One phone, many kinds of calls
Most businesses have a few people who each handle different kinds of calls: sales, billing, the owner, the person on call. A phone menu makes callers press buttons and guess, and sending every call to one person means that person spends the day redirecting calls.
How transfers work in RingMind
- Build the transfer list. On the assistant's page, add up to five people, each with a name and a phone number.
- Turn on Transfer calls in the assistant's Tools.
- Explain when to transfer in Additional instructions, in plain words. For example: "Billing questions go to Dana. New customers who want a quote go to Sam."
- Publish the assistant again so the live version has the list.
On a call, the assistant:
- Answers and asks what the caller needs.
- Handles what it can itself, such as opening hours or questions from your knowledge base.
- When a person is needed, tells the caller who it's transferring them to, then transfers the call.
The transferred call shows the assistant's own RingMind number as the caller ID, so your team knows it's a business call coming through the assistant.
When a transfer isn't the right answer
Not every call needs someone right away. Turn on Take a message too, and the assistant can record the caller's name, number, reason and urgency for whoever is busy or away. Messages appear in Calls & Messages, urgent ones are emailed to your team, and any message becomes a task in one click.
What the assistant won't do
- It won't transfer to anyone who isn't on the transfer list.
- It won't pretend to be a person; it says it's an AI when asked.
- It won't share personal details such as where someone is or when they'll be back. The personal secretary assistant is built to protect exactly that.
- If a caller describes a life-threatening emergency, it tells them to hang up and call 911 rather than waiting for a transfer.
Setup checklist
- A published assistant with a RingMind number connected to it. Transfers are offered only when a number is connected.
- Names and numbers for up to five people.
- Clear instructions on who handles what.
- A test call to each person on the list before you go live.
Limits to know
- Transfers work on phone calls only, not on texts, WhatsApp or website chat.
- The list holds up to five people.
- There's no schedule for the list. When your on-call person changes, update the list and publish again.
- RingMind doesn't make outbound calls yet.
See phone numbers, transfers and messages for step-by-step setup.