Field notes · For vet clinics · · 4 minute read

The phone, answered: Helloforward for vet clinics

Helloforward is an answering agent for your business line. It is built on AI, it talks like a person, warm without being slow, and it does the front-desk work: answers, books with the right vet, texts back, leaves a note. Here it is on a clinic's phone, using an invented clinic called Harbourview Veterinary.

Two lines ring, and the desk is full

Rob wants Biscuit's annual shots next week. Line two, a minute later, is a dog who ate a bar of dark chocolate. The agent takes the first, books Dr. Park for Tuesday 10:30, and texts Rob. The second it puts straight through to the desk, because that is your rule for urgent calls, and it leaves the note anyway.

Home, while a call is on. The number, the clock, and the notes waiting under it.
Home, while a call is on. The number, the clock, and the notes waiting under it.
The transcript. Biscuit, annual vaccines, Tuesday with Dr. Park. On record before the owner hangs up.
The transcript. Biscuit, annual vaccines, Tuesday with Dr. Park. On record before the owner hangs up.

It knows what can wait, and what cannot

It answers from what you told it once: hours, species you see, which vets are in, what is urgent and where those calls go, the after-hours emergency number. Then it fills in the columns you asked for.

  • “My dog ate a whole bar of dark chocolate an hour ago.”

    Twelve kilos, pacing: straight through to the desk, note left that second.

  • “My cat stopped eating yesterday.” (after hours)

    No vomiting, no breathing trouble: 8:15 with Dr. Osei, and the emergency number in case the night turns.

  • “Est-ce que vous voyez les lapins?”

    Answered in French: yes to rabbits, alternate Saturdays, checkup booked 9:30.

The call log on a desk. Owner, number, the pet, a summary. Search finds a pet's name, an owner, or anything said.
The call log on a desk. Owner, number, the pet, a summary. Search finds a pet's name, an owner, or anything said.

Texts, handled the same way

A text to your line gets the same care: a confirmation when the appointment lands, an answer when it is a question, and your own words when it is a vet's answer to give.

Every conversation on the line.
Every conversation on the line.
Rob asks about the bloodwork. Dr. Osei answers herself, in the same thread: back, and normal.
Rob asks about the bloodwork. Dr. Osei answers herself, in the same thread: back, and normal.

Ring your own line, and it works for you

The line knows your number. Call the clinic from your own phone and it becomes your assistant: what came in overnight, remind me to call the Hendersons, who called after we closed. Texting the line does the same.

Dr. Osei, calling her own line. Two after-hours calls read back, one reminder set.
Dr. Osei, calling her own line. Two after-hours calls read back, one reminder set.
The note it made from a call. Where it came from, who it is about, one tap to close it.
The note it made from a call. Where it came from, who it is about, one tap to close it.

An assistant between appointments

Every business gets an assistant of its own. Ask it in plain words: confirm tomorrow's appointments, who's waiting on a callback, same dose, 30 days. It reads the calendar and the call log, so it already knows.

Tomorrow confirmed with fasting reminders, and a refill it would not answer without you.
Tomorrow confirmed with fasting reminders, and a refill it would not answer without you.

The whole team

Add each vet and the front desk as team members. Owners can book with the vet they trust, each vet sees their own lane, and each seat has an assistant of its own. Ten dollars a month a person. Bookings sync with Google Calendar if you use it.

The week, by vet. Dr. Osei in orange, Dr. Park in blue, the surgery block greyed out.
The week, by vet. Dr. Osei in orange, Dr. Park in blue, the surgery block greyed out.
The team. Who the agent can book for, who signs in, who has an assistant.
The team. Who the agent can book for, who signs in, who has an assistant.

Setting it up

I

Forward your line

Keep the clinic number. Forward the calls the desk cannot reach, and everything after hours. Or take a new local number.

II

Describe the clinic

Hours, species you see, vets and their days, what is urgent and where those calls go, your after-hours emergency number. A few minutes, once.

III

Call it yourself

Ring the line, book a checkup for an imaginary cat, watch it land on the calendar. Change anything from the app.

Forwarding codes for every carrier are in this note. Harbourview and everyone in these screens are invented; the screens are the real product.

The next call is taken care of.

Set up in minutes. First month free, no card needed.

Start your free month

Or hear it answer first. It runs a demo plumbing company; yours would answer for your business.

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