that 86% of consumers prefer talking to an actual person, rather than a chatbot. So whilst these new technological advancements may be impressive and tempting to invest in, they can actually do more harm than good. It might make your job easier but it could leave potential consumers frustrated and unhappy. So, if you want to make your life, or the lives of your staff easier with modern technology, you should consider alternative methods other than IVR systems, chatbots, and similar technologies. You can invest in the latest technology and you can still provide a high level of customer service that your callers will appreciate. Our telephone answering service provides callers with the chance to talk directly to a human which, judging by the figures, is exactly what they want.

Remote and flexible working will be here to stay

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, some employers were welcoming a shift towards remote working and flexible working. Yet since the pandemic, which has forced many offices to close and many workers to set up offices in their own home, many that had never considered remote working now sometimes even prefer it to the old way of doing business. Even when the pandemic has ended, it looks like remote and flexible working will be here to stay, as employers recognise the benefits that this brings to their staff. This shift to flexible working is beneficial for all. For small businesses, they can work in whichever way will benefit their company and aid their growth the most. As for larger corporations, staff that are usually confined to set working hours and a lot of pressure can now adjust their working hours to suit them, whilst enjoying a mix of office working and remote working. All of this has been made possible because of technological advancements – consumers can communicate with companies through several ways, at any time, and vice versa – we’re always within reach. We can work flexibly to enhance productivity, and even benefit our mental health, without compromising on customer experience and the delivery of excellent customer service. Whilst staff enjoy flexible working hours and probably an easier, enjoyable life as a result, your customers can still reach you at any given time, with the help of alldayPA’s telephone answering service. Because we provide a 24/7/365 service as standard, you can allow your staff to work flexibly and remotely with peace of mind that your incoming calls will still always be answered. Using our Virtual Receptionist service, Digital Marketing Director Sam saved 68.3 hours every month, with an average of 240 calls answered by us, giving him time to focus on growing his business and helping his clients thrive.
Telephone Answering Service

Sectors and industries who use a telephone answering service…

You might not think that your business needs a phone answering service, but there are actually a lot of instances where employing a telephone answering service or virtual receptionist really does make a significant difference.

Do you:

  • Get a lot of potential customers over the phone and want to be sure you aren’t missing any of your leads?
  • Spend a lot of your day on the phone as it is, and want to make sure all incoming calls can be answered?
  • Spend a lot of time outside of the office or away from your phone?
  • Have a small team who need to focus on their roles, rather than the role of receptionist?
  • Have sprints, rushes or other periods where your team needs to focus without distractions?
  • Have a tight budget, where the cost of a full-time receptionist just isn’t feasible?
  • Need a receptionist but don’t want to work with a temp agency?
  • Work in a loud environment, or can’t answer the phone whilst working?
  • Want to be able to offer your customers 24/7 support?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, your business might get a lot of use from a phone answering service or virtual receptionist!

At alldayPA, we partner with thousands of businesses – with wide-ranging business models – across a huge variety of sectors to provide a seamless and practical service, and have worked closely with a huge variety of organisations to create solutions that work for them.

Telephone Answering Service

Property

Estate and lettings agencies are often very accustomed to answering the phone to potential, and existing, buyers, sellers, renters and landlords, so you might think that there isn’t much need for call answering in this sector.

However, when it comes to an out of hours service, many people find their estate agency’s service lacking. Most people will only ever use their property company’s out of hours service in a true emergency, which is why being able to offer a kind, professional service in these instances is so important. With alldayPA, your customers will be able to get in touch with a friendly voice who can direct them to the right resources, even during a difficult time, and in unsociable hours or on major holidays. 

Business Support & Consultancy

Business support firms and consultancies often have a lot to balance, from communication with clients, strategies and planning, meetings and check ins with what businesses you work with to crisis management, people management and of course, the running of your own business on top! Many business consultancies are hesitant to use a call answering service, as they think it will impact negatively on the experience of not just existing clients, but potential new ones too, however, this is far from the case. When one of our PAs picks up the phone, you can feel confident they’ll be a professional, cordial and capable presence, able to answer calls on your behalf exactly the way you would in your office. We’ll always answer with your company name and, depending on your unique package with us, can direct calls to the right person, make and cancel appointments and meetings using your own calendars and CRM tools, so your caller won’t even know they’ve been speaking to a call answering service. Then, we’ll pass all of the call details onto you in real time, so you can pick up return calls as quickly as possible. Call answering services also allow you to gather a little more information ahead of speaking to your inbound leads and show them you know what you’re talking about, all without compromising on the professional service your clients expect to receive.

IT Support

Particularly in today’s world, many companies will have invested heavily into their IT infrastructure. Data security, ease of use, good communication and the efficiency of IT infrastructure is so important to many businesses, as you’ll well know already. However, this means that if a client is having issues with their IT, the workday can be stopped in its tracks. Not being able to access parts of IT infrastructure is something that can have a huge impact, so being able to get it fixed as soon as possible is vital, and so being able to offer that level of support and service is vital for IT providers. Using alldayPA, you can offer your customers a 24 hour helpline that lets them feel reassured when they call, but also gives your team the additional time, information and flexibility to get a solution put in place as quickly as possible, and your clients back on track.

Marketing & Advertising

The work of marketing and advertising agencies is incredibly varied, and can take on so many different forms – that’s one of the reasons it’s such an exciting industry to work in! However, spinning too many plates at once can lead to issues, which is why marketing, advertising, PR, web design and development, and social media marketing agencies, to name just a few, trust alldayPA to take on the load of answering your inbound lead calls and front-line communication with clients. Your clients trust you with their marketing because of the expertise of your team, so if you can give them more time to use their specialist skills, the results will be better for everyone. Specialist teams of designers, developers, PR specialists, social media marketers, and project managers, for example, all have full time roles of their own that they need to focus on rather than spending their time on the phone. A call answering service also gives your sales team the chance to prepare a little before speaking to inbound leads, as you’ll be sent the name, number and details of your caller automatically as soon as the call ends, and you’ll also have the option to set a question or questions that you would like your PA to ask new leads, so that you can prepare for your callback and make a great first impression.

Finance & Accounting

The world of finance is a fast-paced environment, particularly around certain market events or at points during the tax year. This means that your team may have periods where they simply don’t have the time to answer the phone, but at other times it’s no problem. At alldayPA, you can choose whether you want your calls picked up by us or by you and your team, and can change this at the press of a button, making it an incredibly flexible option for organisations in the fast-moving finance sector. With the option of per call, per minute or per second billing for your phone answering service, you can easily and quickly scale up and down with alldayPA, depending on the needs of your business throughout the year. Smaller accounting firms, for example, have much of the same work to do as larger organisations, but without all of the same resources. For smaller firms, a telephone answering service allows you to spend time on the important things, without having to invest in a temporary or permanent receptionist to take care of your calls and admin for you, without ever having to compromise on the customer experience for your valued clients. Even as the world becomes increasingly digital, the importance of the personal touch can’t be understated, and that’s exactly

Manufacturing & Trades

In the manufacturing and trade sector, there are plenty of times when you simply aren’t able to get to the phone mid-job. The nature of this kind of work means that answering every call you receive as it comes in just isn’t an option, particularly for smaller business and single person operations. For business owners in this sector, the job you’re on needs to come first, which can lead to you missing out on business to competitors simply because of poor timing and luck! You want to be the first, and only, call that a potential client makes, and missing that call can be what makes or breaks your next big project. With alldayPA, you’re able to take your calls when you’re free, and direct them straight to us when you can’t get to the phone, confident that we’ll offer a professional, amiable service and you won’t miss a lead again.

Small Businesses

Small business owners are some of the most hardworking, motivated and dedicated people we have the pleasure of working with, but that means that they are almost always stretched for time! Working intelligently to make the most use out of the resources that are available to you is key to success for many SMEs, and that includes optimising your processes to reduce admin time and costs, without compromising on the effectiveness of your processes. By working with other businesses and outsourcing the most tedious admin tasks, you can improve your output and help your team make the most out of the workday, actively developing and growing your business. Many small businesses also find that they are receiving sales calls, calls about recruitment services and other services they don’t want or need, as well as general spam calls. With a call answering service, you’ll never have to waste your time on spam callers again! Finally, budgets in small businesses can be very tight, and the costs to hire, train, monitor and develop a receptionist simply aren’t there. Working with a call answering service is considerably more affordable than hiring a full time receptionist, and also allows you to be much more flexible about when you can take calls, as 24/7 call answering is available as standard.

Legal

Whilst many laymen think that legal firms only work regular business hours, there are many firms that are able to offer 24-hour support to both new and existing clients. The majority of legal firms need to be available at least during extended hours to be able to offer their clients the best support they can during difficult times, which is something that a call answering service can help you offer. At alldayPA, we want to help the firms we work with not just operate effectively, but to grow and flourish by providing high-quality front-line communications with a variety of different stakeholders. Time is so precious for many legal firms, as increasing the number of billable hours is a major target for many firms. We want to help you reach your goals by saving you time so that your team is only spending time on the phone when they need to be.

Large Enterprises

There are plenty of universal truths in business, however, the concerns of SMEs and large enterprises are often very different. Whilst the cost of hiring a receptionist is less of a concern for a larger enterprise, the time it takes to hire, train, monitor and professionally develop a new team member does have an impact on teams and their productivity.

Many large companies want to be seen as friendly and personable, but when customers call, they’re faced with an extensive automated phone system and long hold times, and might not even be able to reach a human at the end of the process! Having a human being on the other end to pick up the phone and speak directly to a customer, even if it’s just taking their message, making them feel heard and arranging a callback, can make such a big difference to the overall customer experience, and provide that personal touch that many larger companies lack. With our Outsourced Call Centre service, we can also help you manage social media messages and live chat, book appointments and take orders, as well as passing calls and messages on to the appropriate teams. If you work internationally or with clients across different time zones, having this point of contact available all day is vital, which is why we offer 24/7 answering service as standard, without any extra charges.

Our Outsourced Call Centre service saved 38.4 hours for Adam, a Financial Advisor, with alldayPA handling almost 200 calls every month to let him focus on the important stuff.

To find out more about how we can help businesses in your industry, or to create your bespoke package, please don’t hesitate to get in touch – fill out our form to arrange a callback. Our team of friendly business development specialists are always happy to speak to you, whether you want to find out a little more about our service, want to get started or need help with your existing account. We really do love talking to our clients and potential clients about our passion for what we do – we’re happy to help online, over the phone or even in person at our Manchester offices.
Telephone Answering Service

Our brand values and who we are…

Founded in 1999, alldayPA started out as a telephone answering service, and since then we’ve grown to become one of the UKs largest call telephone answering services, offering a wide range of options to our customers to improve their professional communications and grow their businesses. This meant introducing options like switchboard services, email handling services, live chat support, social media enquiry management and incident management, which are now all seamlessly integrated within our bespoke packages to help you take care of your customers whilst also focusing on developing your business.

Whilst the service we offer is of paramount importance, and we’re always working to develop, improve and expand our offering, as a family-oriented business, our values remain incredibly important to us. Everything we do and all the decisions we make are based on these key values, and they’re what has helped us grow the way we have over the last 20 years.

Service

Our clients always come first, that’s all there is to it! We’re always working to make the experience our clients have as positive as it can be, whether that’s through just being there when you need us, or by continually investing in ourselves, our technologies and our team. When you need us, we’re there, both through our 24/7 service, but also our customer support and business development teams, who work closely with our clients to ensure that you are always getting the best out of the service we provide. Our full dedicated customer service team is able to help you use our platform, set up a system that works for you, adjust your pricing package and offer additional help and advice when they’re needed, making the customer experience with alldayPA as smooth and effective as it can be. We want to ensure that you’re getting the right kind of support from us at every stage of your business journey, which is why we offer completely bespoke pricing packages that give you the support you need at an affordable price. Our pricing packages are also easily scalable to help support you as your business

Technology

We are quick to adapt to changing needs of our customers, thanks to continuous investment in our technology and a passion for our industry. We’re always looking ahead to the next big thing in our industry, allowing us to always offer the most comprehensive, practical and integrated solutions to our customers. This includes a £15m investment into our call technologies, allowing us to improve, expand and enhance our offering to keep up with the needs of companies in today’s business landscape. As well as our seamless call diversions and quality service, we are able to send you information and messages about your calls in real-time, so as soon as our team hangs up the call, you’ll know exactly what it was about, who called and can take the next steps from there. We can send you this as an email or SMS, so you don’t ever miss a message. With our virtual receptionist package, we can also direct calls to the right member of your team as well, to make the customer experience quick and easy when they get in touch with your business. Our customers can also choose a custom hold message for their calls and notify us of their availability, VIP numbers and monitor call data using the Virtual Office App in conjunction with their alldayPA account. We also have our calls handling spread across four separate contact centres, which allows us to ensure that our customers don’t have any downtime, even in the event of a power cut.

Expertise

With decades of experience in the industry, we are very proud of the expertise of our team, in all aspects of our business. Despite having over 400 people in our business, across a wide range of areas, we still feel strongly that we are a family. We’re always happy to share our knowledge with one another, and with our customers too, to help make their business as strong as possible.
Telephone Answering Service

Working with alldayPA…

We’ve invested over £15m into our four UK-based contact centres, to offer our clients 100% reliability and a seamless service.

We understand that it’s not always easy to find communication partners that you can rely on. At alldayPA, we’re dedicated to providing you with a telephone answering service that works for you and genuinely makes a difference to the way you do business, whatever your business is.

Offering quality service with exceptional customer care is the heart of what we do, so when you work with us, you can expect a partnership that really does make a difference, helping your business reach its full potential.

Quick and easy set-up

It really is easy to get started with our phone answering service. We’ll provide you with a unique phone number to use on your website, social media channels, posters, flyers and anywhere else you advertise. Then, when your potential customers call this number, it gets directed straight to us, and the unique number system lets us know it’s you they’re calling for, so there’s never any mix-ups! If you want to keep your existing phone number though, not to worry! It’s simple to set up a divert so your number won’t change. We’ll provide you with everything you need to get set up with our service quickly and easily, without bombarding you with technical jargon, getting involved in complicated onboarding processes or risking any downtime on your phone system. Whether you’re a tech wizard or completely hopeless when it comes to setting up your business technology, our customer service team will do everything we can to make the set-up process simple, so you can get back to the more important things without any worries.

Amazing customer service

Ever since we first started offering telephone answering and professional receptionist services to our customers in 1999, our customers have been at the very heart of what we do. We’re a family business, first and foremost, and even as we’ve grown over the last 20 years, the importance of that has never been lost on us. A useful product is all well and good, but if you don’t feel valued, respected and understood by the people you do business with, you won’t get the most out of that product or service. At alldayPA, we want to build strong relationships with our customers and create solutions that make sense for their businesses. We work with more than 24,000 businesses, so we’re confident we have the experience required to build a bespoke solution that helps your business reach its full potential. We know from experience that the best way to build a business is to build strong relationships with customers – it’s exactly why we do the job that we do.

24/7 as standard

If you’ve done some research already, you’ll have seen that many phone answering services will charge you a premium for 24-hour services or just extended hours outside of normal working hours. At alldayPA, this isn’t the case. We know how important it is for many businesses to be available all day, every day, but also that it isn’t always easy to have someone on call at all times. Healthcare providers, construction companies, small business owners, handymen and tradespeople, utility providers, banks, private security firms, datacentres, international e-commerce businesses, lettings agencies and many, many more kinds of businesses need to be contactable at any time, simply because of the sector they work in. At alldayPA, we don’t believe they should pay a premium because of the way their industry works, which is why we never charge extra for a 24/7 phone answering service.

No answering machines

Being stuck on a ringing phone or reaching the answering machine is a frustrating experience for anyone, particularly if you have an important issue to raise, or you’re looking for a new product, service or partner. Potential customers are far more likely to go with a competitor if they can’t reach you the first time around, but there’s also no way that small teams or one-man businesses can catch every call without the help of an administrator or receptionist. At alldayPA, we endeavour to answer every single call to our network within three rings so your potential customers aren’t waiting for long, and we never use answering machines to take our calls. Every call is picked up by one of our experienced PAs who will be able to answer your potential customers professionally and competently, in line with your business’s requirements, before passing this information onto you in real-time. Over more than 20 years in business, we’ve seen an increasing number of call answering services start outsourcing their call centres overseas in order to save money and make life easier for themselves. At alldayPA, we have never and will never outsource our telephone answering services. We answer all of our calls ourselves in our UK-based call centre, with the help of experienced, friendly PAs who understand the businesses we work with and are able to quickly and efficiently take your calls just as you would yourself! We can also help you by booking appointments, making cancellations and working with your CRM system to ensure that every call ends up where it should be.

100% UK based

An affordable alternative

Call answering services are not just incredibly easy to use, flexible around the needs of your business and excellent for offering 24-hour service to your customers, they’re also very affordable! When compared to hiring, training, developing, monitoring and providing space and equipment for an in-house receptionist or temp agency receptionist, the advantages of a professional receptionist service like alldayPA are clear. All you need to do is choose the right answering package for you (don’t worry, we’re happy to help if you’re not sure!), and we’ll help to set up a completely bespoke payment plan, based on your needs – we can tailor our packages to offer per call, per minute or per second billing, based on the way your business works best. You don’t need to buy any new hardware or equipment when you work with us, as that’s all taken care of at our end too.

We believe in the importance of being open and communicative, not just with our customers but within our business as well. We are, at our core, a family business, and so having our call centre here in the UK (Manchester, to be exact!) is so important to us, and our customers can feel secure knowing that we won’t be directing your calls abroad or to anyone who doesn’t meet our high internal standards.

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Having someone at the other end to pick up the phone every time really does make such a difference to both your team and your clients. The importance of a friendly, welcoming voice when you call a company for the first time can’t be overstated, as first impressions really do count! Having someone on hand to answer the phone and who can help your callers quickly, easily and professionally makes such a big difference, and sets you on the path to building strong positive relationships with your customers. 

Working with a telephone answering company also gives the people in your business the opportunity to get on with more important things, rather than being stuck answering the phone if it’s not part of their job. You hire your team based on their unique skills and experience, so it doesn’t make sense to waste their time and talents when they could be using them to drive your business forward. Plus, by using a dedicated answering service, you can feel confident that whoever picks up the call will know exactly what to say, taking the pressure off your team when the phone starts ringing.


We are passionate about what we do, and the way that our service can make a genuine difference for small and large businesses alike. Get in contact with our helpful team if you’d like to learn more about our telephone answering service.

Our business development teams are on hand at any time to help get your journey with alldayPA started.

Telephone Answering Service

Our Frequently Asked Questions, Answered!

Are you still left wanting to know more? No problem! Take a look at our FAQs for the telephone answering service.
What is an after-hours answering service?
If you’ve been looking for a reliable phone answering service for your business, you may have also stumbled across the terms ‘after-hours answering service’ and ‘out-of-hours answering service’. Essentially, these do exactly what they say on the tin – they ensure that someone is on hand to answer the phone outside of your standard business opening hours. After all, no matter what time customers try to get in touch with you, they still expect a prompt response! Here at alldayPA, our services are 24/7/365 as standard meaning that when you use our service, you can rest assured that our PAs and virtual receptionists (yes, they are real people) will handle incoming calls that come in past your standard opening hours. That way, you aren’t relying on bots or answering machines – customers get a personal service no matter what time they call!
We know that businesses come in all models and sizes, which is exactly why we don’t have a set price! We prefer to give you a personalised quote, so you have an accurate reflection of what to expect from the cost of our service. We offer flexible plans on a pay as you go model, and all of our packages can be scaled to meet your needs as your business grows! If you’d like a quote to gain a better understanding of how much you can expect to pay, then you can input your details online here, or you can give our team a call on 0345 056 8888.

The main feature of this package is phone handling – with this, we also use call forwarding to forward the call to you or your teams, if you’re available to take it. If you aren’t available, we’ll take the customer’s name, contact details, and enquiry, so that you can call them back at a convenient time. Another extra within this package is instant email and SMS notifications – we’ll keep you updated about the calls we’ve taken so you’re always in the know!

However, if you’re looking for more extras and more services beyond answering calls, we’ve got packages to suit you too. Check out our Virtual Receptionist package if you’re interested in the likes of call triaging, a remote switchboard service and diary management. If you’re looking for comprehensive support, our Outsourced Call Centre package has even more extras including bespoke CRM integration!

We have three main packages here at alldayPA – Telephone Answering, Virtual Receptionist, and Outsourced Call Centre. Because two of our packages have names that are centered around phone calls, you may be wondering what the difference is between Telephone Answering and Outsourced Call Centre.

In a nutshell, the first package includes answering incoming calls, call forwarding, and the taking of caller details if you’ve unavailable. However, the Outsourced Call Centre package goes far beyond just call answering – it’s our most comprehensive package! From this, you can expect additional services such as bespoke CRM integration, live chat management, email management, and social media enquiry management!

Telephone Answering is ideal for businesses that receive calls as the main method of customer communication, whereas the Outsourced Call Centre is a more appropriate solution if your customers use a range of digital channels to get in touch with you as well.

This decision lies in your hands! Every business that we help has different preferences when it comes to their business calls – we’re happy to work with what’s best for you. As such, we give you the choice to send all calls to us, or just the ones that come through when your line is unanswered or engaged. Many businesses opt to send all of their calls to us, so that they can really reap the benefits of our service.

These benefits include more time to spend on other core business operations, cost savings as they don’t have to hire an in-house team, and having customer service experts handle all of their calls.

The latter guarantees amazing customer service, so that you can boost your reputation as a business that excels when it comes to customer expectations!

Sometimes, our new customers worry that we’ll answer their calls with another business name. This will never be the case – we have systems in place to ensure we always know which business the caller is ringing for. When you use our service, you’ll be given a unique divert number – this line is then specific to your business, meaning that no other company calls will come through on this line, helping to avoid confusion. In other words, the PAs here at alldayPA will know straight away that the call is for your business because of the divert number that appears. Your company details will then appear on our screens, and your PA will answer the call in your company name.

Sometimes, our new customers worry that we’ll answer their calls with another business name. This will never be the case – we have systems in place to ensure we always know which business the caller is ringing for. When you use our service, you’ll be given a unique divert number – this line is then specific to your business, meaning that no other company calls will come through on this line, helping to avoid confusion. In other words, the PAs here at alldayPA will know straight away that the call is for your business because of the divert number that appears. Your company details will then appear on our screens, and your PA will answer the call in your company name.

At alldayPA, we have all types of companies using our answering services. The service isn’t just beneficial for one type of sector or one particular size of business – we help everyone from solo entrepreneurs to SMEs and large corporations.

Most of the businesses that we assist need a helping hand with their incoming calls, so they’re usually based in industries where customer calls are common. As such, we help companies in a range of sectors such as health and care, property, the legal industry, accountancy and finance, marketing, IT, and business support.

We even help tradespeople to handle their calls too, so that they can get on with the job at hand without ever missing a lead.

The primary role of an answering service agent is to handle inbound calls. In the context of alldayPA, our answering service agents take incoming calls for a whole host of businesses that have chosen to use our services and packages. Quite often, an answering service agent will need to manage several phone lines – as such, it’s important that they have all the relevant key skills, such as organisation, multitasking and, of course, customer service skills!

All of our staff are trained to the highest of standards so that they’re equipped to deliver a quality service. They know how to use a range of different platforms, apps, and software that are commonplace in different companies, so that they can fit in seamlessly with your operations.

We also have agents that are dedicated to different industries, meaning that they know the industry lingo and what customers expect from businesses in these areas!