It’s five o’clock, you’ve got a dinner appointment, and the important client you’ve been waiting for hasn’t called yet. Something’s got to give.

• Do you delay dinner, or even cancel it?
• Do you give up on talking to the client tonight and hope they will reschedule for a later time?
• Or do you stroll out of your office in the comforting assurance that no matter when they call, your client will speak with someone, you or a colleague, without needing to call back, and without anyone being tied down at their desk waiting for the call?

Most people would jump at the third option if it were available. Imagine if your client’s call was automatically forwarded to your cell phone because it was after business hours. And imagine if you weren’t able to answer it, perhaps because you are halfway through your entree, it was forwarded automatically to your colleague. And then another and another until it reached someone available.

Perhaps you want something even more elaborate and tailored to just how your business operates. Imagination isn’t necessary any more. This sort of service is available from a variety of companies, some using traditional phone networks and others providing business voip for small business. Take a look at some of the options available:

Call Forwarding

To a single phone

You want to make sure all your calls go from your business’s number to your phone. Arrange with your provider to have every call for your business go directly to the phone you choose. Cell phone, landline, or other, you choose the number, and that’s where the call goes. A simple arrangement for a company with a single employee who wants to stay mobile.

To a series of phones

Any call coming in is forwarded to the first phone in a chain. If they don’t answer, it moves to the next one. If you run out of phones in your series, the call goes to a voicemail system. Customize the number of rings each phone gets, or give some more or less depending on your business’s particular needs.

To many phones at once

It’s first come, first served in this arrangement. If you don’t need calls to go to any specific person in your business, you just need them answered, ring all the phones at the same time. If they can’t reach anyone at all, they go to voicemail.

On a schedule

Taking a vacation? Mark your phone as unavailable on the dates you’ll be gone and where you want your calls forwarded. Only available during business hours? Set your phone to only get calls during those hours and forward the rest. Your turn to be on call over the weekend? Have all calls forwarded to your phone. Customize your response system based on date and time.

Through a caller tree

Let your caller track down the right people to talk to using an automated system that gives them options and guides them along until it knows which number to call. The number it calls might have any of the other options if no one answers.

Direct to voicemail

Your caller doesn’t have to talk to you directly, but can be forwarded to a voicemail system to record their message. More sophisticated systems can apply speech to text processing and send you an email or text with the caller’s message. A backup recording of the call can be included when the software is just not up to translating human speech with the skill an actual human can provide.

Call Transfers

Transferred calls can get all the benefits of call forwarding available in some systems. Less advanced systems are limited to transfers inside a physical network of phones. Once your advanced call forwarding leaves that physical system, your caller needs to hang up and call back to reach someone else. But with an advanced call transfer system, you can send a call from anywhere to anywhere. Put them back in your call tree, straight to voicemail, or to another phone and through the call forwarding process again.

Integrated Phone Numbers

Centralize your phone presence with a single number. All calls enter through a single number and are distributed from there. And all calls you or your employees make for business display your company’s number on the caller’s phone. Or an individual office number for each person in the company. The choice is yours.

Technology has made it possible to run your business with less infrastructure than ever before. Hard-wired phone systems in your office may now be unnecessary. Even your office may now be unnecessary. And there are vendors out there waiting to provide these services, support them, and educate you so you can most effectively use them. With all these options available, you may never miss a call again.

Do you use voip services in your business? Are you currently satisfied with your service provider? Leave us a comment in the section below.