Solutions by problem · missed calls
Most small businesses miss calls for one reason: the person who should answer is doing the work. The receptionist answers from the information you approve, captures what the caller needs, and leaves your team a request to act on instead of a missed-call notification.
From $49/month with 250 AI minutes and one US local number included. See full pricing
The phone shows two missed calls when you climb down. One was a supplier. The other was a new customer who has already called the next company on the list, because nobody returns a call to a number with no message, and most callers leave none.
In a two-person business the owner answers everything, which means every estimate visit, every drive and every lunch is an hour of calls going to voicemail. The business is open; the phone is not.
The callers who do leave a message leave a name and a number. You call back during the next gap, reach their voicemail, and the two of you trade messages for a day while the job goes elsewhere.
Every call opens with the AI disclosure and your business name. Callers hear a receptionist holding a conversation, not a menu reading options.
Hours, services, service area, the prices you have published, what to expect on a visit. If a caller asks something you have not covered, it says so plainly and takes the question for the office instead of guessing.
Name, callback number, what the caller needs in their own words, the address when the job has one, how urgent it is and when they are free. The fields are the ones you chose during setup, and the ones a caller declines are marked unknown.
For the calls you mark urgent, it transfers to the person you chose and tries the teammates you listed in turn. If nobody picks up, it returns to the caller, finishes the request and sends it to the inbox marked urgent.
The request lands in the team inbox and on your webhooks the moment the call ends, with the call record beside it. The call back is yours to make; the receptionist promises no time and dispatches nobody.
Your own figures, multiplied. Nothing you type leaves the page, and the result is the size of the problem, not a promise about any service.
$1,050
About 3 jobs that went to someone else.
$12,600
Twelve months of the figure above, before any growth.
1 job
Recovered jobs a month that cover Vocapable Starter at $49/month. Illustrative, not a promise: an answered call still needs your follow-up.
Illustrative example A Tuesday at 2 p.m., while the owner of a two-person landscaping company is mowing. The business, the caller and the policy are invented; the receptionist opens every real call with its AI disclosure.
Thanks for calling Greenline Landscaping. I am an AI receptionist for the team. How can I help?
Hi, I need a quote for a backyard cleanup and maybe regular mowing. Are you taking new customers?
Yes, Greenline is taking new customers in Westfield and the surrounding towns. Estimates are free and done in person. Can I get the address of the property?
72 Birch Lane, Westfield.
Birch Lane is in the service area. What would you like the cleanup to cover, and roughly how large is the yard?
Leaves, two overgrown beds, and the lawn is about a quarter acre. Mowing every two weeks after that if the price works.
Thank you. When are you usually home for an estimate visit?
Weekday evenings after five, or Saturday mornings.
Noted: weekday evenings after five or Saturday mornings. Can I get your name and the best number to confirm?
Priya Natarajan, this number.
Thank you, Priya. Your estimate request is with the team, and someone will call you to confirm a visit. Is there anything else?
No, that is it. Thanks.
Synthetic example record The team inbox shows a new estimate request: backyard cleanup with two beds and a quarter-acre lawn, recurring mowing every two weeks if priced well, 72 Birch Lane in Westfield, home weekday evenings after five or Saturday mornings, caller Priya Natarajan at the number she called from. The owner reads it between properties and calls to confirm a visit.
The same table on every receptionist page, because the limits matter as much as the features when you are choosing.
| On a call | Today | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Questions about hours, services, areas and prices | Handled on the call | Answered from the business information you approve. A question you have not covered gets a plain "I do not have that" and a message for your team, never a guess. |
| Reaching a person on your team | Handled on the call | A transfer to one eligible US destination, with the teammates you list tried in turn when the first does not pick up. |
| Closed hours, a busy line and holidays | Handled on the call | Your closed-hours message, a bounded waiting queue with position announcements, and the fallback path you configure when every AI line is busy. |
| Messages and callback requests | Captured for your team | Name, number, the request in the caller’s words and the details you ask for, in your inbox and on your webhooks the moment the call ends. |
| Appointment and estimate requests | Captured for your team | The request, the address and the caller’s preferred times. Your team confirms the time from the record; the receptionist writes no calendar. |
| Emergencies and safety | Captured for your team | Only the safety wording you approve, such as where a shutoff valve is, then the on-call transfer and an urgent request. It gives no medical, legal or electrical advice of its own. |
| Dispatching a crew or promising an arrival time | Not part of the receptionist | Not the receptionist’s job: your dispatcher assigns the work and your team confirms the visit from the record it leaves. |
| Texting the caller afterwards | Not part of the receptionist | It sends no text messages. Requests reach you in the inbox, on your signed webhooks and through the API. |
| Writing to a calendar, a CRM or a dispatch system | Not part of the receptionist | No named connector exists. Results reach other systems through signed webhooks, CSV export and the API. |
| Recording the whole call | Not part of the receptionist | Full-call recording is not part of the receptionist offer. Every call leaves a record of what was asked and what was answered. |
| Languages other than English | Not part of the receptionist | English today. |
| Guaranteed answer rates, response times or outcomes | Not part of the receptionist | Capacity is per plan on shared fleet, not reserved hardware. When every AI line is busy, callers follow the fallback path you chose. |
Start from your website. The receptionist drafts answers from your public pages and you edit every one before it takes a call. Anything you have not approved is a question for the office, not an answer.
Decide which requests should reach a person now and which can wait for the inbox. An active leak and a quote request should not be handled the same way, and the receptionist handles them the way you say.
Forward the number your customers already know to the receptionist’s number, or connect your own Twilio account. Forwarding is set with your current carrier and is not porting; test it from another phone before relying on it.
Setup starts from your website: the receptionist drafts its answers from your public pages and you review every one before paying. How setup works, step by step.
Voicemail collects a name and a number from the callers willing to leave one. The receptionist answers, holds a conversation from your approved information and captures the request itself: the job, the address, the urgency and when the caller is free. Your team starts the callback already knowing what the call was about.
Yes. Every call opens with the AI disclosure before anything else is said, and the receptionist repeats it if asked. A caller who wants a person can ask for one, and the receptionist tries your configured transfer.
The receptionist answers it. A plan allows a fixed number of simultaneous AI calls on shared capacity; beyond that, the caller follows the waiting or fallback path you chose. The overflow page explains the numbers.
No. Keep your current number with your current carrier and forward it to the receptionist’s number, or use a number from your own Twilio account. Forwarding is different from porting, and it is worth testing from another phone before you rely on it.
Published plans with included AI minutes, and a US local number included on managed plans. The price is on the pricing page, and the cost calculator prices your own month of calls on every plan. Additional AI time, non-AI incoming time, transfers and taxes are billed at the published rates.
Your month of calls, priced on every published plan.
The calls your trade gets and what the record should hold.
The calls that come after you close, and who they reach.
The caller experience and the complete bill, side by side.
Nights, weekends and holidays are when the emergency calls come and when the office is empty.
A busy line is a good problem until the third caller gives up.
A missed-call notification tells you a number.
Plumbing calls arrive while you are under a sink.
HVAC phones follow the weather.
An electrician’s phone mixes real danger with routine estimates.
Start with your website, review every answer, and forward your number when the receptionist is ready.
