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This is the setup for having your phone answered when your team is not there, without paying for night staff. It is the cheapest way to try Brilo on a real business problem, because it runs when nobody is around and a mistake costs less than it would at 11am.

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What this setup does for you

Your agent answers, deals with what it can, takes a proper message for the morning, and puts genuine emergencies through to whoever is on call. Your team arrives to a list of calls with details rather than a voicemail box. Note that your agent answers whenever a call arrives: telling it your hours changes what it says, not whether it picks up.

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What good looks like

  • Every out of hours call answered, rather than ringing out or hitting voicemail.
  • Emergencies reaching the on call person within a minute.
  • Messages waiting in the morning with a name, a number, and what they wanted.
  • Nothing promised that you cannot deliver, especially not a time for a visit.

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Two ways to set it up

Brilo has no setting that makes an agent answer only outside your opening hours. A number attached to an agent is answered around the clock, so after hours cover is built one of these two ways: Most businesses start with the first and move to the second once they trust it. Either way, restrict when transfers are allowed so nobody’s mobile rings at 2am. See Business hours and after hours.

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What to put in your instructions

Paste this into your agent’s Prompt tab and change everything in square brackets.
The “if in doubt, treat it as an emergency” line is deliberate. Out of hours, a missed emergency costs far more than an unnecessary transfer.

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What your agent needs to know

  • Your opening hours, including holidays and any days you close early.
  • What counts as an emergency in your trade, in the words customers use.
  • Whether out of hours work costs more, since callers will ask.
  • Who is on call, or at least the number that reaches them.
  • What a caller can do themselves in the meantime, for example where the stopcock is. This is the most appreciated thing on the whole page.

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What to let your agent do

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What to test before you go live

Test these at the actual time of day it will run, not at 3pm.
  1. An ordinary out of hours call. Does the greeting say the office is closed?
  2. An emergency, in a customer’s words. Does it transfer immediately, and does the on call phone ring?
  3. A call during your open hours. Does it behave the daytime way instead?
  4. A holiday you have told it about. Does it say you are closed? An unlisted holiday is treated as a normal day, because your agent has no calendar of its own.
  5. Check the message you receive. Is it enough to act on before you have had coffee?

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Rules to know

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FAQ

Not through a setting in Brilo, because an attached number is answered around the clock. Do the switching at your phone provider: forward to Brilo outside your opening hours, or only when nobody picks up. See Business hours and after hours.
Put them in its knowledge so it can answer questions about them, and in its instructions so it knows to say the office is closed and take a message. Include your holidays, since your agent has no calendar of public holidays. See Add a document or website.
Whatever you define as an emergency, it transfers immediately to your on call number rather than taking a message. Write the definition in your customers’ words, and tell it to transfer when in doubt.
Yes, or text it. Have the message sent as the call ends rather than waiting for somebody to open the dashboard. See Send a text or email.
Yes, if a calendar is connected, and it is one of the better reasons to run after hours cover: people book when they are at home rather than at work. Make sure only real availability is offered. See Book appointments.
Only what you have set. A holiday you have not entered is treated as a normal day, which is the most common out of hours surprise. Enter them at the start of the year.
Yes, and it is usually a phone provider setting rather than a Brilo one: forward on no answer after a few rings. See Use your existing number.
No. Your plan covers calls whenever they arrive, so a night call uses the same minutes as a daytime one. See What will this cost me.
Because it answers every call to a number attached to it, at any hour. If your team should take daytime calls, change the forwarding at your phone provider so Brilo only receives calls outside your hours or on no answer.