AI Voice Agent

Inbound answering vs outbound callback: what an AI voice agent can do

Most businesses first think of an AI voice agent as something that answers the phone. The bigger change for a business that buys leads is the other direction: the agent calls the lead back the moment the lead arrives, before they get to the next company on their list.

In Auto-Respond each agent has one of three jobs:

Which leads trigger an instant AI callback?

A calling agent dials every new lead from the sources you connect, as long as the lead has a phone number it can call. How often that happens depends on the source:

• Facebook Lead Ads and Google Local Services Ads: the lead usually arrives with a phone number, so the call goes out the instant the lead is created.
• Yelp Request a Quote and Thumbtack: the agent calls once there is a number: on Yelp when the customer chooses to share it, on Thumbtack when they share it in the conversation. The written reply on the platform is a separate response; read how this works for Yelp leads and Thumbtack leads.
• Facebook Messenger and Instagram DMs: these platforms do not share contact details, so there is a number to call only after the customer types one in the chat.

Two rules keep callbacks sensible. The agent's call hours apply to outbound calls too, so a lead that arrives at 2 a.m. is queued and called when your hours begin. And when nobody picks up, the agent leaves your voicemail message and the call is logged as missed.

What the person on the call hears, and what you get afterwards

On an outbound call, the first sentence is always "Hi, this is [agent name], AI Assistant from [your business]." That line cannot be turned off. Then the agent continues with your greeting and runs the conversation you configured:

1. Confirms the request and asks what the customer needs, using your service-identification question.
2. Answers questions from your knowledge base, quoting prices only the way your pricing settings allow.
3. Books the appointment when you connect Cal.com, FieldPulse, GoHighLevel, Housecall Pro or Open Schedule, after collecting the details you require.
4. Transfers the call to your team when one of your transfer criteria is met, briefing them privately first on a warm transfer.

When the call ends you get a call log with the recording, transcript, AI summary, the customer data it extracted, any appointment booked and why the call ended. Summaries can also be sent to your CRM or to your team by SMS, Slack or Telegram. Inbound calls follow the same pattern, minus the opening line, which you set in your greeting. Calls show your agent's phone number by default, or your own business number once you verify it as caller ID.

Can the AI book around your service area and the drive time between jobs?

Yes, within the rules you give it. When job addresses are available, the AI compares where the new job is against the jobs around it, estimates the driving time between them and takes that into account before it offers the caller a time. It also follows the service-area, geographic and travel-time rules you write into its scheduling instructions. The driving time is an estimate, not a reading of live traffic.

Three things make this work on a real schedule:

• The address comes first. Service Address is one of the details the agent collects by default before it books, so it knows where the job is before it suggests a slot.
• The calendar shows the day. With Open Schedule, the agent reads the jobs already booked, with their times and service addresses, before it offers an exact time, then reserves the full appointment window once the caller agrees. With Cal.com, FieldPulse, GoHighLevel or Housecall Pro, it offers the times that calendar shows as open, so the gaps you need between jobs have to be part of that calendar's availability.
• The rules are written in plain words. A plumber covering two counties might write: "North county jobs Monday, Wednesday and Friday, south county Tuesday and Thursday. Never book back-to-back jobs in different counties. For an address outside our ZIP code list, do not book; take the details for a callback."

The scheduling settings guide shows where each calendar option is set up, and the guide to AI booking for calls and texts covers how the same rules apply when a lead messages instead of calling.

Consent and opt-outs: calling leads with AI responsibly

Before you let any AI call people, know the rule it is judged by. On February 8, 2024 the Federal Communications Commission ruled that calls made with AI-generated voices count as "artificial" voices under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The TCPA restricts calls that use artificial or prerecorded voices, and the FCC's rules require telemarketers to get prior express written consent before making such calls (FCC news release).

In plain terms: call people who asked you to contact them, and keep a record of how they asked. Auto-Respond's own rule is the same: only call numbers your business has a valid basis to contact. The product backs that up:

• It always identifies itself as AI and never claims to be a person, on every call.
• "Stop calling" works at once. Phrases such as "take me off your list" suppress the number, the agent confirms and ends the call, and planned calls to that number are canceled.
• The suppression list is checked before every call, and a lead who texts STOP is blocked from calls as well as texts.
• Every attempt and opt-out is recorded with the lead source, so you can show the history for any number.

This is general information, not legal advice. Consent rules depend on the lead source, the purpose of the call and state law; check your lead sources' terms with your attorney before turning on automatic calling.