How to stop missing business calls

Before you change anything, look at your call log for two typical weeks. Your phone keeps a list of missed calls, and many phone providers show the same in your online account.

Look for patterns:

• Times of day: first thing, lunchtime, the school run, late afternoon.
• What you were doing: on a job, with a customer, driving, in a meeting.
• Days of the week, and busy seasons.
• Evenings and weekends, when you're closed.

If your missed calls cluster around a few predictable moments, you can plan cover for those moments instead of trying to answer everything.

If you want to put a number on what those calls are worth, our guide on whether an AI receptionist is worth it shows how to work it out from your own figures.

Sometimes calls are missed because the phone never rang. Check these:

• Do Not Disturb and Focus modes. These can silence calls without you noticing, especially if they switch on automatically at set times or while you're driving.
• Settings that silence or screen unknown callers. They're useful against spam, but a new customer is an unknown number too.
• Blocked numbers and spam filters, which can catch genuine callers.
• Signal. If you work somewhere with poor reception, calls may go straight to voicemail.
• Voicemail picking up too quickly, before you have a chance to answer.
• Forwarding you've forgotten about, sending calls somewhere else.

If calls are going straight to voicemail, our guide to forwarding and diverting calls in the UK covers how to check and switch off forwarding on the main networks.

Not every call carries the same weight. A new customer ringing for a quote may try someone else if nobody answers. A supplier or an existing customer may be more willing to wait or ring back. Urgent calls need a different answer altogether.

Sort the calls you get into three groups: new enquiries, existing customers and urgent calls. Your plan should make sure the first and third groups always reach someone or something that can deal with them.

When you can't pick up, a call should go somewhere useful. The main options:

• Someone else in your team. Your phone system may let a call ring on more than one phone at once, or move on to a colleague if you don't answer.
• A human answering service. A receptionist working remotely answers in your business name and takes a message. It puts a person on the line, and it's usually charged per call, per minute or by monthly bundle.
• An AI receptionist. Software answers, holds a conversation, asks your questions and passes on the details. We explain how it works in what is an AI receptionist?.
• Voicemail. It costs nothing, but callers can hang up without leaving a message.

You can usually send calls to another number when you're busy, when you don't answer or when your phone is off, rather than diverting every call. Our forwarding guide explains the options for UK networks.

Choosing between a person and software? Our comparison of AI receptionists and answering services sets out when each one fits.

If a call does reach voicemail, the greeting decides whether the caller leaves a message. A good business voicemail greeting:

• says your business name, so callers know they've got the right number
• asks for their name, number and what they need
• tells them when you'll call back, and only promises what you can keep
• gives an emergency instruction, if your callers might need one

Example greetings you can adapt:

While you're busy:

"Hi, you've reached [business name]. Sorry we can't take your call right now. Please leave your name, your number and a quick note of what you need, and we'll call you back [today / by the end of the day]."

On a job:

"Hi, it's [your name] from [business name]. I'm on a job and can't get to the phone. Leave your name, number and what you need doing, and I'll ring you back [when]."

Out of hours:

"Thanks for calling [business name]. We're closed at the moment and open again at [time] on [day]. Leave your name, number and what you need, and we'll call you back then. [Your emergency instruction.]"

If your callers could report a smell of gas, your greeting should give the official gas emergency number for their area: 0800 111 999 in Great Britain, or 0800 002 001 in Northern Ireland. Only mention 999 for an immediate danger to life.

A missed call is easier to win back when you return it while the caller still needs you. A simple routine helps:

• Pick set times to check missed calls and messages, such as each break and the end of the working day.
• Return new enquiries and urgent calls first.
• Ring back even if no message was left. Not every caller leaves one.
• Note what happened, so nothing is followed up twice or forgotten.

Keep it realistic. A routine you stick to beats a promise to call back within minutes that you can't keep.

Some phone systems and apps can send an automatic text when you miss a call, telling the caller you'll be in touch. It shows the call was seen. But the caller still has to wait for you, and a text on its own doesn't take the details of what they need. If you use one, keep the message short and make sure someone follows up. Our guide to missed call text back covers where it helps and where it falls short.

Use what you learned in step 1. If most calls are missed at lunchtime or while you're on jobs, that's where you need cover. If they come in the evening, decide what should happen when you're closed: a clear voicemail greeting, forwarding to someone on call, or a service that answers for you.

Review it every few months, and before your busy season. Patterns change.

Ringzel is an AI receptionist for the calls you can't take. You keep your existing number and forward calls to Ringzel when you're busy, when you don't answer or when you're closed. Your receptionist answers in your business name, tells callers it's automated and asks the questions you've set.

As soon as the call ends, you get a summary of who called and what they need, with the recording, transcript and a check report. If a call is urgent, it follows your escalation rules, and in an emergency it texts you straight away. Plans start at £99 a month with unlimited calls.

You can hear it answer for your business before you pay: type in your business name and talk to your receptionist in your browser in about two minutes.