From a call with us to your first lead.
We do the setup. Here's every step, what we'll ask you, and the one code you dial on your own phone.
A call with us
Book a demo and you'll hear it take a call for a business like yours. If it's a fit, we go through your business together, and that conversation is the whole of your homework.
Have these to hand
- What you do
- The services you want calls for, and any you don't.
- Where you work
- The towns or ZIP codes you cover, or a radius from your base.
- Your hours
- As you'd publish them. It never tells a caller whether you're open right now.
- What people ask
- Up to 15 questions callers ask you, with your answers.
- What's urgent to you
- On top of your trade's usual list.
- A number to put callers through to
- Optional. Leave it out and it always takes a message.
- Your Cal.com calendar
- Optional. Connect it and callers book visits straight into your calendar, with nothing for you to accept.
Already have a Buildrok website? It reads your services, hours and area from it, so there's less to go through.
We build it, it rings you
We set up your receptionist and send you an invite to your dashboard. Before it takes a real call, it rings your cell from its own number, so you hear exactly what your customers will.
Hear it work
It rings your cell from its own number
- Ask it your hours, and where you work
- Ask it for a price, and hear it decline
- Give it an urgent job, and hear it take your number first
Test calls don't use your minutes and don't make a lead. Something not right? Change it in your dashboard, or tell us and we will.
Forward the calls you miss
Dial one code from your cell. Your phone still rings first. Calls you don't answer, or miss because you're on another call, go to your receptionist. You keep your number, your carrier and your plan.
| Carrier | To turn it on | To turn it off |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T Covers no answer, busy, and out of range. | **004*number# | ##004# |
| T-Mobile Covers no answer, busy, and out of range. | **004*number# | ##004# |
| Verizon Forwards when you do not answer or are busy. | *71number | *73 |
| Other carriers Most GSM carriers accept this code. Check with yours if it fails. | **004*number# | ##004# |
number is your receptionist's ten-digit number. Your dashboard shows you the exact code to dial, with it filled in.
Jobs land in your inbox
Every real job becomes a lead: who, where, what's wrong, how urgent and when to call back. It's emailed to you and saved in your Lead Inbox, with the recording and the transcript. Sales calls, robocalls and wrong numbers get a goodbye, not a lead. When a caller wants an appointment, it books one straight into your calendar through Cal.com.
Lead Inbox
- Dan Urgent Water heater leaking into the garage 9:47 PM
- Alicia Website form Toilet keeps running Yesterday
- Ben Phone call Garbage disposal jammed Mon
A sample inbox with made-up callers.
Setup questions
Something not covered here? Book a demo
How long until it's answering calls?
We'll give you a date on the demo call. The part that takes time is you ringing it and telling us what to change, and that's up to you.
Do I have to change my phone number or my carrier?
No. You dial a forwarding code on the phone you already have. Your number, your carrier and your plan stay the same.
What if I want my phone to ring a while longer first?
Your phone always rings first; the receptionist only gets the calls you don't answer. How many rings that is depends on your carrier. Tell us on the setup call and we'll go through it with you.
Can I turn it off for a day?
Yes. Dial your carrier's cancel code and your phone stops forwarding to it; the forwarding code turns it back on. The off switch in your dashboard only stops it answering. Your phone still forwards the calls you miss to its number, so those callers reach neither the receptionist nor your voicemail.
What happens when the minutes run out?
150 minutes of calls are included each month. When they're used up it switches to taking messages instead of charging you more and answers in full again when your minutes reset, on the same date each month, and you can see the minutes used in your dashboard. If you run out most months, Receptionist Plus has 400 minutes for $99 a month, and moving up has it answering in full again straight away.
I'm on a landline or a business phone system. Does it work?
Most phone systems can forward unanswered calls to another number, but the code is different. Tell us what you use on the setup call and we'll work it out with you.
Let it get the next one.
Set up for you, on your number, and you hear it before it takes a real call.