Inbound calls: what happens when you miss one

Inbound calls and missed calls

Your FirstFiveMin number is a working business line. A call to it rings your cell for about 20 seconds. If you answer, that is the whole story. If you miss it, FirstFiveMin follows your missed-call setting, and every caller is captured as a lead either way, so nothing disappears into a voicemail nobody checks.

The setting: "If I miss an inbound call"

On Settings, the field If I miss an inbound call has four choices:

• Send a text back: the caller gets a text right away (the default).
• My AI assistant answers the call: the assistant picks up, introduces itself, can book an appointment or take a message, and you get the transcript.
• AI answers, and if they hang up early we text them back: both.
• Neither — do nothing on a missed call.

If the line under the field says "Not active on the platform yet", your choice is saved and takes effect the moment AI answering is turned on for the platform.

"Who answers first"

• Ring my cell first, AI only if I miss it (the default).
• AI answers immediately (business-line mode) — it can transfer to me: use this when the number is published as your main business line and you would rather never have your cell ring first.

This only applies when your missed-call choice includes the AI. A caller can always ask for a person.

Press 1 to take a lead's call

When a lead calls your FirstFiveMin line and your phone rings, you hear a short message before the call connects: it names the line and the last four digits of the caller's number. Press 1 to take the call. If you do not press 1, the call is not connected to you: it goes on to the next person you set up, then to your assistant or the text you chose. So the voicemail on your phone never picks up a call from a lead.

• When the lead called a FirstFiveMin line of your own, your phone shows that line as the caller, not the lead's number. On the Phone numbers page, choose Save your FirstFiveMin lines as a contact so your phone rings even when it silences unknown callers.
• Each phone rings for up to 15 seconds, and a lead never waits more than about 25 seconds before the call goes on.
• The lead hears ringing the whole time and never hears the message meant for you.

At night: who answers first

Outside your working hours (the week you set on the Calendar page) the assistant answers first even if you chose "Ring my cell first" — your cell stays the transfer target, and a caller who asks for you is still offered the transfer or a callback. The line under "Who answers first" on Settings says so. Alerts about those calls follow your after-hours alert preference (immediately, in the morning digest, or not at all).

People who call, text or email you ask to be contacted

Someone who calls, texts or emails you asking for something has asked to be contacted about it. FirstFiveMin records that request as their consent to hear back about it, with the call, text or email it came from as the evidence. The words of a text or email stay on the lead; the consent record keeps only a fingerprint of them. You get the lead and the time to claim it first.

• The consent covers that one request. It is never used for unrelated marketing.
• A STOP or "don't call me" always wins, calling hours still apply, and a number on your do-not-contact list never gets this.
• Your own FirstFiveMin lines, an empty or garbled message, and your business calling itself never create it.
• Four switches on Settings decide what happens next (see "The four switches" below). The first, Save these as requests, is on by default. Turn it off and these people are still saved as leads and you still get the alert, but nothing is recorded as their consent and the assistant never calls or texts them.

If nobody claims the lead in your claim window, the assistant calls them back about that request. It says it is an AI assistant and that you are the business, and it says the call is recorded unless the person asked not to be. A caller or texter who asks for you, or says "stop", is handled the same way as on any other call.

The four switches

On Settings, under "When someone calls, texts or emails you", you choose each of these on purpose:

• Save these as requests. The person's call, text or email is recorded as a request, and you get the lead. Off: you only get the alert, and the three switches below have nothing to act on.
• Reply by text when permitted. When someone texts your business number, one text goes back about their request: inside calling hours, once a day per number, and never to a number that said STOP.
• AI callbacks. If nobody claims the lead in time, the assistant calls the person about their request, inside calling hours. Off: the assistant never calls someone who only asked the business; the lead stays with you and your alert says so.
• Follow-up sequence. After the first contact, the assistant checks in about that one request on days 3, 7, 14, 30, 60 and 90, then stops. A reply restarts the count.

Under each switch you read one of three states: Off, On and ready, or On, but held with the reason (the first switch is off, its words are still being reviewed, or your account is not fully active yet). A held switch changes nothing until the reason is gone; you do not need to do anything for the words-under-review reason.

Until you save one of them, the standard settings apply (all three on) and the page says you have not chosen yet. When you do save, FirstFiveMin records the date and which version of these switches you chose from, so a later release can never turn on something you did not choose: a behavior added after this version starts off.

What the assistant asks first

On every inbound call the assistant asks why the person is calling and, if it is about a property, listing, job or sign, which one — and repeats it back so the record is exact. The reason it classifies (for real estate: property inquiry, showing request, thinking of selling, renter, existing client, vendor, wrong number) appears on the lead row, on the lead's page and in your alert ("Sign call about 123 Main — wants a showing"). Analytics shows inbound calls by reason. Vendors and wrong numbers are never counted as leads.

Expected callers per line

On Phone numbers you can write one line about who usually calls each forwarded line or FirstFiveMin number ("property inquiries from the yard sign", "general office calls"). The assistant reads it before it answers, so the first question fits the line. It is optional and you can change it any time.

Assistant time per caller

A call ends politely at ten minutes. Each caller gets up to 20 minutes of assistant time per billing period. After that the assistant takes a short message and offers a callback instead of qualifying or booking — a caller who talks for an hour cannot use up your plan. Usage & plan shows your inbound assistant minutes this period.

When one person keeps calling

Every conversation the assistant has with a person counts toward your allowance, including a person who calls again. When one person reaches three conversations in seven days, FirstFiveMin texts your own cell once. On that person's page you can choose Keep answering or Send this number to me only; after that choice the assistant stops answering their calls and they ring you as usual. Whatever you choose, the assistant also stops answering a person after 5 conversations in 24 hours; their next call follows your miss setting (ring you, voicemail or text).

Pointing your existing number here

You do not have to reprint anything. On your Phone numbers page, Forward a number you already have gives you the exact codes for your carrier with your FirstFiveMin number already filled in — tap one on your phone and it dials itself. Forward only the calls you miss (recommended) or every call; the same card shows the code that turns forwarding off and tells you when a forwarded call has been seen. See *Forward the numbers you already have* for the details.

How inbound AI calls are billed

An inbound call the assistant answers and talks on counts as one AI conversation on your plan, the same meter as everything else, never a per-minute charge. The same caller phoning and talking again counts again. A caller who hangs up in the first seconds without booking is not counted.

Common problems

• A caller was texted back but you expected the AI: check the missed-call setting and whether the "Not active on the platform yet" line is showing.
• A repeat caller got no text: one responsive text per caller per 24 hours, by design.
• A caller who texted STOP earlier gets nothing: their number is on your do-not-contact list. That is the compliance ledger working.

Spam and scanner calls

Not every call to your line is a person. Before the assistant answers, FirstFiveMin screens the caller: a number on your block list, a call whose caller ID failed the carriers' STIR/SHAKEN check, or a number that has hung up on the assistant within seconds several times in a day is treated as spam. A spam call hears the short "we are helping other clients" line and a hangup: no assistant minutes are spent, no lead is created, no text goes out, and nothing is counted against your plan. Someone who has already consented to hear from you is never screened.

A call that did reach the assistant but ended within a few seconds with nothing captured is tagged afterwards as a short spam call in your call records; it was never counted either.

When a first-time caller's number is a type that almost never belongs to a person (a premium-rate or shared-cost number, a pager, a voicemail-only number, or a number that does not exist), the call is treated as spam too. FirstFiveMin checks the type once per number with the phone carrier's records. Calls from internet phone apps such as Google Voice are answered as usual: real customers use them.

If a real caller ever ends up on the block list by mistake, ask your FirstFiveMin operator to remove them.