After hours answering service
Every call after hours gets answered.
Your AI Employee picks up at 6 pm, at midnight and on Sunday. It answers questions, books the job and sends you the notes. No voicemail. No missed work.
Your line, after closing
- Office
- Closed
- Phone
- Answered by your AI Employee
- Hold time
- None
- Bookings
- Straight into your calendar
- Notes
- In your account by morning
What an after hours answering service should do
Most after-hours services take a message. Then you call back in the morning and the customer has already booked someone else. Here is what the job really needs.
Pick up every call.
Not after five rings. Not a voicemail box.
Sound like your business.
Your name, your services, your rules.
Book, not just take a message.
Put the job in your calendar while the caller is on the line.
Handle urgent calls the right way.
Follow the steps you set for urgent jobs.
Give you the full record.
Every call saved, with the transcript and a short summary.
A 24/7 virtual receptionist that works the night shift
6 pm
Your team goes home. Calls now ring through to your AI Employee.
10 pm
People call from home after work. It answers their questions and books them into open slots.
2 am
Someone calls with an urgent problem. It takes every detail and tells them when to expect a call back, using the rules you set.
7 am
You open your account. Every call is there, with the transcript and a short summary.
After hours receptionist script (free)
This is the script we give an AI Employee for after-hours calls. Use it for your own team or your answering service.
- Greeting
- "Thanks for calling [business name]. Our office is closed right now, and I'm the AI Employee answering for the team. How can I help?"
- Find out what they need
- "Can you tell me a bit about what's going on?"
- New customer
- "I can book you in. Does [first open slot] work, or is another time better?"
- Existing booking
- "Let me find your booking. What name is it under?"
- Urgent
- "I understand this can't wait. Let me take the details so the team can act on it first thing."
- Emergency
- "If anyone is in danger, please hang up and call 911."
- Close
- "You're all set. You'll get a confirmation, and the team will see my notes when they're in."
Front desk automation checklist
Before you switch on after-hours coverage, check these ten things.
- 1. Your hours are written down, including holidays.
- 2. You know which calls count as urgent.
- 3. You know what should happen with an urgent call.
- 4. Your calendar shows the slots that can be booked.
- 5. Your services and prices are listed in one place.
- 6. You have answers to the ten questions callers ask most.
- 7. You know which calls should never be booked without you.
- 8. Your business line can forward to another number.
- 9. Someone checks the call notes every morning.
- 10. Callers are told they are talking to an AI.
AI for HVAC companies
No heat and no cooling calls come at night. Your AI Employee picks up, finds out what is wrong, and books the first open slot. Your techs start the day with the details.
AI for plumbers
A leak can't wait for voicemail. It takes the address, the problem and a callback number, then follows your rules for urgent jobs.
AI for home services
Roofers, electricians, cleaners and landscapers get calls from people at home after work. Every one of them gets answered and booked.
How to set up your after hours answering service
Talk to Jordan.
Tell our onboarding AI Employee about your business, your hours and your rules. It sets up your AI Employee from the call.
Review and publish.
Check the setup in your account and press Publish.
Point your phone at it.
Forward your business line after hours, or use a new number.
Start the day with notes.
Every call waits in your account with the transcript and a summary.
What it does, and what it won't do
Does
- Answers every call, day or night
- Books into Google Calendar, Calendly or Cal.com
- Speaks your caller's language and switches when they do
- Takes more than one call at once on Operator plans and up
- Saves every call with a transcript and a summary
Won't
- Pretend to be a person
- Act as an emergency line. It tells callers in danger to call 911
- Make up answers. It uses what you taught it
- Share one customer's details with another caller
Who built this
DelegateWorker is founded by Sasan Zarrin.
Sasan sold enterprise software at Oracle, Salesforce and DocuSign, and has delivered projects to over 200 large enterprises. He built DelegateWorker to give every business an AI Employee that does real work.
Questions about after-hours answering
- How do AI receptionists work?
- It answers your phone like a trained receptionist. It listens, works out what the caller needs, answers from what you taught it, and books into your calendar. Every call is saved with a transcript.
- Will callers know they are talking to AI?
- Yes. It never pretends to be a person. It tells callers it is an AI Employee working for your business.
- Can it book appointments after hours?
- Yes. It connects to Google Calendar, Calendly or Cal.com and books into your open slots while the caller is on the line.
- What happens with an urgent call at night?
- It takes every detail and follows the rules you set for urgent calls. If someone is in danger, it tells them to call 911.
- Can it answer more than one call at a time?
- Yes. Operator takes two calls at once and Scale takes three.
- Do I need a new phone number?
- No. Forward your business line after hours, or use a new number.