How your receptionist answers
Jesse is software that answers the phone for your business. It listens, works out what the caller needs, and talks back in a natural voice, fast enough that a conversation feels normal. This page is about what it does on a call and why.
It says what it is
Every call starts with: "Thanks for calling Ortiz Plumbing. This is the virtual assistant. Just so you know, my boss has asked me to transcribe this call so they can follow up. Is that okay with you?" Callers deserve to know they're talking to a machine, and some states require everyone on a call to agree before it's written down. If a caller says no, it doesn't take a message.
It answers from what you've told it
It knows only what's under Your business, plus anything you add to its instructions. It's told never to guess at prices or at when someone can come out. When it doesn't know, it says so and takes a message. That's why filling in your details matters: each detail turns a "someone will call you back" into an answer.
It takes a good message
Most calls end with a message, so it's built to take a complete one. It asks for one thing at a time: name, the best number, what they need, the job address, whether it's urgent, and when to call back. It never asks for something the caller already said. Then it emails it to you as a summary, with URGENT up front when it is.
It asks for the number when caller ID is your own
Some office phone systems pass a call along with your business's main number as the caller ID instead of the caller's. When the caller ID is one of your own numbers (the office phone in your business details, your Jesse number, or someone in your directory), the receptionist doesn't know who's calling. So it asks for the best number to reach them and reads it back before it takes a message or texts anything. Your summary and your call list show the number they gave, marked "Number they gave", or no number if they didn't give one. They never show your own line. To save callers that question, have your phone system pass along the caller's own number: see Use it with your phone system.
Calls from your own cell phone aren't affected. That's how it knows it's you: see How it knows it's you.
It knows when to hand off
If you list people in your directory, it can put a caller through to them. If nobody answers a direct line or cell, the caller comes back and it takes a message for that person, so nobody gets stuck in voicemail. Someone reached by extension is different: their phone system answers, so a missed call lands in their voicemail there. If your account has a booking calendar, it can offer open times and book the job instead of taking a message.
Why it sometimes slips
It's a language model, so it can mishear an unusual street name or word a reply oddly. The summary always includes the full transcript, so you can see exactly what the caller said. If it keeps getting something wrong, add the right answer to Common questions.
Didn't find it? See all the help pages, or email hey@leftjoinstudio.com.