Voicemail or a telephone answering service?
The difference isn't the tone or the image, it's mechanical: voicemail asks the caller to do something — leave a message after the beep, without knowing whether it will get through — and an answering service doesn't. There, the phone is answered and someone talks back. With voicemail, anyone who doesn't leave a message stays a number in your call log, and you never know why they called.
There's an honest downside: voicemail is free, and callnorah.com starts at €49.00 a month. Whether it pays off depends on what one job earns you. Below is the difference without the sales talk, so you can do that sum yourself.
What actually happens differently
- The caller has to do something
- VoicemailYes — leave a message after the beep, without knowing whether it gets through
- Answering serviceNo — the phone is simply answered and someone talks back
- Follow-up questions are asked
- VoicemailNo. You hear whatever someone says of their own accord, often without a number
- Answering serviceYes. She asks for what you need in order to call back
- An appointment can be booked right away
- VoicemailNo. You call back, get nobody, and it goes back and forth
- Answering serviceYes, from Groei, if you connect your calendar. She offers two slots and books it
- Urgent calls stand out
- VoicemailOnly when you listen to it, which is usually in the evening
- Answering serviceShe asks about it and puts it at the top of your message — or transfers the call
- You know who called
- VoicemailOnly for those who leave a message. The rest are numbers in your list
- Answering serviceEvery call produces a summary, even the short ones
- Two callers at once
- VoicemailThe second one gets an engaged tone
- Answering serviceBoth are answered. She can handle several at once
| Situation | Voicemail | Answering service |
|---|---|---|
| The caller has to do something | Yes — leave a message after the beep, without knowing whether it gets through | No — the phone is simply answered and someone talks back |
| Follow-up questions are asked | No. You hear whatever someone says of their own accord, often without a number | Yes. She asks for what you need in order to call back |
| An appointment can be booked right away | No. You call back, get nobody, and it goes back and forth | Yes, from Groei, if you connect your calendar. She offers two slots and books it |
| Urgent calls stand out | Only when you listen to it, which is usually in the evening | She asks about it and puts it at the top of your message — or transfers the call |
| You know who called | Only for those who leave a message. The rest are numbers in your list | Every call produces a summary, even the short ones |
| Two callers at once | The second one gets an engaged tone | Both are answered. She can handle several at once |
You don't have to lose your voicemail to replace it
Katie becomes your voicemail. Only this one picks up, asks questions and books appointments. Booking appointments: from the Groei plan. Your phone rings first. If you answer, nothing has changed. If you don't answer, you're on another call or you have no signal — Katie takes over. Exactly where your voicemail used to kick in.
You keep your own number; there's no need to transfer it. You switch on call forwarding with your provider yourself, and you can switch it off again at any time. Would you rather have every call answered straight away — on a landline office number, for example? That's possible too. It's the second setting, and you switch between them in your portal.
When voicemail is simply enough
If your callers reach you anyway — because they know you, because they send a message, or because your work doesn't depend on calling back — then a telephone answering service means spending money on a problem you don't have. We'd rather tell you that now than after a month.
It pays off when a missed call means a missed job, and for tradespeople that's almost always the case. What comes in for your line of work and what it's worth is set out per trade on telephone answering by trade. The comparison with a human answering service, per call volume, is on what a telephone answering service costs.
The most honest test takes twenty seconds
Call +31202140808 and pretend to be a customer. You'll hear straight away whether this is what you want for your callers instead of a beep. That says more than this whole page.