Call handling
Call handling that ends in a booked job, not a message.
Sayora handles the whole call: answers first ring, screens the time-wasters, captures the details you'd ask for yourself, books the appointment, and texts you the lead in seconds. 24/7, for one flat £49 a month.
Overflow, out-of-hours, or every call. Keep your existing number.
"We'll take a message" is not call handling.
Anyone can take a message. The point of paying for call handling is what happens between hello and hang-up: the caller's questions answered, the cold calls turned away, the job details captured completely, the appointment in the diary. A message that says "John rang about a boiler" leaves all of that work on your plate.
Sayora is built to finish the call, not relay it. Here's what handling a call actually involves, step by step, and what she does at each one.
Six things happen on every call. Or should.
1. Answer, properly
First ring, your business name, a real, warm British voice, and an honest note that she’s AI. No queue, no hold music.
2. Find out who and why
New customer, regular, supplier, or cold call: she works it out in the first seconds and adjusts accordingly.
3. Answer their questions
Prices, areas covered, hours, availability: answered from your knowledge base rather than a one-page brief.
4. Screen what wastes you
Cold sales and recovery scams get turned away politely, by your rules, before they cost a minute of your attention.
5. Capture the whole job
Name, number, postcode, the job itself, the timeframe, the urgency. The questions you'd ask, asked every time.
6. Book it or hand it over
If your diary allows, she books the appointment mid-call. Either way a structured SMS lands on your phone in seconds.
A message costs you the evening. An outcome doesn't.
With message-taking, every call becomes homework: ring John back, hope he answers, ask everything the operator didn't, then try to agree a time. With handled calls, the homework is done. The SMS on your phone has the who, the what, the where and the when, and if your diary was open, the job is already booked.
Traditional call handling bureaux charge per call or per minute for the relay model, typically £150–400 a month at realistic volumes on published UK plans. Sayora does the finished version for a flat £49 a month, unlimited minutes, 24/7 included.
Pricing context, provider by provider, lives in our cost guide and on the comparison pages. New to the category? Start with how a telephone answering service works.
From overflow to every call.
Call handling isn't all or nothing. You choose which calls reach Sayora with an ordinary divert setting, and change it whenever you like.
Overflow on busy lines
Divert-on-busy or after three rings. You take the calls you can; nothing rings out just because you're already on the phone.
Reception cover
Lunch breaks, holidays, sick days, the school run. Cover that switches on with a divert code, not a temp agency.
Out-of-hours cover
Evenings, weekends and bank holidays handled the same as Tuesday morning. Emergencies flagged so you can triage from bed.
Every call, all the time
Some owners hand the whole line over and work uninterrupted, ringing back from the summaries between jobs.
Call handling, answered.
What does a call handling service actually do?
A proper one takes the whole call off your hands: answers in your business name, works out who is calling and why, answers their questions, screens out cold sales, captures complete details, books the appointment where possible, and hands you a structured summary. If it only takes a message, it is an answering machine with a salary.
How is call handling different from an answering service?
Mostly emphasis. "Answering service" stresses that someone picks up; "call handling" stresses what happens next. Sayora does both jobs: she answers first ring and then handles the call through to a booked job or a structured lead on your phone.
Can Sayora handle overflow calls only?
Yes. Divert-on-busy means she only answers when your line is engaged or you don't pick up within a few rings. You keep answering the calls you can take; she catches the rest.
What does call handling cost in the UK?
Traditional bureaux price per call or per minute, and realistic small-business usage typically lands between £150 and £400 a month. Sayora is £49 a month flat with unlimited minutes, so the price doesn't move when your call volume does.
How does she know what to say for my business?
She reads your website and we build a knowledge base around your services, prices, areas and hours during setup, which takes about an afternoon. On calls she answers from that knowledge base, in your words, and says so honestly when something needs you.
What do I get after each call?
A structured SMS within seconds: caller's name, number, what they wanted, where, and how urgent. Every call is also recorded and transcribed, so you can hear it back before you ring anyone.
Does she screen nuisance and sales calls?
Yes, by your policy. Cold callers get a polite, firm no; genuine customers never know the screening happened. You stop paying, in time or money, for calls that were never going to be work.
Hand over the phone. Keep the jobs.
Fifteen minutes with Jacob. Watch Sayora handle a call the way you would, then decide if she's worth £49 a month.
£49/mo. Unlimited minutes. Cancel anytime.