Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas counties, Oregon
The job goes to whoever answers first.
When someone calls your business and nobody picks up, they call the next name on the list. Firstline texts them back in 30 seconds, answers your phone when you can't, and puts your prices somewhere customers can actually find them.
The problem
Nobody calls twice.
A missed call doesn't sit in a queue waiting for you. Most people don't leave a voicemail — they hang up, dial somebody else, and you never find out it happened.
- Rings out or hits voicemail
- They hang up without leaving a message
- They call the next name on the list
- You never know the call happened
- The job is gone before you check your phone
- The line picks up instead of voicemail
- They get a text in 30 seconds
- Name, address and problem get written down
- Your phone buzzes with the whole thing
- You call back while they're still deciding
How it works
Thirty-one seconds, start to finish.
You keep your number. Nothing about how you work has to change.
Somebody calls. You're busy.
Under a sink, on a roof, driving, asleep. The phone rings out.
The line picks up instead of voicemail.
It asks what's wrong, whether water is running, the address, and their name. Four facts, nothing else.
They get a text confirming somebody has it.
Most people won't leave a voicemail. Almost everybody answers a text.
Your phone buzzes with the whole thing.
Name, number, address, what broke, and whether it's urgent. Ready to call back.
When they'd rather talk
Your phone gets answered, not just texted.
Plenty of people won't type out that their basement is flooding. So the line picks up and talks them through it — what broke, whether water is running, where they are, and who to ask for.
Every call written down and sent to your phone before you've finished the job you were on.
The conversation
An example thread.
Nobody picked up. Thirty seconds later, this.
And on Mike's phone at 7:43 PM — Sarah · 503-555-0148 · broken pipe, active leak under kitchen sink · 1247 SE Oak St
What it will never do
It takes a message. That's the whole job.
Most people's experience of business AI is a bot that talks in circles and makes promises nobody can keep. So this one is deliberately narrow, on purpose.
It never quotes a price
Every job is different and you're the one who knows. If they ask, it says you'll go over it when you call.
It never promises a time
It will only say you'll call back in 10 minutes. It never says anyone is on the way.
It never diagnoses
No guessing at what's wrong or what it'll cost. The one exception is telling someone to shut off the water or the gas.
It never speaks for you
It won't say where you are, what you're doing, or that anything is booked. It takes the message and stops.
Pricing
Published, because almost nobody else does.
You shouldn't have to sit through a sales call to find out what something costs.
- Missed-call text-back on your existing number
- Your phone answered whenever you can't get to it
- Booking page with your prices, built and hosted
- Every lead texted straight to your phone
- Monthly report of what it caught
- No contract — cancel any month
If it doesn't catch you a job you'd have missed in the first 30 days, you don't pay for month two.
Questions
The ones I actually get asked.
Do I have to change my phone number?
No. You keep your number and everything you've got printed on the truck, the van, or the door. We set your line to forward to us only when you don't pick up.
How fast can it be running?
Phone answering goes live in about two days. The text-back side takes one to two weeks, because the phone carriers have to approve business texting and that part isn't up to me. You see the first half working this week.
What if a customer hates talking to a robot?
Then they hang up and leave a voicemail like they would have anyway — you're no worse off than you are today. In practice most people just want to know somebody got the message.
Who am I actually dealing with?
Me. Andrew, out of Banks. I set it up, I'm the one who answers when something breaks, and there's no support queue in another state.
What do you need from me to start?
Your business name and EIN, your address, the number customers call, your hours, and a website with a privacy policy — the phone carriers require that last one before they'll approve business texting. If you don't have a site, I build you one.
Am I locked in?
No. Month to month. Cancel whenever you want and I'll hand over your booking page.
Hear it yourself
Don't take my word for it. Call it.
This number rings the same thing that would answer your phone. Pretend you've got a problem and see how it handles you. It takes about a minute, and it doesn't call you back or put you on any list.
That is a demo line, not my phone. To talk to me, use the number below.
Ready to set it up?
Call me and we'll go over your line, your hours and what you want it to say. Takes about ten minutes.
Call Andrew · (971) 378-9207