A phone line for independent consultants

Being hard to reach is part of the job

The best independent consultants we know are hard to reach on purpose. They're in a client's boardroom on Tuesday, running a workshop on Wednesday, and writing the report on Thursday with the door shut. If they picked up every call they'd never finish anything worth paying for.

So if you're wondering whether you need an answering service as a consultant, here's our view. You need the phone answered properly by something other than you, and you need to be the one who decides what "properly" means. That can be a part-time assistant, a shared answering service, or an AI-answered line like ours. What it can't be is your mobile's voicemail, which tells a prospective client that a one-person firm is exactly as thin as they feared.

Decide what callers hear

Write this before you buy anything. Three sentences will do.

First the greeting: your firm's name and an offer of help. Second, what happens when you're unavailable, stated as a fact and not an apology. "Graham's with a client today. I can take the details and he'll come back to you tomorrow morning" is fine. Third, what the caller is asked for: name, company, what it's about, how soon, best number.

Notice what's missing. No "he's terribly busy". No mention of which client you're with or which city you're in. A good assistant is warm and says nothing about your calendar.

Treat the intro call as the product

A stranger ringing a consultant is nearly always a referral. Somebody at a dinner said your name. These callers are half sold already, and mostly want to know three things: do you do their kind of problem, roughly what does it cost, and when could you start.

So the first conversation should find out the company and its size, the problem in the caller's words, the timeline, a budget range if they offer one, and who else is in the decision. Then it should offer an intro call, thirty minutes, in windows you've blocked for the purpose. We'd suggest two fixed windows a week. Friday mornings, say. It protects the deep days, and it makes you look organized, which is part of what clients are buying.

On prices, whoever answers should describe only what you've written down. A day rate, a starting price for an assessment, or "projects are quoted after the first call". Nothing invented.

Have a rule for reference calls

Two kinds come in. Prospective clients ask for references before they sign. And other people ring to ask you about someone you've worked with.

For the first, the line should take the request and stop. It shouldn't hand out a past client's name or number, because you'll want to ask that client first, and you'll want to choose the right one for this prospect. For the second, the honest script is "I'll pass that to Graham, when's a good time to reach you?" An answering line has no business offering opinions about people. Ours takes the details and passes them on.

Let scheduling happen without you

Scheduling is where a solo practice leaks hours. The client's assistant rings to move Thursday's session. The conference organizer wants a time for the sound check. The workshop venue needs lunch numbers by noon.

Inbound, the line takes the request and the options (they can do Tuesday after two, or Wednesday before eleven) and you confirm in your own calendar. If you use an assistant like ChatGPT, Claude or Grok and it has access to your calendar, it can do the booking itself. Outbound works too. Ask the line to ring the venue and confirm the room is open from 8am. It makes the call and tells you what was agreed.

One thing to know. Texts from the line to other people are limited for now, so a confirmation that has to arrive should go as a call or an email. The line has its own email address for that.

Read the note at the break

After each call you get a written summary: who rang, what they need, the dates and figures, the next step. On a workshop day that means you check your phone at the three o'clock break, read four short notes, and return the one call that matters from the corridor. The other three can wait until Friday morning. The callers were told so.

We keep the written call and not the audio, and what's said on your line stays sealed to your line. For a consultant whose callers mention restructures and acquisitions before they're public, that's a question to put to any provider. Our trust page sets out what we keep and what we don't.

Keep your mobile number to yourself

This is the part consultants thank themselves for a year later. Put the line's number on your website, your proposals, your email signature and your profile pages. Keep your mobile for family, and for the current clients you've chosen to give it to. We've written about the wider habit in keep your mobile number private.

Then set your mobile to forward the calls you miss to the line, so even people who do have your number get a conversation when you're mid-workshop. It's a short code from your carrier, covered in how to forward missed calls. Strangers reach a polite assistant that never gives out your details. And when an engagement ends badly, or just ends, the client is left with a number that still works and isn't in your pocket at nine on a Sunday night.

Common questions

More on professional services

• How a small agency should answer its phone
• After-hours calls for a small MSP: triage without waking everyone
• Should a freelancer have a separate business phone number?
• The solo founder's phone problem