Closed for the night. Still answering.
An agent that picks up only when you can't: after closing, on weekends and holidays, and when every line is busy. It books the routine calls, wakes the right person for the urgent one, and has a summary ready before you open.
One evening at a two-van heating and cooling company.
A made-up business. Every step is something the build does.
The office closes
Your main number starts forwarding to the agent. Nobody has to remember to switch it.
"Do you come out to my area?"
The agent checks the caller's ZIP code against your service-area list and says yes, with the hours of the next open day.
A tune-up for next week
It offers two open slots from your calendar, books Tuesday at 10, and texts the caller a confirmation.
"No heat, and there's a baby in the house"
"No heat" is on your urgent list. The agent rings the technician on call and connects the caller. If nobody had answered, it would take an urgent message and send the technician a short alert.
A question about last month's bill
Billing is not the agent's job. It takes a message, tags it for the office and tells the caller someone will call during business hours.
A hang-up, no message
Logged with the number and time. No promise of a call back that nobody made.
The morning summary arrives
One message with what happened and what needs a person today.
The office opens
Forwarding stops. During the day the agent only picks up when every line is busy.
What you read with your coffee.
The summary is short on purpose. Booked calls are already in the calendar, so they get one line. The space goes to what needs a person: the message for billing, the urgent call and how it ended.
Every line links to the full transcript in your inbox or CRM, so whoever calls back already knows the story.
- Needs you today: billing question from a customer, wants a call after 10.
- Urgent, handled: no heat, 9:47 pm. Transferred to the on-call technician, call lasted 6 minutes.
- Booked: tune-up, Tuesday 10:00, confirmation sent.
- Answered: 2 service-area questions.
- No message: 1 hang-up at 2:15 am.
Three switches, all yours.
After hours and weekends
Answers everything. Books, takes messages, and transfers only the urgent words to the on-call phone.
Overflow during the day
Picks up only after your phones ring out or every line is in use. Most days it says very little.
Days you set in advance
Reads your holiday list, says when you reopen, and keeps the urgent route open if you want it.
Not built for a client yet. Here is what it reuses.
After-hours answering is the phone agent with a schedule and a stricter alert rule. We would start every client here, because the stakes are low and every call gets read the next morning.
- Voice that can be interruptedThe same real-time voice work as our own assistant, with 31 interruption checks and 21 voice screen checks. See the build.
- Alerts that say littleIn our own system, phone alerts say that something needs you, never what, and are capped per day. A text on a locked screen should not show a customer's problem to whoever picks the phone up.
- A morning briefOur own system already writes one from the calendar, deadlines and open problems each morning. The overnight summary is the same idea, pointed at your phone line.
Four lists and a phone number.
- Hours, holidays and areaYour opening hours, holiday list and service area.
- Urgent words and the rotaThe words that count as urgent, and who is on call each night of the week.
- After-hours questionsThe questions people ask after closing, with your answers.
- Where it all landsWho reads the morning summary, and where call-backs go.
Plus access to your phone provider so forwarding can switch on its own, set up in your business's name.
About the night shift.
Who gets woken up at 2 am?
Only the person you put on call, and only for the words you marked urgent. Everything else waits for the morning summary. If the on-call person does not answer, the agent takes an urgent message and sends a short alert.
What happens on public holidays?
You keep a holiday list with your opening hours. On those days the agent answers all day and says when you reopen. The list is part of the approved facts, so you change it in one place.
Can it pick up only when we are busy during the day?
Yes. Overflow means the agent answers only after your own phones have rung for a set time or every line is in use. Your staff still take every call they can.
Around the after-hours line
The full phone agent, the next morning's follow-ups, and how we watch agents nobody is looking at.
Phone answering agents
The whole call flow, for daytime as well.
Speed to lead
Missed calls and new leads answered fast, with or without an agent.
Agent monitoring
Rules that notice when an agent goes quiet or stuck overnight.
What an AI phone assistant can and can't do
Why after hours is the place to start.
Home services
Where the 9:47 pm call is most common.
What rings after you lock up? Let's find out.
On a free call we look at your after-hours calls and voicemails and decide what an agent should answer and who it should wake.