Boulevard’s AI Receptionist, Beau, answers incoming calls for your business — booking and managing appointments, answering common questions, and connecting callers to your team when they need a person. This guide walks you through setup from start to finish.
New to AI Receptionist? Start with the AI Receptionist — Overview to see what it can and can't do before you turn it on, or check out AI Receptionist Pricing to learn more about the cost.
AI Receptionist is currently in beta and gradually being made available to all Boulevard customers. We're actively improving it, so features and settings may change as we go — and we'd love your feedback along the way.
Before you start
Have these handy:
Your Boulevard dedicated phone number — found under Manage Location > Details > Messages > Dedicated Number.
The number your clients actually call today — this may or may not be your Boulevard number
[Optional] A transfer number — a separate line where a live team member can pick up if you want the option to hand calls off.
Important setup step: If clients call a number other than your Boulevard number today, AI Receptionist can't answer until you forward that number to your Boulevard number. See Forwarding your business number at the bottom for carrier-by-carrier instructions.
Head to the AI Receptionist section of Messages or Manage Location > AI Receptionist to try out Beau or get started with setup.
Setup, step by step
Step 1 — Confirm the number clients use to reach you today
Tell us which number your clients dial to reach your business. This is the number listed on your website, Google Business Profile, social profiles, and printed materials.
If that's already your Boulevard dedicated number: you're set — no additional forwarding needed.
Exception: if you took an existing voice number and had Boulevard setup texting from that number, our technical support team will automatically get notified when you start setup and reach out with special forwarding instructions for you.
If it's a different number: you'll need to forward that number to your Boulevard number before AI Receptionist can answer. (Instructions at the bottom of this article.)
Not seeing this step? That likely means you’re in a unique situation because of your telephony setup. Our technical support team will reach out with special instructions for you!
Step 2 — Choose when AI Receptionist should answer
Decide when AI Receptionist picks up:
All the time (24/7) — every call is answered by AI Receptionist, including during business hours.
After hours only — AI Receptionist answers only when you're closed, so your front desk handles calls during the day.
"After hours" is based on your location hours in Boulevard (set under Manage Location > Details). Keep those hours accurate so calls are answered at the right times.
Step 3 — Add an emergency disclaimer (clinical businesses only)
This step appears automatically for clinical businesses. You can have every call open with a spoken disclaimer telling callers to hang up and dial 911 in an emergency. (Non-clinical businesses won't see this step.)
Step 4 — Choose how calls are handed off to humans
Decide what happens when a caller asks for a human or asks for something AI Receptionist can't do:
Take a message (never transfer) — AI Receptionist takes a message every time and passes that written message to the Messages inbox your team. Best if you don't have a second number to forward to, or you simply never want the phone to ring at the front desk.
Transfer during business hours — AI Receptionist transfers the call to a live team member at the number you provide, during your business hours. You will need to provide a second phone number that can receive transfers for this option.
If you chose "after hours only" in Step 2, you'll skip the transfer choice — after-hours calls are always handled by taking a message.
Step 5 — Add your transfer number (skipped if you chose "take a message")
Enter the phone number where your team should receive transferred calls if Beau can’t complete a caller’s request or the caller requests to speak to your team.
Important: this number can't be the same number clients call today, and it can't forward back to that number or to your Boulevard number — that creates a loop and the call never reaches your team. Good options: a separate front-desk line, a manager or front-desk mobile, or a VoIP extension that takes external calls.
If you do not have a second number, we recommend setting up AI Receptionist to take messages instead.
Step 6 — Review your settings, try a test call, and enable
You'll see a summary of everything you've configured. This is also another chance to hear a sample call and preview how Beau, our AI Receptionist sounds with your settings in place, so you can go live with confidence.
Click Enable AI Receptionist. You'll see a confirmation that AI Receptionist is set up and ready.
If clients call a number other than your Boulevard number, remember: AI Receptionist won't answer until forwarding is in place. Set that up now if you haven't — see below.
Editing your settings later
You can change any of these settings under Manage Location > AI Receptionist anytime after setup — nothing is locked in when you enable.
Final step: forwarding your business number
There are two scenarios where you need to set up call forwarding for AI Receptionist to answer your calls:
Clients call a different number than your Boulevard text number
Clients call and text the same number, but only texting is hosted by Boulevard
Before you start: pick the right type of forwarding
The type of forwarding you set up with your phone provider depends on what you chose in Step 2:
You chose "All the time (24/7)": set up forward all calls.
You chose "After hours only": set up after-hours forwarding, so calls forward only when you're closed.
Important: if you chose "After hours only," don't forward all calls. During business hours, AI Receptionist sends calls back to your business line, and your line forwards them right back to AI Receptionist. Callers get stuck in a loop and never reach your team.
When you set up after-hours forwarding, make sure your phone provider's schedule matches your location hours in Boulevard (under Manage Location > Details), including holidays. If the two don't match, calls in the gap can loop.
If your provider doesn't offer after-hours forwarding, see No after-hours option? below.
Scenario 1: Clients call a number other than your Boulevard dedicated number
Call from the line you want to forward. Or log into your customer portal.
Follow your provider's instructions below, using your Boulevard dedicated number as the forwarding destination. You'll find it under Manage Location > Details > Messages > Dedicated Number.
Ask your provider to keep the original caller ID when forwarding. This lets AI Receptionist match callers to their client profiles.
Business phone carriers
Provider | Forward all calls (AI Receptionist answers 24/7) | Forward after hours only (AI Receptionist answers after hours only) |
AT&T Business (traditional line) | Not available. See below | |
AT&T Phone for Business | Not available. See below | |
Verizon Business (traditional line) | Not available. See below | |
Verizon Business Digital Voice | Instructions (use Selectively Forward Calls with a schedule) | |
Comcast Business Voice (you manage your phone in Comcast My Account) | Not available. See below | |
Comcast Business VoiceEdge | Instructions (use Selective Call Forwarding) | |
Comcast Business (you manage your phone in the Personal Web Portal) | Instructions (create a time schedule, then use Call Forwarding Selective) | |
Spectrum Business Voice | Not available. See below | |
Cox Business | Instructions (use Call Forwarding Selective with a schedule) |
Business VoIP phone systems
Provider | Forward all calls (AI Receptionist answers 24/7) | Forward after hours only (AI Receptionist answers after hours only) |
RingCentral RingEX | Instructions (click Add schedule) | |
Nextiva | ||
GoTo Connect | Instructions (add a Schedule node to your dial plan) | |
Zoom Phone | Instructions (use Closed Hours call handling) | |
8x8 | Instructions (create a rule on a schedule) | |
Dialpad | Instructions (set hours to 24/7) | Instructions (use Closed Hours routing) |
Vonage Business Communications | Instructions (use a Virtual Receptionist schedule) | |
Ooma Office | Instructions (forward from the After Hours menu) |
No after-hours option?
If your provider doesn't offer after-hours forwarding, you can still have AI Receptionist answer the calls your team misses, including after hours:
In AI Receptionist settings (Manage > AI Receptionst > Edit), When should Beau answer calls? to Always on
Set "When to transfer a call to a human?" to Take a message.
Ask your provider to forward only unanswered calls to your Boulevard dedicated number:
Provider | Forward unanswered calls |
AT&T Business / Phone for Business | Dial *92 + your Boulevard number. Turn off: *93# |
Comcast Business Voice | Dial *92 + your Boulevard number. Turn off: *93 |
Spectrum Business Voice | Dial *92 + your Boulevard number. Turn off: *93 |
Verizon Business (traditional line) | Contact Verizon to turn on forwarding for unanswered calls |
Your team answers first. If no one picks up, AI Receptionist answers and takes a message.
Provider not listed?
Contact your provider, call from the line you want to forward, and ask for one of these:
"Forward all calls" to your Boulevard dedicated number, if AI Receptionist answers 24/7
"Forward calls on a schedule" (after hours only) to your Boulevard dedicated number, if AI Receptionist answers after hours only
"Forward unanswered calls" to your Boulevard dedicated number, if they don't offer scheduled forwarding (see No after-hours option? above)
Test your setup
After you set up forwarding, call your business number from a different phone:
During business hours: if AI Receptionist answers after hours only, your team's phone should ring.
After hours: AI Receptionist should answer.
Scenario 2: Clients call and text the same number, but only texting is hosted by Boulevard
Follow the steps in Scenario 1, calling from the line you want to forward. The one difference is the destination: use the forwarding number from your onboarding setup instead of your Boulevard dedicated number. Use the same type of forwarding that matches your Step 2 choice.
Related: See Pausing AI Receptionist