What is Call Handling?

Got so many customers you barely have time to serve them all? While many businesses would love to have this problem, you still need a solution – and call handling could be the answer.

Call handling is exactly what it sounds like: a service that answers incoming calls, so you don’t have to answer every call yourself (or worse, let them go to voicemail). It's ideal for small businesses that need to focus their efforts elsewhere and/or don’t have a dedicated customer support team. 

You provide a more professional service, resulting in happier customers and fewer missed opportunities – all without having to build your own call center or support operation.

How does call handling work? 🤳

With call handling, calls are answered either by a real person or an AI agent. This helps you manage high call volumes, capture leads, and escalate important queries.

Features of call handling services include:

👉 Routing calls to the right team member

👉 Putting callers in a queue when lines are busy

👉 Using automated menus (like interactive voice response) to guide callers

👉 Transferring, logging, and monitoring calls for quality

👉 Scheduling customer appointments

Inbound vs outbound call handling 🔄

There are two types of call handling – inbound and outbound. While inbound focuses on calls you receive from customers or clients, outbound call handling involves reaching out to existing or prospective customers.

What is inbound call handling? ⬅️

Inbound call handling manages the calls that come into your business, so nothing important slips through the cracks. It’s especially useful for catching new leads, improving customer service, or covering busy periods and out-of-hours calls. 

This type of call handling can be as simple as someone taking a quick message, or as involved as a dedicated virtual receptionist who acts like part of your team. Agents can answer questions, transfer calls, and make your business feel more professional and responsive.

What is outbound call handling? ➡️

Outbound call handling is when a business makes calls to customers or clients through an external team or service. It's often used for things like sales, appointment reminders, and subscription renewals. Whether it’s a small campaign or high-volume calling to support business growth, outbound call handling is proactive, helping you reach people directly instead of waiting for them to get in touch.

The benefits of call handling ✅

Call handling is especially helpful for businesses that can’t justify a full-time receptionist or in-house support team. Your business looks more legit, yet you don’t have the overheads of paying a dedicated employee to answer calls for you.

Improves customer support 🙂

Arguably the biggest benefit of using a call handling service is improving your customer support without piling pressure on your existing team. Trained call handlers can quickly answer frequently asked questions, so customers aren’t kept waiting. When something needs more attention, agents can connect callers to the right person before it becomes a bigger issue.

Increases productivity 🔨

With call handling in place, you save time by letting the service deal with the day-to-day calls that get in the way of higher-value tasks. With someone else responding to routine questions or filtering out the “noise” of irrelevant calls, you and your staff can give your full attention to work that moves the business forward. This might include looking after clients, closing sales, or launching new services. It’s an easy way to get more done without stretching your resources.

Cuts costs 💳

Call handling is a more budget-friendly option than hiring in-house staff. Instead of covering salaries, vacation leave, and other extras, you just pay for the service you need – and you can scale it up or down as your business requires. It also cuts hidden costs like leads lost due to missed calls, or time spent by your team juggling phone queries instead of focusing on their core roles.

Boosts efficiency 📈

Call handling is a big win for efficiency, giving you greater flexibility in how you use your resources and generally helping you do more with your existing resources. It allows you to handle more calls without hiring more people – resulting in shorter customer wait times and fewer disruptions for your team.

Offers out-of-hours support 🕙

By using call handling services you can be available to customers outside your usual business hours, without you or your team needing to work overtime. Whether it’s someone calling with a question after dinner or a potential client reaching out on a Sunday, trained agents can pick up the slack. 

It’s an ideal way to stay available and responsive when your in-house team is offline. For small businesses especially, call handling ensures you don’t miss opportunities just because you're taking a well-earned break.

Boosts lead generation 🌱

With trained support covering your phones, every call gets picked up, day or night. This means you’re less likely to miss out on valuable leads if no one in your business is available to talk.

Improves your brand image 🏅

First impressions count, and how your business answers the phone says a lot. With professional call handling, callers are greeted warmly, their questions are dealt with efficiently, and nobody’s left hanging. 

This kind of consistency builds trust and shows customers you’re reliable and attentive. Over time, this helps strengthen your reputation and makes your brand look more credible.

👉 Create a free Rosie account and get your first 25 minutes of call handling on us!

Key roles in call handling 💼

Call handling isn’t just about the agent handling the call. A whole team plays a part in delivering high-quality call handling services, from call center managers and supervisors to quality assurance professionals and IT support experts.

• Call center manager: Keeps the whole show running. They’re in charge of making sure everything works well, tracking performance, and finding ways to improve service quality.

• Team leaders: Support the frontline call handling crew. They coach agents, monitor how things are going in real time, and step in when a call needs to be escalated.

• QA analysts: Listen in to identify what’s working and what isn’t. They review calls to check quality, share feedback, and help shape a higher-quality service.

• IT support: Keep the tech side running smoothly. They make sure all the systems and software stay up and running, so agents can do their jobs without technical problems.

• Customer support agents: The first point of contact for customers. They interact with callers, solve problems, and represent your brand on every call.

A phone call is often your first – and maybe only – chance to connect with a customer. Even with AI call answering, people still expect fast, friendly, and helpful service. Many customers won’t trust a business if they can’t speak to someone first.

That’s where AI call handling comes in. It keeps things running smoothly and ensures queries are answered around the clock, so nobody feels ignored.

👉 Heard of answering services but not sure if they’re right for you? Find out what they really offer and how it could support your business in our detailed guide What Is an Answering Service?

7 call handling best practices 💡

Effective call handling is key to great customer service, so it’s worth researching the most successful ways to approach it. Following tried and tested best practices will help refine your process, improve your customer feedback, and (hopefully) turn more callers into paying customers.

Write a strong script 📜

One of the easiest ways to improve your call handling is to write a solid script. This gives your human call handling team (or AI agent) a clear path to follow without sounding robotic. It keeps conversations on track, helps with tricky questions, and reduces the risk of poor customer experiences.

When creating your script, aim for a tone of voice that feels natural to your business and audience – because people want to feel like they’re being heard, not read to.

Qualify callers upfront 🗣️

Qualifying callers upfront lets you address their needs and capture essential contact details for follow-up. If a customer requests something you don’t offer, dig a little deeper into their interests and motivations so you can suggest alternatives. 

Finding out what people want can inform new business strategies, too. And if you simply can’t meet the caller’s needs, the call handling agent can let them down gently, meaning your employees don’t waste time dealing with unsuitable customers.

Leverage advanced call routing and forwarding ⏩

Advanced call routing and forwarding systems connect customers to the relevant department or staff member. This reduces response times and solves problems more quickly, which further builds trust. It also allows you to forward calls to alternative numbers when necessary, ensuring no call goes unanswered, and improving the overall customer experience.

Analyze call-handling performance 📊

To improve call handling, it’s essential to track how well your team is doing. Set clear goals – such as measuring the speed of call resolutions, average time spent on each call, and customer satisfaction scores.

Reviewing this data highlights areas for improvement, whether on routing calls, training your agents, or refining scripts. Regular analysis keeps you on track and helps level up your customer support as your business grows.

Use call-handling software 🤖

Using call handling software brings everything together, streamlining routing, queuing, monitoring, and reporting. It can also integrate with your CRM, giving agents a complete view of customer data. This helps agents provide more personalized, informed support, improving efficiency and customer satisfaction. With all the tools in one system, your team can handle calls faster and more effectively.

👉 Rosie’s AI-powered call handling software combines call routing, queuing, monitoring, and CRM integration. It gives you 24/7 coverage, reduces dropped opportunities, and streamlines your scheduling.

Provide consistent support 🤝

Consistent customer support is when all calls are answered with the same quality of service and tone of voice. It all starts with an appropriate greeting, which builds trust and encourages positive interactions. Measure the consistency of your call handling service using call analytics, which helps track performance and improve how calls are handled across the business.

Train call handling agents 🧠

Training agents is key to maintaining a high-quality call handling service. It keeps everyone updated on the latest industry standards and effective strategies, so agents keep improving their skills. When they receive consistent training, they feel more confident in handling calls, which leads to better service and happier customers.

Listening to call recordings helps you identify areas you’d like to refine. You can evaluate things like tone, listening skills, product knowledge, and conflict resolution, helping you identify new learning opportunities.

The bottom line

Call handling helps businesses manage incoming customer queries and/or make outgoing calls to customers, all without eating into your employees’ valuable time and distracting them from their “day job”. Implementing your own call handling service can help you save money, increase productivity, and improve customer satisfaction.

For best results, choose an AI-powered call handling solution like Rosie, which gives you 24/7 coverage at a fraction of the cost of a human-powered service.

👉 Get started for free by creating your Rosie account today!

FAQs 🙋

What are the most important call handling skills?

The most important call handling skills include active listening, clear communication, empathy, problem-solving, professionalism, and effective time management. Skills like these help agents build rapport with customers, which in turn helps them better understand the caller’s needs.