Pick up an unknown number when you can, and screen it when you can't, rather than ignoring it. On a business line an unknown number is often a customer, and the number alone can't tell you whether you've got a customer or a robocall.
What answering unknown calls costs
The plain cost is attention. Hiya, which sells call-protection products, found in its 2026 State of the Call survey of over 12,000 consumers in six countries that American consumers receive an average of 9.9 unwanted calls a week. Every one you answer pulls you away from whatever you were doing, and on a job site that can mean a ladder or a tool you shouldn't be holding while you talk.
The bigger cost is scams. The Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Data Book for 2024 counted 284,659 fraud reports where the contact method was a phone call, with $948 million reported lost and a median loss of $1,500. Those are reports consumers chose to file, not a survey, and they aren't specific to business owners.
An unknown number isn't always spam, though. YouMail, which sells spam-protection apps, broke down July 2026 robocalls as 27 percent scams, 19 percent telemarketing, 36 percent alerts and reminders and 15 percent payment reminders. Plenty of automated calls aren't scams, and plenty of real customers call from numbers you've never seen.
What not answering costs
Pew Research Center asked 10,211 U.S. adults in July 2020 how they handle unknown numbers. Eight in ten said they don't generally answer their cellphone when an unknown number calls, and 19 percent said they generally do. The most common habit was the cheap middle ground: 67 percent said they don't answer an unknown number but check voicemail if one is left. That works for a business only as long as callers leave a message, and you can't make them.
Your customers do this too. If you let a call go and call back later from your cell, you're the unknown number, and Pew found 14 percent of Americans generally ignore any voicemail left after they miss a call. A missed call can cost you the job, and it can also cost you the callback.
Put your own numbers on it. What does a first-time job pay you, and how many of those do you win in a month? If one lost call a month costs more than the interruptions you'd save, answer more. If spam eats more of your day than lost jobs cost you, screen more.
The middle ground on your phone
An iPhone and a Pixel can both screen unknown callers for you.
On an iPhone, Screen Unknown Callers lives under Settings, then Apps, then Phone. Ask Reason for Calling has the caller asked why they're calling before your phone rings. Silence sends the call straight to voicemail. Silence is the choice that costs a business customers, because every first-time caller is an unsaved number. Ask Reason for Calling is the better fit. Apple doesn't screen calls while you're roaming, and calling emergency services turns screening off for 24 hours. Our guide to iPhone call screening has the steps, and turning it off is there if it starts costing you calls.
A Pixel does something similar with automatic Call Screen: Google's Call Assist picks up, asks the caller who they are and why they're calling, hangs up on what it decides is spam, and rings you with the caller's answer on screen for everything else. The Android call screening guide covers other brands.
iPhone screening applies to numbers that aren't saved in your contacts, so save your regulars, your suppliers and your family first. Apple recommends the same for important numbers.
The middle ground with VettedCalls
We do the same job a different way, and it has a cost we'd rather say plainly. Your cell forwards every call to your VettedCalls number, so a first-time caller goes through a greeting in your business name, a question about who they are and what they need, and a key press before your phone rings. That's more friction than a plain ring.
Here's what that friction buys you. Silent robocalls that never press a key don't ring your phone, and their numbers are marked on the spam registry we keep across all our customers. A caller who presses a key rings you in the Cloud Softphone app, and once you pick up, you hear who it is and what they want before the call connects. If a caller says one of your priority words, the call is flagged as priority and rings you right away.
Not every caller goes through it. Saved contacts skip screening, and so does anyone who passed it in the last 60 days. If you miss a call on Pro, the caller can leave a voicemail, and you get a text alert plus an email with the full transcript.
It won't keep out every sales call. Any caller who presses a key is put through, including one the AI judged to look like spam, so a live salesperson can reach you, though you'll hear their name and topic first. You can mark a number as spam and it's blocked for your account until you unmark it.
So which one
If most of your calls come from people already in your contacts, your phone's own screening may be all you need. If you depend on first-time callers and spam is still interrupting you, screening that sorts the two before your phone rings is worth a look. Pro has a 14-day money-back guarantee; see the pricing page for the monthly price and our call screening page for each step a call goes through.