Call answering and forwarding service

Many businesses use call forwarding services to route their calls to an automated system or another office when they aren’t available. But consumers who reach a recording instead of a live person say in surveys they’ll do less business with the company. We provide a forward thinking live answer to your call forwarding.

Live answering for live customers

With PBSG’s call answering and forwarding service, each call is answered in your business name. Simply forward your calls to us. You can pass your calls to our teams 24/7 or only when you need the live answering service. It’s up to you.

Forwarding your calls is not complicated, but how you do it depends on your telephone carrier. See below for more information on the different options for call forwarding.

Never miss a call

With a call answering and forwarding service, you won’t miss opportunities when your lines or busy, your office is closed, or you’re in a meeting. Our live answering service gives you the flexibility to customize your call forwarding to the needs of your business.

Set it and forget it

Call forwarding services make it easy for you to extend your business hours around the clock. When you’re ready to close your office for the day, your calls are automatically forwarded to our teams of friendly, professional customer experience associates.

By setting up call forwarding for your live answering account, you can be sure your callers will reach the right person at the right time, and always get the help they need.

Types of call forwarding with IVR

There are a variety of types of call forwarding. You can choose the system that works for you, or even use a combination for different situations. The bottom line is getting your callers the help they need to become, and remain, happy customers.

You’ll need an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu to take advantage of these features. Luckily, we offer affordable IVRs as an add-on to your account. If you’re interested in just plain call forwarding, keep reading. We’ll cover how to do that below.

Automated call forwarding

Automated call forwarding allows you to forward your calls to us based on a set schedule. If you’re open Monday through Friday from 8 to 5, you can forward your calls to us at all other times. If you want to forward your calls just on a certain day of the week, when you’re out of the office, we can do that. You decide when your calls go to your in-house staff and when they come to us.

Manual call forwarding

When you partner with AnswerConnect for live answering, you control when we are routed to receive your calls. You can forward your calls to us when you’re in a meeting, when you’re on vacation, or just when you need a couple of hours to focus on an important project. Our system makes it easy to forward your calls and take them back again.

Find me call forwarding

As a business owner or executive, you’re always on the go. If your schedule keeps you on the move, a “find me” call forwarding service might be for you.

With find me call forwarding, your calls go to your office first, but if you don’t answer, the system tries another number, such as your mobile phone. If you don’t answer that, we automatically route your calls to our teams of customer experience associates. You set the rules that control which line your caller is sent to first.

How to forward your calls to us

When you sign up for an AnswerConnect account, we can provide you with a new toll free number for your business. This is often a good option for new businesses, divisions, or locations.

But what if you already have a local or toll free number established? If you’ve already published that number and used it in your marketing, you probably want to keep it. No problem! You can forward your calls to a number we provide. Your customers will keep using the same number they always have.

Exactly how to forward one phone number to another depends on your carrier. Most carriers explain on their website how to forward calls with their system. Generally, it’s just a two-digit code followed or preceded by a special character like * or #.

Once you know the code your carrier uses, it should be simple to forward your calls and take them back again, whether it’s for a few hours or a few days.

Here are some common codes for different types of call forwarding you can activate and deactivate yourself:

Standard call forwarding

The most basic form of call forwarding is usually activated by pressing *72 or 72# (depending on your carrier) followed by the number you want to forward to. To deactivate forwarding and take the calls back to the original number, press *73 or 73#.

No-answer call forwarding

This form of forwarding transfers the call to a second number after a certain number of rings. Contact your carrier to specify how many rings. We recommend two-why make your callers wait? Activate no-answer call forwarding with *92 or 92# and deactivate it with *93 or 93#.

Busy call forwarding

If you want to forward calls only when the first line is busy, use *90 or 90# (again, check with your carrier for the right code to use). Cancel this with *91 or 91#.

Scheduled call forwarding