Send urgent calls to your phone

Set it up

1. Say what counts as urgent

   Go to Receptionist, then Urgent calls. In What counts as urgent, pick or add the situations that can’t wait, in plain words.

2. Add the first number

   In Transfer urgent calls to, enter the phone that should ring first, like your cell. Select Save changes.

3. Add backup numbers

   In Settings, select the Team tab and open Call routing. Under Urgent calls transfer to, add up to 3 numbers in the order you want them tried.

4. Decide about after hours

   Leave Transfer urgent calls after hours too on to get urgent calls at night, or turn it off so your receptionist takes a detailed message when you’re closed. Select Save call routing.

What the transfer sounds like

Your receptionist tells the caller it’s connecting them, and the caller waits on hold while the number rings. In Voice and call behavior, under Transfers, choose what the person picking up hears first:

• Connect right away: the call comes straight through.
• Say a short line to the person picking up: you hear that it’s a FrontDesk Talk transfer before you’re connected.
• Give them a quick summary of the call: you hear who’s calling and what they need.

If nobody picks up

Your receptionist listens to how the number answers before it connects anyone. If a person picks up, they get the call. If it reaches voicemail, a busy line, or nobody answers, or the person says they can’t take it, your receptionist comes back on the line with the caller and tries the next number.

When none of the numbers answer, it takes a detailed message: the caller’s name, best number, and what’s happening. You get it right away as a Talk Note, marked URGENT when the call was urgent, and it lands in Tasks.

Your receptionist never leaves a message on your voicemail. For urgent calls, watch your Talk Notes, not your voicemail.

Who hears about urgent calls

In Call routing, Tell these people about urgent calls sends a Talk Note to the people you pick, even when someone else takes the transfer. Who hears about each kind of call does the same for other kinds of calls.

Numbers you can transfer to

Any US phone number, like a cell or an office line. So calls don’t go in circles, it won’t transfer to your own FrontDesk Talk number or to the business line you forward to FrontDesk Talk. It also won’t dial premium or 900 numbers, or three-digit numbers like 411.

Every call that reaches you still ends with a Talk Note marked Transferred to you, with the caller’s name, number, and reason.

If a caller could be in danger, the right first step is 911. Say that in your urgent rules. How to decide what’s urgent.

Questions