Live transfers and notes for your closers

Before a transfer, the script plays the closing line you put in front of it. The transfer then writes the notes for the closer, sends the hand-off and ends the bot’s side of the call. Warm transfer here means a hand-off with notes: the bot does not stay on the line to introduce the caller (see Live transfer). The pre-recorded voice bot, the AI fronter and the AI junior closer transfer. The AI lead gen bot does not.

1. 1

   The script reaches the transfer

   VoiceOI team

   A Transfer Call step, or the Handoff setting of an AI Voice Agent, starts it. The caller hears your closing line first. On the bot servers for VICIdial, a step with no destination sends no hand-off and ends the call, so the caller is hung up: see The destination.

2. 2

   The notes are written

   VoiceOI team

   VoiceOI tries to write the notes into Comments on the lead. With no lead ID, no notes or a failed write, the transfer goes ahead anyway. See notes for the closer.

3. 3

   The hand-off is sent

   VoiceOI team

   VoiceOI asks VICIdial through its API to move the call, or sends a SIP REFER to your Asterisk, and the bot leaves the call. The status, XFER unless the step sets another, is written through the transfer. See Which transfer method should I use?.

4. 4

   Your dialer routes the call

   You

   Your dialer sends the destination to an in-group, the VICIdial queue your closers answer, and VICIdial picks which ready closer gets the call. If none is ready, nobody answers. Hold audio, waiting time and whether Comments shows on the closer’s screen are VICIdial settings. See VICIdial transfers.

Use the Native API method or the REFER method, the two that the bot servers for VICIdial carry out. Either way, the call reaches your closers through the destination you enter.

A new Transfer Call step starts on SIP Blind Transfer (REFER), and the AI Voice Agent editor starts on ViciDial Native API (instant release). The VoiceOI team sets the method with you. “Instant Release” frees the bot’s line in VICIdial. It does not mean the closer answers sooner.

The other modes in the Transfer Mode list, such as Direct Exten Transfer and Carrier Bridge (Compatible), are built for the built-in dialer’s Asterisk engine. A VICIdial bot server carries them out as a plain SIP REFER. Direct IP to IP and ViciDial AXFER (Native) hide the destination box, so a step that uses them usually has no destination: the script ends and the caller is hung up. Choose SIP Blind Transfer (REFER) instead.

The destination

The destination is a number or extension that your dialer routes to your closers’ in-group. The VoiceOI team tells you what to enter in Dialplan Extension or Target Number, Destination Phone Number or Transfer target. On the bot servers for VICIdial, a Transfer Call step with no destination sends no hand-off and writes no notes. The script ends and the caller is hung up, so check every transfer step. On the built-in dialer, an empty destination skips the transfer and the call follows the node’s next line, if one is connected.

1. 1

   Put a closing line before the transfer

   You

   Add a Play Audio step before Transfer Call with a short line that tells the caller they are being connected. Clean up with AI runs while it plays. With nothing before the transfer, the AI gets 0.8 seconds at most.

2. 2

   Add the step and choose the mode

   You

   Add a Transfer Call step, connect the step before it to it, and connect nothing after it. Under Transfer Mode, pick ViciDial Native API Transfer (Instant Release) or SIP Blind Transfer (REFER).

3. 3

   Enter the destination, notes and status

   Both

   Enter the number or extension the team gave you, and add the details the closer needs under Notes for the closer (see the next section). The step logs XFER unless you choose another status in Vicidial Disposition; VICIdial drops a status that is not on the campaign’s list, so ask the team first.

4. 4

   Save, sync and test

   Both

   Press Save Flow, then Force bot sync on Integrations. Then follow How do I test a transfer?.

AI Voice Agent: the Handoff tab

In the AI Voice Agent editor, Transfer to a closer on the Handoff tab transfers the call and logs XFER. Its Transfer method list starts on ViciDial Native API (instant release) and also offers Direct extension transfer, Carrier bridge (compatible) and SIP blind transfer (REFER). On VICIdial use the first or the last of these.

Notes for the closer are a short text that VoiceOI writes into the Comments field of the lead in VICIdial before the hand-off. Comments holds 255 characters, and the notes replace what was there. If VICIdial refuses the write, the transfer goes ahead and the closer may see an older note or none. In a Classic Call Flow script you set the notes in Notes for the closer on the Transfer Call step. In an AI Voice Agent, the agent writes them from the whole conversation, following the instruction in Comments on the Handoff tab. That text is cut at 255 characters, even mid-word, so ask for the key facts first.

Notes in the Script Builder

• Add detail. Type a label of up to 40 characters, such as Age, or pick a suggestion under Add from this script. Each Transfer Call step can have up to 8 details.
• Answer from. Pick the question. Add a re-ask adds the same question asked again: the latest answer wins.
• Read as. Choose Age, Zip code, Name, Yes / No, Number, Coverage type or Their words.

The notes read like Age: 67 | Zip: 33101, first detail first, and a detail with no answer is left out. Over 255 characters, VoiceOI shortens long free-text answers first, then drops whole details from the end, so put the details the closer needs most at the top. See The notes are cut off and The closer sees no notes.

Clean up with AI

The switch Clean up with AI fixes misheard answers while your closing line plays, for example “jon smith” to John Smith. It keeps only a fix the caller’s own words support. With a closing line before the transfer it does not hold the transfer up, and with none it waits at most 0.8 seconds. If the AI is late, the notes go out without it. When it is on, the caller’s answers go to VoiceOI’s AI, as the help text beside the switch says.

Yes, if your closers work on a different VICIdial from the one the bots dial from. Turn on Also send the notes to a closer dialer on the Transfer Call step. VoiceOI then writes the same notes into Comments of the lead with the caller’s phone number on that dialer. The call still goes to your destination.

• Connection. It uses the Closer dialer connection on Integrations, which the VoiceOI team sets up with you, including the address your closer dialer must allow. Keep one connection active: with more, only one receives the notes and you cannot choose which.
• Timing. The push starts with the transfer, so a closer dialer can receive notes for a hand-off that your dialer then refuses. A failed push does not stop the transfer.
• Matching. VoiceOI looks for the lead by phone number and adds one if there is none, in List for new leads (optional) on the step, else the one on the connection, else list 999. It needs at least 10 digits and sends them with country code 1.

Test connection changes nothing on the dialer. It checks that the dialer answers and that the API user may update leads (the check is named Can add the caller’s details to leads). If you enter a list for new leads on the connection, it also checks that the list exists.

Closer Hub holds rules that are meant to decide which step of a script a call goes to, by the caller’s age and state, when a Matrix Router step runs. It belongs to the AI junior closer. The VoiceOI team turns it on per organization, and SubManager logins do not get it in the sidebar. A rule names a script step, usually a Transfer Call step, not a closer: your dialer decides which closer answers. The Simulator does not run the routing steps.

The routing steps in the Script Builder

These rules only matter if your bot servers run the Matrix Router step. Ask the VoiceOI team first: see the warning in Closer Hub.

Rules belong to a campaign. Under Script Settings (the gear icon), Assigned Campaign must name the campaign the script runs in; ask the team which one. Until it does, the Matrix Router shows “This script is not assigned to any campaign.” In Closer Hub, Targeting Lists holds ZIP lists (a List Name, a Priority Level from 1 to 10 and the ZIP Code Entries), and Matrix Rules holds the rules for the campaign you pick under Select Campaign.

How a rule is picked

When a Matrix Router step runs, it works through the rules in this order.

1. Only Active rules count, not Paused ones. A rule is skipped when the caller’s state is in its Excluded States, even if a ZIP list is linked.
2. With a ZIP list linked, the first 5 digits of the lead’s ZIP must be in that list exactly, so keep leading zeros, for example 02134. Allowed States are then not used. With no list, the caller’s state must be in Allowed States, or All States must be on.
3. The caller’s age must be from Min Age to Max Age. A caller with no confirmed age counts as age 0.
4. Of the rules that fit, the lowest Priority Level number wins. If two share a number, the rule created first wins.
5. If no rule fits, the call goes to Fallback Route (No Rules Match), or ends if No Connection (Hangup) is chosen.

The Simulator (Text Simulator (Dry Run)) checks the conversation and shows the notes on the Notes for the closer card. It transfers nothing and writes no status. Live test calls check the hand-off, the notes and the status.

1. 1

   Set up a test list and a closer

   You

   Put leads with numbers you control in a test list on your dialer, and let the campaign dial only that list. Have one closer signed in and ready in the destination’s in-group.

2. 2

   Answer and check the closer’s side

   You

   Give answers that pass the script. The caller and the closer should hear each other, the lead’s Comments should show the notes, and VICIdial should show XFER or the status the step sets.

3. 3

   Check Call Logs and the closer dialer

   Both

   Open Call Logs (titled Interaction Logs) and expand the call. Transferring names the destination, but it shows a transfer attempted, not completed. With a closer dialer, read Comments on the lead with your test number there.