Call transfers
AI call transfers that hand the caller to a person
Add a call transfer to your AI voice agent, tell it in plain words when to hand over, and choose how: cold, warm with a briefing for your team, or whisper so they can accept or decline. Business hours and public holidays decide where each transfer goes.
How it works
From your agent to your team.
A transfer is one of the agent’s tools: where it goes, when the agent uses it and how it hands the caller over.
In the agent’s Tools, add a Call transfer, name it and enter the phone number or SIP address it goes to. Add one for each destination, such as sales, billing and an after-hours line.
Under “When should the agent transfer?”, say in plain words when this destination is the right one, for example when the caller asks for a person or has a complaint. Steps such as asking the caller’s permission first go in the agent’s instructions.
Pick the hand-off style. Cold connects straight away, Warm announces who’s calling and why as it connects, and Whisper lets your team hear who’s calling and accept or decline. For warm and whisper, write the greeting your team hears when they pick up.
Turn on Business hours routing to send the transfer to one number during working hours and another after hours, or to block it with a message. Add public holidays, and on those days the agent blocks or reroutes the transfer.
Hand-off
Three ways to hand over a call.
Each transfer has its own style, so a sales line can be warm while an after-hours line connects straight through.
Cold
Connects the caller immediately: the fastest hand-off, with no briefing for your team.
Warm
The agent announces who’s calling and why as it connects. The call goes through either way, with no accept step.
Whisper
The caller waits while the agent briefs your team privately. They hear who’s calling and accept or decline; if they decline, the agent gives the caller the message you wrote and keeps helping.
A briefing in your words
On warm and whisper transfers, the greeting you write is spoken to your team exactly as written when they pick up. On warm transfers the agent can also read them a summary of the call.
Hours and holidays
The right number for the time of day.
Business hours routing and public-holiday rules decide where each transfer goes, in the timezone you set.
Working hours and after hours
Set a weekly schedule and a timezone, then give the transfer one destination during working hours and another after hours.
Block with a message
Or block transfers for either period: the agent says your message, then carries on with the call or ends it.
Public holidays
On a holiday, block the transfer and keep the caller with the agent, or reroute it to an alternate line. Each holiday can override the default.
Holidays filled in for you
Prefill the public holidays of the US, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand or Ireland, repeat dates annually, and choose whether the agent mentions the closure from the start of the call.
Routing
Control the call before and after the hand-off.
Around the transfer itself: where a call goes before the agent speaks, who never reaches it, and what is recorded.
Redirect before the agent speaks
Forward inbound calls to a person before the agent answers when they match conditions from your pre-call webhook, such as a VIP flag, with an optional message first.
Let your system pick the agent
With Dynamic inbound call routing, your pre-call webhook decides on each call which of your agents answers it.
Blocked callers
Rule sets disconnect callers whose number matches a pattern before they reach the agent. Import the rules from a CSV.
Recording stops at the hand-off
Turn on Stop recording on transfer and the recording ends before the caller is connected to your team. The part up to the hand-off is kept, and recording carries on if the transfer fails or is declined.
Frequently asked questions
Can an AI voice agent transfer a call to a person?
Yes. Add a call transfer to the agent with a phone number or SIP address, tell it in plain words when to hand over, and choose a cold, warm or whisper hand-off. An agent can have several transfers, one for each destination.
What is the difference between a cold, warm and whisper transfer?
A cold transfer connects the caller immediately, with no briefing. A warm transfer announces who’s calling and why as it connects, and the call goes through either way. A whisper transfer briefs your team privately while the caller waits, and they accept or decline the call.
What does the person who picks up hear?
On a warm transfer, the greeting you wrote, spoken exactly as written, and the agent can read a summary of the call. On a whisper transfer, a private briefing, after which they accept or decline. On a cold transfer the caller is simply connected.
How does the agent know when to transfer?
Each transfer has a “When should the agent transfer?” box. Describe in plain words when that destination is the right one, such as when the caller asks for a person or has a complaint. Anything that needs the caller to answer first, like asking permission, goes in the agent’s instructions.
Can transfers go to a different number after hours?
Yes. Turn on Business hours routing, set the weekly schedule and timezone, and give the transfer one destination for working hours and another for after hours. Either period can block transfers instead: the agent says your message, then continues the call or ends it.
What happens to transfers on public holidays?
Add the holidays, or prefill a country’s public holidays. On those days the transfer is either blocked, keeping the caller with the agent, or rerouted to an alternate line, with a closure message you write. The agent can mention the closure from the start of the call, or only if the caller needs a transfer.
Can calls be routed to a person before the agent answers?
Yes. Redirect incoming calls forwards a call to a person before the agent speaks when it matches conditions from your pre-call webhook. The pre-call webhook can also choose which of your agents answers, and blocked-caller rule sets disconnect matching numbers before they reach the agent.
Does the recording continue after a transfer?
Only if you want it to. With Stop recording on transfer on, the recording ends before the caller is connected to your team and keeps the part up to the hand-off. If the transfer fails or is declined, recording continues.
Can the agent transfer calls back to ViciDial?
Yes, to a ViciDial in-group. Trillet’s ViciDial integration is set up by Trillet’s team, with no self-serve setup screen: ViciDial sends the call to the agent over SIP, the agent can transfer it to a ViciDial in-group, and the disposition is posted back to ViciDial at hang-up.
Put every caller through to the right person.
Book a demo and we’ll set up an agent that transfers to your team, with the hand-off style and hours you need.