Connect Communications Services Ltd

An outsourced front desk for small and medium firms

Connect Communications Services Ltd answers the telephone for businesses that cannot, or would rather not, staff a front desk at all hours. The calls go to its UK-based call handling centre, where trained receptionists greet callers on the client's behalf, take messages and pass urgent matters to the right person. The service is aimed at small and medium businesses in many sectors, and the company says it suits everything from a handful of calls to thousands a month.

Live answering and messages

The base service takes messages and transfers calls. Clients can add customer service handling, in which operators follow scripts that include FAQs and capture additional data from the caller, and they can receive message alerts on WhatsApp. The company argues that a caller who reaches a real person is reassured and willing to leave details, which an automated voicemail may not achieve.

Appointments handled during the call

Where callers need to book, move or cancel an appointment, the operators work directly in the client's online diary. The company names clinics and restaurants as the businesses that benefit most from this.

Reception outsourcing and overflow

Larger needs are met by an outsourced switchboard or virtual reception, run remotely by the same team. Call overflow passes on the calls an in-house team misses at busy times, and business continuity cover keeps phones answered when an office has a power cut, an outage or another disruption.

Numbers that clients redirect themselves

The company also supplies local and national telephone numbers whose destination, menus and timings are managed online, from a desktop or a mobile phone. They can sit alongside the answering service or be used by themselves.

What the company says about its charges

The business states that it does not bill for wrong numbers, sales calls or nuisance calls, a policy it sets against services that charge by the call or by the second. It also offers a trial period and online account set-up, and its guidance for new clients explains how to divert existing mobile and landline numbers to the service.