All topics
  1. Getting started
    1. Create your account
    2. Get started with the guided welcome
    3. Invite your team
    4. Keep your number and forward it to your agent
    5. Set up your first agent
    6. A tour of HiloVoice
    7. Get help
  2. Concepts
    1. What HiloVoice does
    2. The five kinds of agent
    3. Phone numbers and caller ID
    4. Campaigns and recipients
    5. Calls, leads and contacts
    6. Roles and permissions
  3. Building an agent
    1. How the builder works
    2. Describe the business
    3. Name the agent and give it a purpose
    4. Set your opening hours
    5. Handle each kind of caller
    6. Choose what the agent asks
    7. Give the agent answers
    8. Shape how a call sounds
    9. Give a Receptionist its number
    10. Write an outbound agent's opening
    11. Set a follow-up's goal
    12. Set when an outbound agent may call
    13. Give an outbound agent a caller ID
    14. Turn callers into leads
    15. Book appointments on a call
    16. Hand calls to a person
    17. Turn away callers you can't help
    18. Let the agent check your records
    19. Send messages after a call
    20. Review and go live
    21. Start a new agent from one you have
    22. Pause, archive or delete an agent
    23. Call new leads within seconds
  4. Agent playbooks
    1. Set up a receptionist for a clinic
    2. Confirm tomorrow's appointments
    3. Check the details you hold
    4. Ask for feedback after a visit
    5. Follow up on open quotes
  5. Testing and going live
    1. Test an agent with Try it
    2. Put a Receptionist on the web
    3. Check an agent before real calls reach it
    4. Your responsibilities on calls
  6. Campaigns
    1. How a campaign runs
    2. Create a campaign
    3. Import a campaign's recipients
    4. Set a campaign's calling hours and retries
    5. Monitor a running campaign
    6. Work the Needs a person queue
    7. Call a recipient again
    8. Read a follow-up's progress
  7. Day-to-day operations
    1. The Usage page
    2. Review your calls
    3. Follow up your leads
    4. Keep your contacts up to date
    5. Set up transfer destinations
    6. Put callers straight through to a person
    7. Block a number
    8. Keep up with notifications
  8. Integrations
    1. What you can connect
    2. Connect your own Twilio account
    3. Connect your calendar
    4. Send email from your own address
    5. Connect HubSpot
    6. Connect Salesforce
    7. Connect Slack
    8. Connect Zapier
    9. Send leads to your own system
    10. Add a lookup source
  9. Administration
    1. Change your organization's settings
    2. Manage members and roles
    3. Manage your phone numbers
    4. Plans, minutes and limits
    5. Make and revoke API keys
    6. Check who did what in the activity log
    7. Manage your own account
    8. Join the HiloVoice affiliate program
  10. Reference
    1. Glossary
    2. Campaign statuses
    3. Recipient statuses
    4. Follow-up dispositions
    5. Call statuses and outcomes
    6. Agent builder fields
    7. CSV columns
    8. Error messages
    9. Frequently asked questions

Turn away callers you can't help

For BuildersChecked against the app on October 1, 2026

A Receptionist takes every caller's details unless you tell it otherwise. On Caller Screening you list the reasons a caller doesn't qualify, such as an area you don't cover or a service you don't offer, with what the agent says and what happens next. The agent turns callers away only for the reasons listed here, never for one of its own. The step is on a Receptionist only, under Optional.

Before you start

  • To decide a reason from an answer, the agent needs a Yes / no, choice, number or date question on Intake Questions. To decide it from your records, you need a lookup source under Settings → Lookups.
  • The ready-made reasons need a list on Business Information: Areas you cover for Not in the areas served, Services you offer for Not a service we handle.

Steps

  1. Open Agents and click the agent.

  2. In the step rail, click Caller Screening, under Optional. If the group is closed, click Optional first.

  3. Switch on Turn away callers who don't qualify, then click Add a rule. Or click Not in the areas served or Not a service we handle to add a finished rule you can reword.

    A dental practice's Caller Screening: Turn away callers who don't qualify switched on, its rules each ending the call politely, and Add a rule under them.

  4. Under Doesn't qualify if…, describe the situation, not a question to ask: The caller already has an attorney. Write it for me writes one.

    A rule opened: how the agent knows, the situation that rules a caller out, what the agent says, and Politely end the call under Then.

  5. Under What the agent says, type what the caller hears. It's said exactly as written, so keep it kind and short.

  6. Under Then, choose what happens next:

    ChoiceWhat the agent does
    Politely end the callSays the response, thanks them, and hangs up.
    Transfer them to a personSays the response, then puts them through to the number you choose under Where the call goes.
    Still take their detailsSays the response, then carries on with the questions so someone can follow up.
  7. Click Done. A rule that still needs something says what on its row, such as Needs what the agent says.

Decide a rule by an answer or a record

Under How the agent knows, a rule is decided From what the caller says unless you choose otherwise. The other two take the decision away from the agent:

  • From the caller's answers: under Doesn't qualify when, pick a question and the answer that rules a caller out. A number is compared with is more than or is less than; a date with a span from today, such as is more than 8 years ago. With two or more conditions, choose whether all or any must be true. HiloVoice checks the moment the answer is recorded, so ask that question early.
  • By checking a source: choose the source under Check, and check what The agent asks the caller for. Under Doesn't qualify when, choose Nothing is found (they're not on the list) or A field on the record says so, such as status is lapsed. Open Try the check to test it with a real value.

Note: A check that can't be made never turns anyone away. If the check can't be made says what the agent does instead, and Give up after sets how long it waits: up to 15 seconds.

Send something after the call

Under After the call, choose from Add an action: Send a text, Send an email, Call a webhook or Create a lead. Send to your CRM, Post to Slack and Send to Zapier appear once that integration is connected. Each runs once the call has ended, however it ended.

What happens next

  • Changes reach callers once you publish on Review & Go Live. Switched off, the rules are kept but every caller's details are taken.
  • Each call records the rule that turned the caller away, by its Short name in reports (under More options). A webhook or your CRM gets the same name.
  • If the caller is a kind that becomes a lead, the lead is marked Disqualified.
  • A call's After the call tab, on Calls, shows whether each action went out.

Important: Once published, every caller a rule fits hears its response. Try each rule with Try it before you publish.

If it does not work

You seeWhyWhat to do
From the caller's answers can't be chosen: Add a yes/no, choice, number or date question on the Intake Questions step first.No question has an answer a rule can compareAdd one on Intake Questions, or give a question Answer options.
"…": the agent has nothing to say to the caller. on Review & Go LiveWhat the agent says is emptyOpen the rule and write it.
"…": the caller is transferred, but there's no number to transfer them to.Then is Transfer them to a person, with no numberChoose a destination under Where the call goes, or type a number.
"…" is decided by the caller's answers, but a condition needs a number to compare with.A number condition has no amountOpen the rule and type the amount.
A rule shows Source removedThe source it checks was removed under Settings → LookupsOpen the rule and choose another source under Check.
Another rule already has this short name — make it different.Two rules have the same Short name in reportsChange one, under More options.