Your phone rings while you're already speaking to a customer.
Then another call comes in.
Someone else in the office is away from their desk, you're trying to finish something important and suddenly you've got more calls than people available to answer them.
Sound familiar?
For many businesses, the problem isn't that nobody answers the phone.
It's that they can't answer every call, every time.
That's exactly where call overflow can help.
Rather than outsourcing all of your calls, overflow answering gives you extra support when you need it.
You carry on answering your own telephone as normal.
When you can't get to a call, somebody else can.
What is call overflow?
Call overflow is a way of having incoming business calls answered when you or your team are unable to answer them yourselves.
Your own team can remain the first people to answer the telephone.
But if a call isn't answered within an agreed amount of time, or depending on how your telephone system is configured, it can be diverted to a telephone answering service.
The answering team then answers in your business name and follows the instructions you've provided.
To your caller, they've still reached your business.
To you, it means fewer calls are left ringing unanswered while you're busy doing something else.
How does call overflow work?
The exact setup can vary depending on your telephone provider and how you'd like your calls handled, but the basic process is straightforward.
A customer calls your normal business telephone number.
Your phone rings as usual, giving you or your team the opportunity to answer.
If you don't answer, the call can then divert to your call overflow service.
A receptionist answers the call in your business name and follows your agreed instructions.
Depending on your requirements, they might take a message, gather information from the caller or deal with the call in another agreed way.
The relevant information is then sent back to you.
Your caller gets an answer without you having to stop what you're doing every time the phone rings.
If you'd like a more detailed explanation of outsourced call handling, our guide to what a telephone answering service is and how it works explains the process from start to finish.
Is call overflow the same as telephone answering?
They're closely related, but they don't necessarily work in exactly the same way.
With a telephone answering service, a business may choose to divert its incoming calls directly to an answering team.
With call overflow, you usually continue answering your own calls first.
The overflow service is there to catch the calls you can't get to.
For example, imagine you have two people working in an office.
One is already on the telephone and the other is speaking to a customer.
Another call arrives.
Rather than that caller hearing the phone ring and ring - or reaching voicemail - the call can overflow to your answering service.
It's essentially an extra pair of hands without having another person permanently sitting at your reception desk.
When might a business need call overflow?
You don't necessarily need to be receiving hundreds of calls every day to benefit from overflow support.
Sometimes it only takes two or three calls arriving at the same time to create a problem.
Call overflow can be particularly useful when:
your team are already on other calls
you're in meetings
staff are on annual leave
somebody is off sick
your receptionist is away from their desk
you're short-staffed
you're experiencing an unexpectedly busy period
your business has seasonal peaks
you're working with a customer and can't answer
you're a small business owner doing several jobs at once.
For tradespeople, it might simply be that you're up a ladder, driving between jobs or speaking to a customer.
For a solicitor, mortgage broker or accountant, you could be in a client meeting.
For an estate agent, you might be conducting a viewing.
The reason doesn't really matter.
What matters is what happens to the person calling while you're unavailable.
We've looked at that in more detail in our guide to what happens when your business misses a call.
Do I have to divert every call?
No.
And that's one of the main reasons call overflow can work so well for businesses that still want to answer their own phones.
You don't necessarily need to hand over your entire telephone line.
You can continue handling calls yourself and use overflow support as a safety net for the ones you can't reach.
That can be particularly useful if you like speaking directly to your customers but find that busy periods occasionally leave callers waiting.
It also means you're not paying somebody to replace something you're perfectly capable of doing yourself.
You're simply adding support where there's a gap.
Will customers know their call has overflowed?
A professional answering service should answer using your business name and follow the instructions you've agreed with them.
That helps create a consistent experience for the caller.
Before your service starts, the answering team should know the information they need to handle your calls appropriately.
That might include:
how you'd like the telephone answered
what information should be taken
who different messages should go to
which calls are particularly important
frequently requested information
anything the receptionist shouldn't discuss or answer.
The aim isn't to pretend the receptionist is physically sitting inside your office.
It's to make sure your caller receives a professional, helpful response when your own team isn't available.
What happens to the message?
That depends on the service you've arranged.
For many businesses, the receptionist will take the caller's details and the reason for their call, then send the message to the appropriate person.
The important thing is agreeing beforehand what information you actually need.
A useful message isn't simply:
“John called. Please call him back.”
You may want the caller's full name, company, telephone number, reason for calling and whether the enquiry is urgent.
Different businesses need different information.
A good call answering setup should reflect that.
What if I'm only busy occasionally?
Then you may not need full-time telephone answering at all.
Call overflow can be useful precisely because your problem might only happen occasionally.
Perhaps Mondays are particularly busy.
Maybe lunchtime is difficult.
You might struggle when somebody is on holiday.
Or perhaps your workload changes throughout the year.
It's worth looking at when and why you're actually missing calls before deciding what kind of support you need.
Our guide to how to choose a telephone answering service looks at some of the questions worth asking before choosing a provider or package.
And if you only need help for a specific period - such as staff holidays or temporary absence - short-term telephone answering may be another option.
Is voicemail enough?
For some businesses and some callers, absolutely.
Not every missed call becomes a lost customer, and not every business needs every call answered by a person.
But voicemail relies on the caller being willing to leave a message.
Some will.
Others may decide to try again later.
And somebody making a new enquiry may simply move on and contact another business.
That's why it's useful to think about the types of calls you receive rather than assuming every caller will behave in the same way.
If most of your calls are existing customers who are happy to leave a voicemail, your needs may be very different from a business receiving lots of new sales enquiries.
Could I just hire another receptionist?
Of course — and for some businesses, that's exactly the right solution.
If you have enough consistent work to keep another employee busy, an in-house receptionist can be extremely valuable.
But not every business needs another full-time or part-time member of staff.
You might only struggle with calls for an hour or two each day.
You might have unpredictable peaks rather than a consistently busy telephone.
Or you may simply need backup when your existing receptionist can't answer.
In those situations, call overflow can provide additional capacity without creating another permanent role.
What types of businesses use call overflow?
Almost any business that receives incoming calls can use overflow answering.
It can be particularly useful for businesses where staff regularly spend time away from their desks or need to concentrate on customers in front of them.
That might include:
solicitors and other professional practices
estate and letting agents
mortgage brokers and financial services businesses
accountants
trades and maintenance companies
property management businesses
recruitment companies
clinics and appointment-based businesses
small offices
owner-managed businesses.
The setup doesn't need to be identical for every industry.
A property maintenance company may need detailed information about a fault.
A solicitor may simply need accurate contact details and the nature of the enquiry.
A tradesperson may want to know the type of job and where the customer is located.
The answering process should fit the business.
How do I know if my business needs call overflow?
Start by paying attention to what happens to your telephone during a normal working week.
Are you regularly seeing missed calls?
Do customers tell you they've struggled to get through?
Are you constantly interrupting meetings or jobs to answer the phone?
Does your receptionist struggle at certain times of day?
Are you spending the end of the day returning calls?
Do several calls tend to arrive at once?
If the answer to some of those questions is yes, it doesn't automatically mean you need to outsource all of your calls.
You may simply need backup.
Call overflow vs a virtual receptionist
These services can overlap, but the level of support you need may be different.
If your main problem is simply that you occasionally can't answer an incoming call, call overflow may be enough.
If you want somebody to provide a more consistent front-of-house telephone presence for your business, a virtual receptionist service may be more appropriate.
And if you want all or most incoming calls handled externally, a broader telephone answering service may make more sense.
The right choice depends on how your business currently handles calls and where the gaps are.
A little extra support can make a big difference
You don't have to choose between answering every call yourself and outsourcing your entire telephone system.
Sometimes the answer is simply having somebody available when you're not.
Call overflow lets you and your team continue speaking directly to your customers while providing an extra layer of support during busy periods.
And when things calm down?
You carry on as normal.
How That's My Call can help
At That's My Call, we provide call overflow and telephone answering support for businesses across the UK.
Our human receptionists can answer calls in your business name and follow the instructions agreed with you, helping you provide a professional response when you or your team can't get to the phone.
Whether you're regularly struggling with incoming calls or simply need an extra pair of hands during busy periods, we can look at how your calls currently work and help you decide what level of support makes sense.
Because sometimes you don't need somebody to answer every call.
You just need somebody there for the ones you can't.
If you'd like to talk through your options, get in touch with That's My Call and tell us what's currently happening with your calls.