Field notes · For studios · · 3 minute read

The phone, answered: Helloforward for workshops and studios

Helloforward is an answering agent for your business line. It is built on AI, it talks like a person, and it does the desk work while you make things: answers, books, texts back, leaves a note. Here it is on a studio's phone, using an invented studio called Kiln & Grain, half pottery, half woodshop.

A call comes in with your hands in clay

Maya wants a seat in a beginner wheel class this month. The phone is in the other room, ringing, and the line answers. One seat left in the Thursday series; it books it, tells her what to wear, and texts the details.

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. Seventy-two seconds, one seat filled, short nails advised.
The transcript. Seventy-two seconds, one seat filled, short nails advised.

It knows what you make and what you teach

It answers from what you told it once: hours, what you make and teach, class sizes, lead times, how you quote commissions. Then it fills in the columns you asked for.

  • “We’re redoing our kitchen. Do you do custom cabinets, and how far out are you?”

    Yes, eight to ten weeks, and a consult with Owen booked for Saturday 10:00.

  • “I ordered a set of mugs in June, are they ready?”

    Taken as a message with her number; Hannah texts back after checking the kiln log.

  • “Bonjour, je voudrais offrir un cours de poterie en cadeau.”

    Answered in French, gift certificate explained, link to follow by text.

The call log on a desk. Name, number, the ask, a summary. Search finds a student, a commission, or anything said.
The call log on a desk. Name, number, the ask, a summary. Search finds a student, a commission, or anything said.

Texts, handled the same way

A text to your line gets the same care: a confirmation when the seat is booked, an answer when it is a question, and your own words when it is your kiln to report on.

Every conversation on the line.
Every conversation on the line.
The mugs are out of the kiln. Hannah texted Rita herself, in the thread the agent opened.
The mugs are out of the kiln. Hannah texted Rita herself, in the thread the agent opened.

Ring your own line, and it works for you

The line knows your number. Call the studio from your own phone and it becomes your assistant: who called this morning, remind me to order stoneware, mark the mug order done. Text it, if your hands are clean enough.

Hannah, calling her own line. Two calls read back, stoneware on the list, one order marked done.
Hannah, calling her own line. Two calls read back, stoneware on the list, one order marked done.
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 the work

Every business gets an assistant of its own. Ask it in plain words: text tomorrow's students, send Émile the gift certificate link. It reads the calendar and the call log, so it already knows.

A class reminder scheduled for Wednesday, a gift link sent in French.
A class reminder scheduled for Wednesday, a gift link sent in French.

If there is more than one of you

Add a teaching partner or an apprentice as a team member. Classes can be booked with a specific person, each has their own lane and their own assistant. Ten dollars a month a person. Bookings sync with Google Calendar if you use it.

The week, by bench. Hannah's classes and firings in orange, Owen's install and consults in blue.
The week, by bench. Hannah's classes and firings in orange, Owen's install and consults in blue.
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 your number. Forward the calls you do not answer, so it rings in the studio first. Or take a new local number.

II

Describe the studio

Hours, what you make and teach, class sizes, lead times, how you quote commissions. A few minutes, once.

III

Call it yourself

Ring the line, ask about a class, watch the note land. Change anything from the app.

Forwarding codes for every carrier are in this note. Kiln & Grain 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.

(236) 205-5757 (239) 366-4669

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