Hot water cylinder leaking in Glenfield. Would like someone today. Callback number included in your message.
A receptionist for a business that cannot justify one
One person, one van, one number. Your phone gets answered while your hands are full, and you get the message afterwards.
9:41
Monday, 31 August9:41
Find the smallest amount of cover you need.
You may not need every call answered for you. This planner separates when you need help from the kind of help your callers need. It can recommend a human service as well as an automated first answer.
How to use this well
- If you still want the first chance to answer, start by testing overflow forwarding on your existing number. Check the carrier’s delay and charges.
- Judge the handover: does it contain the request, corrected callback details and what was actually promised?
- Compare total bills at the same usage level. Included calls and included minutes are not interchangeable.
Published by Talkify, the provider behind this website—not an independent review or certification service. These are planning examples, not customer results. You can use the guidance to evaluate any provider.
The calls a small business actually loses
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The one at 7.20am
Before you are on site and before anybody is at a desk. It is often the best job of the week and it goes to whoever picks up.
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The one while you are under a house
You cannot get to it, and by the time you are out and washed up they have already rung somebody else.
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The one during the school run
You see it later. You ring back. It goes to their voicemail, because they are back at work by then.
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The one on a Saturday
Nobody expects you to answer it. That is exactly why the person who does gets the job.
Why you have not hired someone
Because a receptionist is not a phone. A receptionist is a salary, holidays, sick days, KiwiSaver, ACC, a desk to sit at and somebody to cover them at lunchtime.
A person on your team also needs cover for breaks, leave and calls outside their working hours. Whether that means another person or an answering service depends on when your customers actually call.
That is why the maths never quite worked. It is not that you did not want the help.
What a virtual front desk does all day
The reception job has not changed. Somebody answers, finds out what the caller needs, writes it down properly and either books it in or passes it on. A virtual front desk does that job without a counter, a chair or a lunch break.
- Answers
- In your business name, at any hour, including the hours you are asleep.
- Writes it down
- Name, number, address, the job, and when they need it. Read back before the call ends.
- Books it
- Into the diary you already keep, offering only the times that are genuinely free.
- Knows who to interrupt you for
- The names you nominate get put through. Everyone else waits for you.
9:41
Monday, 31 August9:41
Hot water cylinder leaking in Glenfield. Please call back to confirm a time.
Bathroom renovation. No rush. Details sent to your email.
Where this fits
Most of the businesses using this have between one and ten people in them and no spare person to answer a phone.
Trades and home services
Sparkies, plumbers, builders, drainlayers, painters, mechanics. The phone rings while your hands are full, which is most of the day.
Clinics, salons and studios
You are with a client and the phone is at the front. Bookings get taken and reschedules get handled without you stopping. It is reception, not a clinician.
Professional services
Accountants, brokers, advisers, small legal practices. Callers are qualified and put through, or written up properly if you are with someone.
Anyone whose number is on a van
If the number on your signage rings a mobile in your pocket, this is for you. An 0800 number, a landline and that mobile can all point at the same answering.
Questions from people running it on their own
What is a virtual front desk?
It is the reception job without the reception. Somebody answers the phone in your business name, takes the caller's details, books a time, says when you are open and puts urgent callers through to you.
There is no counter and nobody sitting at it, which is why a virtual front desk costs a fraction of a real one.
Is this worth it for a one person business?
It is usually the businesses with one person in them that lose the most calls, because that person is under a house or up a ladder when the phone goes. If you are turning down a job a month because you never heard about it, it pays for itself.
Can it book jobs into my diary?
Yes, into the diary you already use, so it is the real diary and not a copy of it. It only offers times that are genuinely free and it will not double book you.
Will it know my prices?
It knows what you tell it and nothing more. If you give it a call-out fee and an hourly rate, it will say them. If you would rather it quoted nothing, it says you will come back with a price. It never makes a number up.
What about the calls I want to take myself?
You name them. Regular customers, the merchant, your partner, anyone you like. Those get put straight through. Everyone else is written down and sent to you, so the phone stops going off in the middle of a job.
Can I have it only outside my working hours?
Yes. Plenty of people start that way. Your handset rings during the day and everything after five, before seven and at the weekend gets answered instead of going to voicemail.
See it on your own phone
Run it on your real number for a bit and read what your callers actually said. It is a quicker way to decide than any page on this site.