Live transfer and voicemail
Send a hot caller to your cell, and what happens when nobody answers.
Some callers should not be booked for Thursday. They should be talking to you right now.
Live transfer
If your front desk can transfer calls, a hot lead is put through to a real phone: your cell, your office, or whoever is on duty.
Set the number on the Front desk page, under What happens when a lead is interested, in the Transfer number field. Include the country code, for example +1 832 555 0147.
Transfers only happen inside your transfer hours. Outside them, the front desk books an appointment instead, at an open time inside your appointment hours. The transfer hours are set for you. Ask us if you want them changed.
If your front desk cannot transfer calls, the page says so. In that case it books the appointment on your calendar, or takes a message and tags it so you can call back, and there is no transfer number to set.
Warm, not blind
A hot lead is warm-transferred straight to your phone, and the front desk confirms before it transfers. Be ready to take it: a transfer you fumble is worse than a booking. The caller was hot, and you opened with "uh, hello?"
When to use it, and when not to
Use it when the value of a live conversation is high, the window is short, or the caller is ready now. Emergency services, a buyer with cash, someone comparing you against a competitor on the phone right now.
Do not use it when you cannot actually answer. If you are on a ladder eight hours a day, a transfer to your cell will ring out, so point it at someone who can pick up.
Voicemail and no answer
Not every call reaches a person.
Voicemail on an outbound call. Under Auto-dialer on the Front desk page, Leave a voicemail drops a voicemail when a call reaches a machine.
Nobody answers at all. The lead stays in the pipeline and follow-up picks it up. One unanswered call is not a result.
Both show up in Calls and outcomes as voicemail and no_answer.
Checking it works
Call your own number, say you want to book as a hot lead, and see whether your cell rings. Do it again outside your transfer hours and confirm it books an appointment instead.
Part of Test before you go live.