Express Console 

Product Description

Product Description

The Express Console application was created to route Incoming calls using a new business phone number. With this service, customers can efficiently separate their business calls from calls to a personal number using the same mobile phone device. The phone service allows only inbound calls to be forwarded to an external number (for example, cell phone number) or to the receptionist answering service. If the call is not answered, option B allows the caller to leave a voicemail in the Express Console Inbox or in the mobile phone inbox.

 

On the surface, the service/platform delivers standard telecom phone services. However, behind the scenes, the service leverages cutting-edge Voice over IP (VoIP) technology to enable advanced, cost-saving services. The platform can deliver telephony solutions with unparalleled efficiency and capabilities by hosting operations in the cloud and employing AI.

 

Not supported:

Definitions

Services supported by Express Console include (Call routing options):

Destinations

Script

 

In-call features

In-call Features are dial commands that can be used during calls to place a call on hold, transfer the call, etc.

 

List of in-call feature dial codes:

Active service & switching service

 

 

Billable items

 

AI Number Picker

Our AI Number Picker is integrated with ChatGPT API to provide creative solutions for picking the right number for the customer’s business and location. To start a number search, the customer can enter the short business description, the city or state, one or many area codes, the toll-free number as a term, or all information together. The ChatGPT will return the list of suggested numbers from that area code and cities around it. If any business description has been entered in the search field, the results will have the numbers with included terms and synonyms related to the business domain. 

Examples:

 

Query: “Toll-free numbers”

 

Query: “Bakery, coffee shop, Italian gelato in 941 area code”

 

Signup Process

The Signup Wizard has 4 steps:

 

 

To start a Smart search process, type a short description into the Search field. You can enter any word, phrase, or pattern. You can choose an area code, business description, name, location, or easy-to-remember digits.

 

For example: “Goat farm, milk and cheese, goat yoga in Central NJ”

 

To reserve a number, click on the number plate and the system will reserve this number for you for 1 hour. If you do not finish the signup process within 1 hour, your number will be returned to the inventory pool and you will need to pick a number again.

 

Some custom numbers require a one-time acquisition fee. This will not increase your monthly fee. You can see the amount in the top right bubble. If you select this number, the cost will appear under the Order summary in Step 3 of the signup process plus applicable taxes.

 

Note: At the moment when you try to reserve a number, another customer could click on the same number before you do. In this case, the system will notify you that this number is already reserved and you need to pick a different number to proceed with the signup.

 

After a number is successfully reserved for you, the system will redirect you to the next step.

 

 

You can choose one of the available Call routing options to handle the incoming calls to your new number.

 

Note: Click on a Play button for each route to listen a demo on how this feature works.

 

Each routing service has a flat rate price with all fees and taxes included in this amount:

 

Note: We are auto-configuring the Live Answer-Connect route with the smallest plan – 50 mins for $129.99 per month. If your business needs more Live minutes to answer calls, you can upgrade a plan any time after signup is completed.

 

 

Fill out (or review if it was auto-prefilled) the information about your business and click on the “Continue” button. 

 

The loader will notify you about the progress of the account creation flow

 

 

After your account created, you can review, update, and save your call routing configuration. On Step 4 the call route is fully functional and you can make a test call.

 

Signup Configurations

After Signing up is completed, the account has the initial Call Handling Rules configured using the selected service as option A (Forward-Connect, AI-Connect, AI-Connect Plus, or Live Answer-Connect). In case there is no answer, option B will send a caller to this account’s voicemail inbox.

 

Note: The Live Answer-Connect route requires 1-2 business days for your Receptionist to get familiar with the script and your business description

 

Forward-Connect configuration:

If a customer selects the Forward-Connect route for his new phone number after signup, the initial default setup for this option is configured as:

Note: To receive a Voicemail in the account’s inbox, the customer needs to enable the Call Screening option

On Step 4 the customer can update a default configuration and save these new settings for his Forward-Connect call routing.

Configurable options:

The “Welcome message” or Greetings is what the caller will see after they dial the company number. 

Pro tip: make sure to use punctuation like dots (.) to end sentences, and commas (,) to put a pause, so it sounds more natural!

 

 

Note: The file size can’t exceed 4 MB. 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: The Call screening feature ensures that unanswered calls stay in this account’s voicemail.

 

AI-Connect configuration:

If a customer selects the AI-Connect route for his new phone number, after signup the script is auto-prefilled and fully configured with the default options:

 

Configurable options for AI-Connect:

 

The Greeting field has two parts:

 

The default value for the configurable Greeting part is “Thank you for calling {Company name}”. You can add more information or details to this part of Greeting.

 

AI-Connect logic adds a second part of the greeting based on the script configurations. You can see this part on the “AI-Connect response” filed.

 

 

 

 

The AI-Connect route allows to setup appointments automatically using you calendar. We support two calendars: Google and Outlook

 

Click on the one of the Calendar options and enter your email address. After a few steps of verification your address, your script connects to your calendar and now you can specify what kind of services you are offering, appointments durations, scheduling windows for your weekdays and weekends.

 

Note: After saving a script give a system 3-5 minutes to run the updates before making a test call. 

 

Note: Currently the AI-Connect script supports up to 7 different service appointments.

 

Live Answer-Connect configuration:

 

Note: Whenever you are creating or updating a script, please allow 1-2 business days for new script or script’s changes to take effect.

 

The default plan for Live Answer-Connect service during signup activation is 50 minutes for $125 per month. Based on your call volume, you can choose from the drop-down list on the “Select a plan” field a new plan that covers more minutes. If you during the billing period (month) you will have more receptionist talking minutes, the system will calculate an overage and add the amount to your monthly charge.

 

We are pre-filling the most fields with information from your account but you can update any field to customize your information and provide the best value for your callers.

 

If you will activate an appointment option, please provide a publicly accessible link to your calendar. Your calendar provider should have a support article on how to make the calendar accessible by other people.

 

In the “Call handling instructions” field you can specify all the details how your call should be handled by live person (your Live receptionist). Here are some examples:

 

Cancelation policy

Product Support

 

FAQ

How many concurrent calls can be answered?

There are no known limits.

What is the Designated Contact?

In the list of contacts you provide to the Receptionist Service, you can define one as the default in case the caller does not have a name to ask for. In that case, the AI will forward the call to the Designated Coitac (where he o is one of the people on the contact list). 

What services are supported by this product?

How do I Cancel the service?

Click the top left icon with the person’s avatar and select “Cancelation Request” to send an email to request an account cancelation. Please specify the reason for cancelation. A support person will contact you.

What kind of payment options do you accept?

We accept Credit Cards.

How do I change my greeting?

Go to the active service page and change the greeting for that service.

How do I change my greetings on a specific service?

To change a greeting on the Forward-Connect service:

To change a greeting on the AI-Connect service:

To change a greeting on the Live Answer-Connect service:

What are my Music on hold options?

The Hold music settings describe what the customer will hear when you put them on hold or start transferring to another user.

 

 

How can I differentiate between business calls and my personal calls?

Call Screening, Voice Tag and Caller ID to Display are features that allow you to identify calls that are forwarding from your number on this account to an off-net number.

What Caller ID should I choose to display?

This option allows you to choose which caller ID shows when you receive a call

Caller’s ID will show the caller’s phone number. Called Number will show your account number that they called.

 

Pro Tip !: If you set Called Number then save your account’s number in your contact list whatever name you save it as will show as the caller ID when you get a call from that number. This is useful for those with multiple business numbers.

 

i.e If you save your number as ” Office” your caller ID will show as “Office” when you receive a call from that number. 

 

What is the Voice Tag?

Any text entered under the voice tag field will be played as soon as you pick up the phone call (before the call is connected with the caller), this is a useful feature for customers who may have multiple numbers with different business types, this way they are prepared to answer the call accordingly.

 

Call Screening

The call screening feature offers the ability to connect or reject the incoming phone call by pressing 1 or hang up on their dialpad. This feature can be used concurrently with the voice tag feature to let users know what calls to answer and what calls to send to voicemail. The option to connect or reject the call will play after the voice tag text is read.

 

Note: this feature also makes sure calls stay in your account voicemail.

 

How can I access my Call logs?

Log in to your account and select the “Call Logs” submenu item under the “My Account” menu on the left navigation bar. The Call Logs contain information about all Calls on your account plus Voicemails and Call recordings associated with your calls.

 

Click on the options icon (three dots) for each call log to expand the information, and you can see all the details about this exact call.

 

Why to use a Call recording feature?

There are a lot of reasons for wanting to record a call. Whether you’re a lawyer, therapist, realtor, notary, call center, utility company, bank, etc. – there are many types of businesses that rely on call recording to keep a record of conversations for legal or monitoring purposes, here are a few examples:

 

Insurance Claims and Healthcare — Insurance claim conversations should be recorded in order to provide clear documentation of everything said. This eliminates speculation and false claims from scammers. This will ultimately protect your company and save money in certain scenarios.

 

Billing — When goods or services are purchased by phone, federal law requires that all disclaimers, terms, and conditions of the purchase be clearly explicated. A recording covers liability and proves the company took the requisite steps for a transaction.

 

Phone-Based Employees — For call center employees, oftentimes recorded conversations are used in training. This also comes in handy in identifying pain points in the company, resolving customer disputes, and ultimately bolstering brand loyalty.

 

Industry Regulation Compliance — Many industry regulations do not necessarily require calls to be recorded; one can be used to settle a claim against a company’s behavior, proving compliance and reducing liability and financial loss.

How do I record my phone calls?

The Call recording feature is available as an add-on service or as an in-call option.

 

 

 

How to use

 

Notes

Do I need to activate a Recording beep?

In accordance with the laws of several states that require all-party consent for call recording, the system has an option to turn on the tone for the account with call recording. The faint beep occurs every 15 seconds to inform parties that the call is being recorded.

 

You can turn off or on the call recording beep using the Call recording section under the Systes Settings tab.

 

You are responsible for your compliance with all laws related to the recording of conversations.

 

How do I access and download my call recordings?

ADD PICTURE

How to block a number?

The block will protect your business from repeating spam calls. You can add any number to the block list and remove it from the list.

 

The system allows to block a number in a few different ways:

 

 

Does not work for:

 

How to unblock a blocked number?

 

 

How to use in-call features?

*2 Transfer

How to use

 

To cancel

 

Invalid entry

 

Caller ID

NOTE: There will be two call logs entries: the original call and a second outbound call for the transfer

 

*2*500 Voicemail Transfer

Behaves the same as *2, except that it goes straight to the extension’s voicemail. This is STILL an attended transfer and requires the transferer to hang up to complete the transfer.

 

How to use

 

Caller ID

 

*7 Call Recording

Works whether the account has recording enabled or not.

 

How to use

 

Notes

*8 Hold

Uses system hold music.

 

How to use

 

*9 Block Caller

How to use

 

Does not work for: