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Being busy isn’t a problem with overflow call answering

Are you struggling to avoid missed calls during peak times, even though you have an in-house receptionist or inbound call centre in place? Need coverage to assist during staff absences or at times when they’re serving customers face-to-face? Our dependable call overflow service is an affordable solution.


Ensure your phone is always answered, regardless of spikes in call volume or staffing issues

Australian receptionists

Calls are answered by professionals in Australia, with overflow support to ensure a fast speed of answer.

24/7 live call answering

We operate all day, every day, so we can seamlessly answer your overflow calls whenever your call demand increases.

Custom call greetings

We answer your calls with your custom greeting to ensure your callers enjoy a seamless experience.

Instant emails or texts

Receive email or SMS messages after each call, containing caller details and their reason for calling.

Appointment Icon

Your tools are our tools

We can input leads, book appointments, raise support tickets and more using your preferred software.

No lock-in contract

Month-to-month subscriptions and no cancellation fees mean flexibility to scale up (or down) as needs change.

How our call overflow service works

We answer in less than 4 rings

We take great pride in answering calls in less than 10 seconds on average, which means you avoid losing frustrated callers to your competitors.

We answer in less than 4 rings

We take great pride in answering calls in less than 10 seconds on average, which means you avoid losing frustrated callers to your competitors.

Your free guide to call answering

New to the concept? Get our explainer guide to discover what it entails, how it works and why it’s good for business

Our virtual receptionist services

Finding it difficult to adequately staff for fluctuations in call volumes? Has a spike caused by seasonal demand left you scrambling to avoid missed calls resulting in lost opportunities or waning customer satisfaction? Need a solution that doesn’t involve an additional wage plus recruitment and training costs?

Whatever your industry, complexity of calls or call volumes, if you need an overflow phone answering service, we have a solution to suit with no lock-in contracts.

  MessageExpress MyReceptionist MyAssistant MyDiary
Compare our
live call
answering
services

Call answering and message taking for one individual or team.

from
$19*
per month
See pricing

Messages, support and call transfers for multiple staff or departments.

from
$29*
per month
See pricing

Tailored scripting and virtual assistance for unlimited staff or departments.

from
$49*
per month
See pricing

Appointment booking and diary management using your preferred software.

from
$49*
per month
See pricing

Caller greeting Personalised Fully customised Fully customised Fully customised
List staff or departments One person or team Unlimited contacts Unlimited contacts Unlimited contacts
Collect information from callers 3 details 5 details Up to 11 details Up to 11 details
Warm call transfers  
Advise business hours/location  
Answer common questions  
Scripted questions & responses    
Quote fees & take payments    
CRM input or submit online forms    
Appointment scheduling      
Diary management      
  About MessageExpress Enquire now About MyReceptionistTry our 7-day free trial About MyAssistantEnquire now About MyDiaryEnquire now

* Plus GST. Refer to Terms & Conditions.

Compare our virtual receptionist services

Whatever your industry, complexity of calls or call volumes, if you need an overflow phone answering service, we have a solution to suit.

MessageExpress

Call answering and message taking for one individual or team.

from $19 per month*
  • Australian receptionists
  • No lock-in contract
  • Personalised greeting
  • Instant email or SMS messages
  • One person or team listed as message recipient
  • Mobile app & portal
  • 24/7 service upgrade option
  • 1300/1800 number upgrade option

MyReceptionist

Messages, support and call transfers for multiple staff or departments.

from $29 per month*
  • Australian receptionists
  • No lock-in contract
  • Instant email or SMS messages
  • Mobile app & portal
  • 24/7 service upgrade option
  • 1300/1800 number upgrade option
  • Fully customised greeting
  • Warm call transfers
  • Multiple staff or departments listed as message or transfer contacts
  • Collect 5 pieces of info
  • Advise business hours/location

MyAssistant

Tailored scripting and virtual assistance for unlimited staff or departments.

from $49 per month*
  • Australian receptionists
  • No lock-in contract
  • Instant email or SMS messages
  • Mobile app & portal
  • 24/7 service upgrade option
  • 1300/1800 number upgrade option
  • Fully customised greeting
  • Warm call transfers
  • Multiple staff or departments listed as message or transfer contacts
  • Advise business hours/location
  • Collect 11 pieces of info
  • Custom scripting or FAQs
  • CRM input or online form submissions
  • Quote fees & take payments

MyDiary

Appointment booking and diary management using your preferred software.

from $49 per month*
  • Australian receptionists
  • No lock-in contract
  • Instant email or SMS messages
  • Mobile app & portal
  • 24/7 service upgrade option
  • 1300/1800 number upgrade option
  • Fully customised greeting
  • Warm call transfers
  • Multiple staff or departments listed as message or transfer contacts
  • Advise business hours/location
  • Collect 11 pieces of info
  • Custom scripting or FAQs
  • CRM input or online forms
  • Quote fees & take payments
  • Appointment scheduling
  • Diary management

* Plus GST. Refer to Terms & Conditions.

A flexible back-up option to keep your calls answered

Increase your capacity to professionally handle inbound calls, while at the same time minimising costs. Sound too good to be true? It’s not!

An overflow answering service provides seamless support to your in-house reception team, so you don’t need to hire unnecessarily. OfficeHQ’s team of virtual receptionists are available 24/7

We answer in less than 4 rings

We take great pride in answering calls in less than 10 seconds on average, which means you avoid losing frustrated callers to your competitors.

FAQs

Many callers hang up when their call goes to voicemail, so you can miss out on vital conversations or leads.  Ensuring your calls are answered by a live person, increases customer satisfaction, builds loyalty and improves your opportunity to create a rapport and obtain caller details. Live call answering also allows you to screen calls, as you can advise your receptionist to transfer or take messages for only those call types you wish to receive.  Once answered, you can see each message as it’s taken and prioritise who you will call back first. Live call answering increases revenue through better customer connections, reduces costs as you’re not paying for a full time receptionist and helps you to be more efficient with your time.

Yes! OfficeHQ is a privately-owned Australian company. Our head office is on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, with about 90% of our entire Australian team – including our virtual receptionists – based in that region.

Our telecommunications network extends to 66 telephone exchanges, giving us the largest range of local numbers of any Australian virtual reception services provider.

Yes, our receptionist can answer calls you’d usually miss.  You may be on another call or simply unable to answer because you’re busy at the time. Our receptionists will take a detailed message and send to you instantly by email or SMS. Many clients who subscribe to our service are surprised when they learn how many calls they’d been missing prior to having their calls answered by OfficeHQ.

Yes. This is referred to as “call overflow”.

A lot of companies require their phone calls to be answered only when they are unable to take the call themselves. For example, if you step out of the office for an hour or your in-house receptionist goes to lunch, is on leave or is busy on another call and you have multiple calls coming in at the one time.

You can set your business phone number to divert (to the unique local phone number we allocate your business during the Free Trial setup process) only when the phone rings for more than a specified period (such as after 5 rings) or if your line is busy/engaged.

In such instances our receptionists will then answer the phone as if we were in your office. You’re always in control and can relax knowing you will never miss another important call again! 

Yes.  Our receptionists are available 24/7 and you can opt-in to receive after hours live call answering on any OfficeHQ subscription.  Without after hours call answering turned on, our receptionists will answer your calls between 8:00am and 6:00pm on weekdays.  If you need after hours call answering, please let us know when you sign up or contact us.

Yes – if you’re on a MyAssistant or MyDiary plan.  For MessageExpress and MyReceptionist plans, calls are always answered by our team in Australia whenever possible – and that’s the case for the majority of calls – with overflow support available from our teams in the UK and the US during unforeseen peaks in call volumes.  This enables us to ensure your calls are always answered as fast as possible, reducing the risk of call abandonment. We know Average Speed of Answer (ASA) is very important to our clients and one of our key differentiators is that we’re able to answer calls in under 10 seconds, on average.

Read more.

Yes, you are able to use our service for an hour, a day, a week, whenever you need our assistance. Many clients use our live call answering for short-term needs, for example, when their own in-house receptionist is at lunch, sick or on annual leave.  Some clients use the service during their busy periods only, as call overflow or for campaigns.  Our live call answering service is like having a casual receptionist who is always available.  It’s reliable and risk-free, as you only pay for what you use.

If you prefer to use our service seasonally, you can take advantage of our pause package.


Let us manage your calls so you can manage your business

You can easily manage the receptionist’s greeting, call transfer availability and message preferences in real-time, plus add additional staff of departments as contacts for transfers or messages, using our online client portal or mobile app (iPhone and Android).

Overflow answering service add-ons

+ Virtual address

Choose a virtual address to enhance your business’s image or expand into new territories, without expensive overheads or the need to relocate.

+ Phone numbers

Add multiple additional local numbers, 1800 numbers or 1300 numbers to the free local number you receive with your live call answering package.

What our customers love

OfficeHQ have been very professional to work with … and recently they have been able to step in and save the day when other staff were sick with Covid.
Dr David Samra, Sport Medicine Specialist
We use OfficeHQ as our overflow and 24-hour emergency call service. Highly recommend to all business owners!
Rikai Blondel
Great company … has been very handy for our small business especially with staff taking leave or when they are off sick. We switch it on and off as we require.
Paul Bowles
No call or message is missed and our clients are connected to our team between the office or working from home, especially during a lockdown.
Chris Parker, Awaken
The service provided by OfficeHQ is professional. The backend system is intuitive and caters to our business need for overflow calls.
Josh Callaghan, bookabreak.com.au
A real person is so much better to talk to … we use the service for specific project sales lines, the office line and mobiles when we are in meetings or onsite predominantly.
Pavilion Homes Group
It really takes the pressure off me knowing OfficeHQ will answer my phone calls if I can’t, or if I’m on another call.
The Blue Mexican

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Find out more

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Want to try our call answering services for free?

Put Australia’s leading virtual receptionist solution to the test! We’re ready to answer your phone FREE for 7 days.

Want to try our call answering services for free?

Put Australia’s leading virtual receptionist solution to the test! We’re ready to answer your phone FREE for 7 days.

What does the free trial include?

Our free trial is based on our MyReceptionist service, with virtual receptionists able to take messages and transfer calls based on your availability settings.

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