4sk.aiAI Receptionist

Guide · The Digital Hub

Setting up an AI receptionist: your number, overflow and handover

In most arrangements you keep your existing telephone number and forward it, either always or only when nobody answers — what is possible depends on your carrier and the configuration agreed with you. Setup is managed by our team: your treatments, prices, staff and rules go in, your diary is connected, and the journeys are tested with you before the line goes live. When the receptionist cannot book, it takes a message or transfers to a person — never a guess.

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Keeping your telephone number

Nobody wants to reprint a shopfront, a van or a set of cards. In most arrangements you keep your existing number with your existing provider and divert calls to the receptionist. Which of the arrangements below is available depends on your carrier and the configuration agreed with you during setup.

  • Answer everything — all calls go to the receptionist, and it transfers to your team when it should.
  • Overflow only — calls divert when your desk phone rings out or is engaged, so a person always gets first refusal.
  • Out of hours only — your team answers during opening, the receptionist covers evenings, Sundays and closures.

What we set up before you go live

This is a managed service, so the configuration is our job, not a form you are left to complete. You review it rather than build it.

  • Your treatments or services with the prices and durations your system holds.
  • Your team, and which services each person performs.
  • Your rules in your own words: notice periods, patch tests, consultations, deposits, minimum lead time, age limits.
  • Your greeting, word for word, and the voice your callers hear.
  • Where messages go and where transfers ring, at each time of day.

Testing, then launch

Before anything is pointed at your live diary, we run the journeys on demonstration data and listen to them with you: a new client booking, a regular recognised and confirmed, a change of mind halfway through, a move, a cancellation inside your notice period, and a call that has to go to a person.

Two days is our target once your booking-system access and salon information are supplied. Your line goes live only after the test calls are reviewed with you and passed.

When it cannot book

This is the part worth agreeing carefully, because it is where a bad system does damage. Ours has one rule: if it does not know, it does not guess.

A caller who asks something outside its remit, or asks for a slot that is not genuinely free, gets an honest answer and then either a message or a transfer. The message carries their name, the agreed contact details and the reason for the call — not a missed-call notification. Message taking and transfer are included on every plan.

After launch

Available call transcripts and summaries help your team review calls. Support and review arrangements are agreed during setup, and you have a named team you can ring on 01904 900201.

Common questions

Can I keep my existing salon number?
In most cases yes, by forwarding it: your number stays yours with your current provider and calls are diverted to the receptionist. What is possible depends on your carrier, so the exact route is agreed with you and your carrier during setup.
Can it answer only when we are busy?
Yes, where your carrier supports it. Overflow forwarding sends a call to the receptionist only when your desk phone rings out or is engaged. You can start with overflow only and widen it later once you have listened to the calls.
What happens out of hours?
It answers the same way it does at midday, with your own greeting. It can book into genuinely free slots, or take a message for the morning if you would rather approve out-of-hours bookings yourself.
What happens when it cannot book?
It says so, then does one of two things you have chosen in advance: takes a message with the caller's name, agreed contact details and reason for calling, or transfers the call to a person. It does not invent availability, prices or promises. Both options are included on every plan.
How long does setup take?
Two days is our target once your booking-system access and salon information are supplied. Your line goes live only after the test calls are reviewed with you and passed.
What do you need from us?
Your treatment or service list with prices and durations, your team and who does what, your booking rules — notice periods, patch tests, deposits, minimum lead time — and access to your booking system. And someone to sit through the test calls with us.
Can we change the greeting or the voice later?
Yes. The greeting is your wording and is version-controlled, so a change is deliberate and reversible. The voice can be changed too; picking from our range is part of managed setup on any plan.

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Talk through your phone setup.

Tell us how your line is arranged now and we will explain exactly what would change — and what would not.

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