Telephone Answering

Our telephone answering service is different. We are not a call-centre. We are on your team.

We believe that to handle your calls well, our team need to become an extension of yours as though we were sharing an office. We must learn your business and understand your stakeholders fully in order to be truly effective in what we do for you. We know that, so we work with you to make sure it happens.

The benefits of using Delocate’s call answering service:

• You will close more deals and impress more clients. Most people don’t leave a recorded message if asked to do so – they simply call the next business on their list that they think might be able to help them – the opportunity cost of this could be huge to your business.
• We understand that every call that comes in could be your next big lead and we treat it with the respect and attention it deserves.
• Incoming calls can be a curse as well as a blessing, we make sure that you’re not distracted by spam callers or ‘time-wasters’.
• You are liberated from your phone! No more calls while trying to concentrate, meeting a client, driving, or working up a ladder!
• We pool our block-list of known spam-callers across all our clients to minimise the number of spam calls received.
• All of our staff are based in Norfolk. If your business relies on good local knowledge of Norwich and Norfolk we’re at a strong advantage over those based further afield. We know what’s Normal For Norfolk!
• We offer a range of services that can work in harmony. That means we can get to know your business and you can be assured the different parts of your business are working smoothly together.

Pricing & Packages

We offer two packages, neither have a setup fee and both are on a 1-month rolling contract.

• Simple – £10 pcm + £1 per call (excl. VAT)
• Business Extension – £20 pcm + £1 per minute (excl. VAT)

Both include the following:

• Your call can ring normally and be answered by us or be ‘answered’ immediately by a recorded greeting.
• Your callers will be greeted however you instruct us. (e.g. your company name or “John’s phone”) and if necessary whatever explanation for your unavailability you prefer.
• The call outcome emailed or instant-messaged to you immediately.
• Outside of our office hours calls are forwarded¹ to you or a voicemail. (Voicemails are delivered immediately to you by email.)
• Our core office hours are currently 09:00 to 17:00 weekdays (excluding bank holidays) though we are typically available much earlier and later and will happily answer calls for you if we are.
• We provide you with a private number² to forward your calls to.

Simple Package

• We ask if we can take a message and ask a few pre-defined questions that you specify. (e.g. email address, best time to call back, or some lead-qualification type questions.)

Business Extension Package

• We are a true secretarial/administrative role in your business
• We maintain a desktop with all your services logged in and ready to go allowing us to handle your calls swiftly. For example:
  • your calendar/booking system to book appointments
  • your CRM so we can see the latest notes about your clients and update them
  • your accounts so we can advise on questions about quotes and invoices
  • your payment system so we can take card payments on your behalf
  • your ops manual or FAQs list to allow us to deal with almost anything
• Transfer seemingly urgent calls to you¹
• Booking confirmations etc sent to your clients via instant messaging

Add-ons

¹ Calls cannot be forwarded or transferred back to a traditional phone number diverted to us. (i.e. if you divert calls on your mobile to us, we cannot forward or transfer a call to that same number.)

² This number is not for publication unless discussed with us due to potentially unexpected behaviour with call routing.