Overview
Your Tinylawn AI receptionist answers incoming calls, handles customer questions, books appointments, and captures leads — all automatically. This article explains what happens from the moment a call comes in to when it appears in your dashboard.
The call flow
1. Customer calls your number
When someone dials your Tinylawn phone number, the AI receptionist picks up and delivers your greeting. By default, it says:
> "Hello, thank you for calling [Your Business Name]. This is [Agent Name]. How can I help you today?"
You can customize this greeting anytime in Settings > Receptionist > Greeting.
2. AI handles the conversation
During the call, the receptionist can:
- Answer questions about your services, pricing, and business hours
- Respond to FAQs you've configured
- Check your real-time availability based on business hours and existing appointments
- Book, reschedule, or cancel appointments
- Collect caller information like name, address, and service needs
- Screen spam calls and block repeat offenders
The AI uses the information you've set up in your account — services, business hours, FAQs, and online booking settings — to give accurate, helpful answers.
3. Call is processed
After the call ends, Tinylawn processes it automatically:
- The conversation is summarized by AI.
- The call is classified into a category: General Question, Quote Request, Appointment Scheduled, Appointment Rescheduled, Appointment Cancelled, Needs Follow Up, or Spam.
- A call record is created with the summary, full transcript, and audio recording.
- Notifications are sent to your configured email and SMS contacts.
4. Leads are created (when applicable)
For calls classified as Quote Request or Appointment Scheduled, extra steps happen:
- Caller details (name, phone, address, service, preferred time) are extracted from the conversation.
- The address is validated automatically. If it can't be confirmed, the customer receives an SMS to correct it.
- A client record and property record are created.
- A lead is created and appears in your Leads page.
- The customer receives an SMS with a link to upload property photos.
- The property is enriched with data like lot size, square footage, and satellite imagery.
What the AI knows about your business
The receptionist draws on several sources of information you control:
Source | What it provides |
Services | Names, descriptions, pricing, and estimated durations |
Business hours | Your weekly open/close schedule and current day/time |
FAQs | Custom question-and-answer pairs you've written |
Online booking settings | How far in advance customers can book |
Existing appointments | Used to check availability and avoid double-booking |
Call categories explained
Every call is automatically tagged with one of these categories:
- General Question — The caller had a question but didn't need to book anything.
- Quote Request — The caller wants a quote or estimate for a service.
- Appointment Scheduled — A new appointment was booked during the call.
- Appointment Rescheduled — An existing appointment was moved to a new date/time.
- Appointment Cancelled — An existing appointment was cancelled.
- Needs Follow Up — The AI gathered some information but couldn't complete the request (e.g., incomplete address or unclear needs). You should follow up manually.
- Spam — The call was identified as spam or a sales pitch.
Tips
- The more complete your setup (services, hours, FAQs), the better the AI handles calls.
- Review "Needs Follow Up" calls regularly — these are opportunities that need a personal touch.
- Spam calls are not counted toward your monthly usage.
- You can listen to call recordings and read transcripts on the Calls page anytime.