Affordable call answering services for small businesses

Struggling to always answer the phone? Feeling burnt out? Wish you had a receptionist but hiring is cost-prohibitive? ReceptionHQ’s live answering services help thousands of NZ small businesses to thrive by preventing missed calls and lost opportunities, all for a fraction of the cost of a full-time employee.

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Call answering free trial

Save precious time, get more done and never miss a lead with a PAYG virtual reception from just $19 a month

24/7 availability

After-hours, weekends, public holidays … we can answer day or night, 365 days a year, so you never miss opportunities.

NZ receptionists

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

Custom call greetings

Calls are answered with your preferred greeting to ensure your callers enjoy a consistent experience.

Instant emails or texts

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

Screening & transfers

Call screening and transfer options for unlimited staff or departments, so you only take the most important calls.

Short-term flexibility

With no lock-in contract, you can use our services temporarily to cope with staff shortages or seasonal demand.

How our virtual receptionist service works

1 Set up within minutes 2 Customer calls you 3 We answer for you 4 We deliver your messages

Set up within minutes

Tell us about your small business, your preferred greeting and how you’d like us to interact with your callers. Then simply confirm who should receive messages or, depending on your plan, call transfers when they’re available.

Customer calls you

By forwarding your small business phone to the unique number we provide, we’ll know when an incoming call is for you. You’ll have flexibility to send all calls to us or only unanswered calls.

We answer for you

Our small business virtual receptionists will answer your calls with your preferred greeting, 24/7 if you wish. Depending on your plan, we can take messages, transfer selected calls, answer FAQs, submit leads into your CRM, take orders, process payments, schedule your appointments and more.

We deliver your messages

After each call you’ll immediately receive a message by email, SMS or both (as chosen by you) including details such as the caller’s name, phone number and, of course, the reason for their call.

Your tools are our tools

Our MyAssistant and MyDiary plans integrate seamlessly with your current system and will use your preferred tool to schedule appointments, manage calendars and add new patients.

Reclaim the hours in your day

Small business owners have many hats to juggle, but trying to answer every call yourself can quickly result in burnout.

ReceptionHQ’s 24/7 virtual receptionists answer your calls as though they work for your business, leaving you free to focus on your business priorities or spend uninterrupted time with your family.

Best of all, with no lock-in contract, you can just as easily use our services long-term or short-term, to fill an urgent need.

No phone ringing at all hours
No pesky voicemail hangups
No stress over lost opportunities
No HR or training headaches
No massive wage cost
No-obligation free trial

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Try free for 7 days

Complementary small business solutions

Phone numbers

Add a national 0800 number or multiple additional local numbers to the free local number you receive with your live call answering package.

Find out more

Automated messaging

Have voicemails instantly emailed to you both for convenience and to ensure no important communications are ever missed.

Find out more

What our customers love

We never miss a business opportunity but don’t have reception staffing issues to deal with. It’s an ideal solution.

John Lombard, Sales Recruit Partners

Every time I think of how much it would cost to hire a receptionist full time, I know exactly how far in front I am.

James Henry, Hyped Media

Most don’t realise the receptionist wasn’t really in my office, which is exactly what I want.

The Blue Mexican

The service was super easy to set up and costs a fraction of what it would to hire a receptionist.

Karl Graf, DreamWalk Apps

The worse thing for a customer is to call a business and there is no answer or the phone calls goes to voicemail. Most of the time this is a lead loss.

Shaz Maharaullee, The Furniture People

We love the flexible service offering and find it to be a cost-effective way to offer 24/7 reception to our clients.

Hannah Mutze, My Home Plumbing

It’s such a bonus to be free of staffing headaches, such as when they call in sick … there is always someone available to answer calls.

Tom Anusic, HR National

Read all testimonials

Trusted by thousands of small businesses

FAQs

Why should I get a live call answering service?

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.

Where is ReceptionHQ based?

ReceptionHQ is based in Auckland and is a subsidiary of OfficeHQ, a global virtual reception company headquartered in Australia.

Can you prevent me from missing calls?

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 ReceptionHQ.

Are you able to answer just some of our calls?

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!

How do I forward my calls to ReceptionHQ?

Forwarding your business phone calls to ReceptionHQ is easy. To have our team of virtual receptionists answer your calls, simply:

Decide whether you wish to forward calls immediately to ReceptionHQ (the best solution for most businesses) or have delayed call forwarding.
Identify the call forwarding codes for your telecommunications provider. Most providers publish these codes on their websites.
Use the codes to enable call forwarding to the local or toll-free number you choose to have allocated to you (aka your Assigned DID).

For more information, including collated instructions for various telecommunications providers, check out our article Forwarding calls to ReceptionHQ’s virtual receptionists.

Do you offer a 24/7 live call answering service?

Yes. Our receptionists are available 24/7 and you can opt-in to receive after hours live call answering on any ReceptionHQ subscription.

Without after-hours call answering turned on, our receptionists will answer your calls between 8:00am and 6:00pm on weekdays. Outside of these standard business hours, calls will then go to voicemail and your voicemail message recordings will be emailed to you.

If you need after-hours call answering, please let us know when you sign up or contact us.

Are all calls answered locally?

Yes – if you’re on a MyAssistant or MyDiary plan, all calls are answered within New Zealand or Australia. For MessageExpress and MyReceptionist plans, the majority of calls are answered within New Zealand or Australia, with overflow support available from our global offices, e.g. 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.

Can I sign-up for short-term call answering, eg. a day, week or month?

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.

Is there a contract or lengthy agreement?

ReceptionHQ offers a month-to-month agreement, which can be cancelled by giving us at least three days’ notice prior to your monthly renewal date.

Find out more

Have questions? Please fill in your details and we’ll be in touch.

Want to try our call answering services for free?

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

Start your free trial

Want to try our call answering services for free?

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

Start your free trial

What does the free trial include?

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