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 > Location Info > 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 call forwarding needs to be set up in order 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 the text number is hosted by Boulevard
Scenario 1: If clients call a number other than your Boulevard dedicated number
Follow your provider's instructions and use your Boulevard dedicated number as the forwarding destination (found under Manage Location > Location Info > Messages > Dedicated Number). If your provider asks what type of forwarding you want, choose forward all calls.
Business phone carriers
Business VoIP phone systems
If your provider isn't listed, contact them and ask how to forward calls from your current business number to your Boulevard dedicated number.
Scenario 2: Clients call and text the same number, but only the texting is hosted by Boulevard
After you’ve indicated you want to get started inside the dashboard, our technical support team will be notified. They will provide you with a phone number via email where you can forward calls.
Follow your provider's instructions and use your Support-provided number as the forwarding destination (found in your email). If your provider asks what type of forwarding you want, choose forward all calls.
Related: See Pausing AI Receptionist