How to set up an AI receptionist without breaking your phone.

People search: “how to set up AI receptionist” · “AI receptionist call forwarding”

The fear is reasonable: your phone number is your business, and you are about to point it at software. Here is how the setup actually goes, in the order that keeps your number safe. Most of it is gathering facts you already know. The phone part is one setting on your existing line.

Step 1: Gather what the receptionist has to know

• Business basics: name, what you do, service area, hours.
• Services and the questions that go with them, in plain language.
• What you will and won’t say by phone: prices, warranties, arrival windows. If it’s not on the list, the receptionist should say it will have the team confirm.
• Urgency rules: what counts as an emergency, who gets contacted, what the caller is told.
• Handoff rules: when to transfer to a person, and to whom.

Some products, Torklio included, read your public website to pre-fill most of this and then let you correct it. Correct it. The website is a starting point, not the truth.

Step 2: Connect your calendar and your team

If the receptionist books appointments, connect the calendar you actually use (Google or Outlook for most small businesses) so bookings land on it live. Add the people who should see calls, leads, and transcripts, and set who gets notified for what.

Step 3: Test on the vendor’s number first

Every AI receptionist gives you a number of its own. Before you touch your real line, call that number with your five hardest calls: interrupt it, change your mind mid-booking, ask a price it shouldn’t know, say it’s urgent, ask for a person. Fix what you don’t like. Repeat until you’d be happy for a customer to hear it.

Step 4: Forward your number (nothing moves)

You do not port or give up your number. You turn on call forwarding on your existing line, pointed at the receptionist’s number. Two common flavors:

• Forward all calls: the receptionist answers everything. Simple, and what most service businesses want.
• Forward when busy or unanswered: your phone rings first; the receptionist catches what you miss. A gentle way to start.

Your carrier turns forwarding on and off in seconds, usually with a code you dial or a switch in the app. If anything feels wrong, turn it off and you are exactly where you started.

Step 5: Read the first week’s transcripts

The first few days will surface the questions you forgot to answer and the rule you set slightly wrong. Read every transcript for a week, fix the gaps, and the receptionist gets noticeably better by day seven. This is the step people skip, and it’s the one that matters.

Mistakes to avoid

• Letting it guess. If you didn’t give it a price, it must not invent one.
• No handoff rule. Decide up front what “I want a person” does.
• Forwarding before testing. Test on the vendor’s number first, always.
• Setting and forgetting. Week one is a review week.

Torklio’s setup follows exactly this order, and the getting started guide walks through the forwarding step carrier by carrier. Plans start at $99 a month with a 7-day free trial, which is enough time to do all five steps before paying.

Questions people ask