When the people in a meeting are also the people who answer the phone, something has to give. Ignore every call and callers receive no immediate response; answer every call and the meeting becomes difficult to finish.
The practical answer is to decide three things in advance: who or what will cover the phone, which calls justify an interruption, and who will deal with messages afterwards. The right arrangement might be internal cover, voicemail or a telephone answering service. What matters is that it is deliberate, rather than decided each time the phone rings.
Start with the calls you actually receive
Before choosing how to cover the phone, consider why people normally call your business. Routine administrative questions may be able to wait until the meeting ends, while other enquiries may need a more prompt response.
The reason for the call is often more useful than the caller’s identity. An existing client could be ringing about something routine, while a prospective customer may have a time-sensitive question. Avoid treating every call as either urgent or unimportant.
You do not need an elaborate call-handling policy. Agree what information should be collected, what would genuinely justify interrupting the meeting and who will return calls afterwards. This removes the uncertainty that causes someone to leave the room simply because nobody knows whether anybody else is dealing with the phone.
Internal cover, voicemail or an answering service?
Each option has a place, depending on the size of the team, the length of the meeting and what callers are likely to need.
Internal cover can work well when a colleague is available and understands the business. Make the responsibility clear rather than assuming that somebody will hear the phone. The person providing cover should know what to tell callers, which details to take and when an interruption is appropriate.
The drawback is that internal cover can move the disruption from one employee to another. It is also less practical when the whole team needs to attend the meeting.
Voicemail may be enough when a delayed response is acceptable and messages are checked reliably. It is simple and allows the meeting to continue uninterrupted, but it leaves the caller to explain the issue without speaking to anyone. Someone must then listen to the messages, judge their priority and arrange the follow-up.
If you use voicemail, agree who will check it, when they will do so and how callbacks will be assigned. Otherwise, messages can remain unattended or several people may respond to the same caller.
A telephone answering service is another option when nobody within the business can provide cover. With CSnotepad’s Call Answering service, a real person answers calls in the client’s business name instead of every call going directly to voicemail.
This allows the internal team to remain focused while callers receive a human response. Before choosing external cover, consider when you need it, the calls you receive and how different enquiries should be treated. Exact handling requirements should be discussed with the provider rather than assumed.
Set sensible interruption and message rules
Covering the phone will not protect a meeting if every call is still put through. The person answering needs enough guidance to distinguish between a message that can wait, a matter that should be flagged to somebody after the meeting and a situation that your business has decided warrants an interruption.
Avoid vague instructions such as “interrupt us if it sounds important”. Importance is subjective, particularly when the person answering does not have the full context. Use realistic examples from your own business and make it clear who has authority to interrupt the meeting.
Messages also need to be useful. In most cases, the team will need the caller’s name, contact details, reason for calling, the person they wanted to reach and any relevant timing. Only collect information that will help with the response; taking a message should not become an unnecessary interview.
Make the arrangement part of the meeting routine
Call cover only helps if the team trusts it. Once cover is in place, attendees should be able to silence devices and concentrate rather than continuing to monitor every incoming call.
At the end of the meeting, review the messages promptly and assign each follow-up to a named person. It is also worth checking occasionally whether the arrangement is working: were there avoidable interruptions, did messages contain enough information, and was responsibility for responding clear?
The best option may vary. A brief meeting involving two people could be covered by a colleague, while a longer whole-team session may call for voicemail or external telephone answering. Choosing the arrangement in advance helps the team protect its attention without allowing callers to be forgotten.
If you are considering real-person phone cover while your team is unavailable, explore CSnotepad’s Call Answering service.