Why do answering service quotes look so different?
Quotes arrive in different units. Some providers bill per call, some per minute, some per message taken or booking made, and others sell a monthly plan with an allowance and a rate for anything over it. A headline rate means little until you know which unit it applies to and how your own calls convert into that unit. Two providers can quote what looks like the same price and produce very different invoices for the same month, because one counts a 20-second hang-up as a full call and the other does not.
- Per call, sometimes with a maximum call length
- Per minute, with its own rounding rule
- Per message taken or booking made
- A monthly plan with included calls or minutes, plus an overage rate
What call data do you need before comparing?
Export one recent, typical month from your phone system's admin portal or your carrier's itemised bill. You need the date and time of each call, its duration and whether it was answered, missed or sent to voicemail. Mark the calls that were spam, wrong numbers or hang-ups, and note which calls arrived after hours or on a public holiday. Avoid a month with a holiday shutdown or an unusual spike, unless that pattern is exactly what you are buying cover for. This marked-up month becomes the test every quote is priced against.
What counts as a billable call?
Ask each provider for its definition in writing, because the edge cases add up. A caller who hangs up during the greeting, a wrong number, a sales call, a silent robocall and a call transferred straight to your staff may each be billed, partly billed or free depending on the provider. Repeat calls from the same number within a few minutes are another grey area. Run each definition over your marked-up month and count the billable calls for every quote separately.
- Calls that end during the greeting
- Wrong numbers and silent calls
- Sales and spam calls
- Calls transferred to staff within the first minute
- Outbound callbacks or texts the service sends for you
How do rounding and minimum charges change the total?
Per-minute billing depends on the increment. A provider that rounds every call up to the next full minute charges three minutes for a call of two minutes and five seconds. A provider billing by the second charges close to actual talk time. Minimum charges per call have a similar effect on short calls. If many of your calls are quick questions about hours or directions, rounding can matter more than the rate. Ask whether transfer time, hold time and time spent writing up the message are billed as well.
Hypothetical example: assume 300 answered calls in a month. 240 are genuine enquiries averaging 2 minutes 20 seconds, 40 are hang-ups or wrong numbers of about 10 seconds and 20 are sales or spam calls of about 30 seconds. The table below counts that same month five ways.
Which extras are easy to miss?
List every charge outside the headline rate, then apply each one to your month. Setup fees, number rental, porting, SMS notifications, calendar or CRM connections, recording storage, extra users and premium support are priced differently by each provider. Ask whether after-hours, weekend and public holiday calls cost more. Then put every total on the same GST basis. The ATO allows a tax invoice to show GST as a separate amount, or as a statement that the total includes GST when GST is exactly one-eleventh of the price, so read each quote's wording before comparing totals.
Which contract terms matter as much as the price?
Check the minimum term, automatic renewal, notice period, price review clauses and what happens to your phone number and call records when you leave. Since 9 November 2023, unfair terms in standard form contracts with small businesses have been illegal and can attract penalties. For this purpose a small business employs fewer than 100 people or had turnover under $10 million in the previous income year. Business.gov.au uses a business phone plan as an example of a standard form contract. Read the contract before signing, and get legal advice on any term you are unsure about.
How do you compare what each quote delivers?
Two quotes with the same monthly total can deliver different results. One may only take messages; another may book into your calendar, transfer urgent calls and answer questions from your own information. Go back to your marked-up month and note, for each provider, how many calls would have ended with a booking, a transfer or a complete message, and how many with a promise that someone will call back. Price per completed outcome is often a fairer comparison than price per call.