Resources & Guides

Quick-start checklist

The five steps every new account should complete before going live — AI name, working hours, services, pricing, and phone forwarding.

1. Sign in and open Dashboard → Edit AI.
2. Set your business name, type, and service area.
3. Enter your working hours and choose your emergency-call handling option.
4. Add your services and pricing policy.
5. Forward your number to your Callout AI line (see below).

Forwarding your phone number

Forward calls from your existing business number to your Callout AI number so every unanswered call is caught.

Placing a test call

Make a test call directly to your Callout AI number from the Dashboard before going live.

1. From the Dashboard, find your AI line card and click Test call.
2. Answer your phone — the AI will ring you.
3. Run through a sample enquiry: give a name, describe a job, give a callback number.
4. Check the Calls tab — the transcript and lead capture should appear within a few seconds.

Choosing a voice

Pick from six natural ElevenLabs voices — British, American, and Australian accents in male and female. Go to Dashboard → Edit AI → Voice and click the play button on each card to preview before saving.

Working hours & urgent transfers

Working hours tell the AI when to offer live transfers vs. take a message. Three modes:

• Always available (24/7): AI transfers urgently at any hour.
• Same as working hours: Transfers during hours; takes a message out of hours.
• Messages only: Never transfers — always takes a message.

Use the Escalation trigger field to tell the AI exactly when to treat a call as urgent, e.g. "caller mentions flooding, gas smell, or no heating".

Services & pricing

Enter your services so the AI knows what you offer. For pricing, choose between two modes:

• Quote exact prices: Enter a visit fee, hourly rate, and a list of job prices. The AI quotes these accurately and defers anything not listed.
• Owner will call back with price: AI never quotes a number — always defers to you. Safer if pricing is highly variable.

Knowledge base & Q&A pairs

The knowledge base is free-text information the AI uses to answer caller questions. Keep it factual and brief. Good things to include:

• Qualifications and accreditations (Gas Safe registered, NAPIT, etc.)
• Payment methods accepted
• Warranty or guarantee terms
• Areas you don't cover

Q&A pairs let you provide exact answers to specific questions — the AI uses your exact wording when a caller asks that question.

Google Calendar booking

Connect your Google Calendar so the AI can book appointments live on the call.

1. Go to Account → Integrations → Google Calendar.
2. Click Connect Google Calendar and authorise access.
3. The AI will check your free/busy times and offer slots to callers in real time.
4. If a slot is taken between the AI checking and the caller confirming, the AI offers the next available slot.

Booking URL (Calendly / Fresha / Booksy)

If you use a third-party booking tool, paste its URL in Edit AI → Booking URL. The AI will collect the caller's name and number, then tell them you'll send a booking link — it doesn't try to book on your behalf.

Reading call transcripts

Every call appears in the Calls tab with a full transcript, duration, and any details the AI captured. The lead panel shows:

• Name — caller's name as confirmed on the call
• Number — callback number, read back digit-by-digit by the AI
• Urgency — emergency, callback, or general
• Summary — brief description of what the caller needs

Contacts CRM

Every captured lead is automatically added to your Contacts tab. Use contacts to track follow-up, filter by urgency, and search by name or number. Contacts are deduplicated by phone number — repeat callers are linked to the same contact record.

Exporting your data

Download all leads and account data as JSON at any time. Go to Account → Settings → Export my data. The export includes all call records, captured leads, and your account configuration.

Inviting team members

Give staff access to calls, contacts, and the dashboard without sharing your login. Go to Account → Team → Invite. Team members can view everything but cannot change the AI configuration, billing, or API keys.

Managing your subscription

Upgrade, downgrade, update payment details, or cancel through the Stripe billing portal. From any account page click Billing in the sidebar. Changes to your plan take effect immediately. Downgrading removes access to plan-gated features (recordings, warm transfer, etc.) at the end of your billing period.

Adding a second AI line

Pro and Business plans support multiple AI lines — each with its own number, voice, and configuration. Go to Dashboard → Add another AI. Each extra line is billed as a recurring add-on charged to your existing subscription. The last line cannot be removed — cancel the subscription instead.

Webhook (Zapier / Make / CRM)

Every captured lead is POST-ed to your webhook URL within seconds of the call ending. Set your URL in Account → Integrations → Webhook URL. The payload is signed with X-Callout-Signature (HMAC-SHA256) so you can verify it's genuine. Use the Send test lead button to confirm delivery before relying on it.

{
  "id": "uuid",
  "caller_name": "John Smith",
  "caller_phone": "07700900123",
  "summary": "Needs a boiler service quote",
  "urgency": "callback",
  "created_at": "2026-06-10T09:14:00Z",
  "line_id": "uuid",
  "business_name": "My Heating Co"
}

REST API & API keys

Pull leads and line data into your own systems using the REST API. Generate a key at Account → API Keys. Keys begin with sk_ — treat them like passwords and never expose them client-side. Two endpoints are available:

• GET /api/v1/leads — paginated list of captured leads
• GET /api/v1/lines — your AI lines and their status

Native integrations (Pro+)

Business plan accounts can connect Slack, HubSpot, and Zendesk directly from Account → Integrations. Leads are pushed as Slack messages, HubSpot contacts, or Zendesk tickets — no Zapier required.

AI not answering calls

• Forwarding not set up: Check your call divert is pointing to your Callout AI number (shown on the Dashboard).
• Line not provisioned: The Dashboard shows a green "Active" badge when provisioning is complete. If it shows "Provisioning" or "Error", contact support.
• Account paused: A failed payment pauses the AI. Update your payment method in Billing and the AI resumes automatically.

Transcripts not showing

• Transcripts typically appear within 5–30 seconds of a call ending. Refresh the Calls tab.
• Very short calls (<10 seconds) may not generate a transcript if the caller hung up before speaking.
• If transcripts are consistently missing, check your Vapi webhook is correctly configured (contact support for help).

Google Calendar not booking

• Go to Integrations — if the status shows "Disconnected", reconnect via OAuth.
• Ensure the calendar you want the AI to use is the primary calendar on the Google account you connected.
• If slots show as busy when they shouldn't, check you haven't accidentally blocked off time in Google Calendar.

AI giving wrong answers

• Open Edit AI → Knowledge base and add or correct the specific information.
• For exact answers to recurring questions, use Q&A pairs — the AI will use your exact wording.
• Add clear instructions in Special instructions to override any default behaviour.

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