Answering Service for Franchises

Franchise owners often run one or a few locations and answer their own phones between jobs, counter shifts, or appointments. When a call comes in during a busy stretch, after hours, or while the owner is with a customer, it can go unanswered or hit a voicemail box nobody checks quickly. An answering service covers those moments by answering calls with the location's own saved business information.

For a franchise, the useful part is consistency. Each owner saves their location's services, prices, hours, and policies in AllDayDesk, and the service answers using that information. That means callers get the same experience whether they call at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday or 9 p.m. on a Saturday, and the answers match what that specific location actually offers rather than a generic script.

• Calls are answered around the clock using the owner's saved business details.
• Owners keep their existing public phone number; calls are forwarded, not replaced.
• Transcripts, summaries, and any bookings appear in the dashboard after each call.
• When the service does not know an answer, a price, or an opening, it takes a message instead of guessing.

Setup starts by choosing a business or entering its website. AllDayDesk pulls details from that source, and the owner checks them for accuracy before anything goes live. This step matters for franchises because two locations of the same brand can differ in hours, services offered, or pricing, so each owner should confirm the saved information reflects their own location, not the brand average.

After checking the details, the owner hears a personalized sample call so they know how their business will sound to callers. The sample is a demonstration only and does not create a real booking. Once the owner is satisfied, the last step is choosing phone setup, which means forwarding the location's existing number to AllDayDesk.

• Enter the business or its website and review the details AllDayDesk found.
• Correct anything that does not match your specific location, such as hours or service list.
• Listen to the personalized sample; it creates no real booking.
• Choose phone setup and follow the forwarding instructions for your phone provider.

Forwarding instructions depend on the phone service each location uses, so identify your exact product before entering any code. The examples below come from each provider's own documentation. If your provider or product is not listed, contact its support to confirm whether forwarding to an outside number is supported on your line.

On Verizon mobile, dial *72 plus the 10-digit destination to forward all calls, *71 plus the destination for unanswered calls, and *73 to turn forwarding off; setup must be done from the phone while in Verizon coverage, and charges depend on the plan. On Verizon business landline, dial *72 and follow the activation instructions, and *73 to deactivate from the same line.

On T-Mobile, dial **21*1 followed by the 10-digit destination and # for unconditional forwarding, **61*1 plus destination # for no-reply, **62*1 plus destination # for unreachable, and **67*1 plus destination # for busy; add ## before each code number (for example ##21#) to disable, and ##004# resets forwarding to defaults. On AT&T Phone for Business, dial *72, the destination, then # for all calls, *92 for no-answer, and *90 for busy, with *73#, *93#, and *91# to turn each off. For Comcast Business Voice Mobility, forwarding is managed through My Account or the Comcast Business App; features depend on the services your location subscribes to, so confirm which Comcast product you have before following any product's instructions.

On Optimum Business Phone, dial *72, wait for dial tone, then dial the destination; the destination answering confirms forwarding, and *73 turns it off. On Frontier Unlimited Digital Voice, lift the handset, dial *72, wait for the second dial tone, enter the destination, and listen for confirmation; *73 disables it. On Vonage Business Communications, select Call Forwarding and enable forwarding to a phone number, then verify with an outside call. One important limit: Google Voice does not support forwarding calls from a Google Voice number to an automated system, so a location using Google Voice as its main line should confirm alternatives with Google or its carrier before signing up.

• Identify the exact product on your bill; codes differ between a carrier's wireless, landline, and hosted products.
• Unconditional forwarding sends every call; conditional forwarding (busy, no answer, unreachable) sends only calls you miss.
• Test the destination by placing an outside call after activating.
• Keep the code to disable forwarding handy so you can take calls back yourself at any time.

New appointments made during calls are booked on the built-in AllDayDesk dashboard calendar by default, once the owner has configured services and availability. This gives each location one place to see what was booked and what was said on every call, since transcripts and summaries appear alongside bookings.

An optional Google Calendar connection is available in Settings after the owner connects and authorizes their Google account. Other calendar or scheduling software connections are not part of the product, so owners using a different system should plan to manage bookings through the AllDayDesk dashboard. Also note that changes to existing appointments are requests for the owner to handle, not confirmed changes; the service passes the request along rather than rescheduling on its own.

Transfers work only when the owner has configured a transfer destination and rules for when transfers should happen. Even then, neither pickup nor an immediate response is guaranteed, so owners who want callers to reach a person directly should set transfer rules carefully and review how calls are handled in the dashboard.

• New bookings land on the AllDayDesk dashboard calendar once services and availability are configured.
• Google Calendar can be connected optionally in Settings after authorization.
• Existing appointment changes are requests for the owner, not automatic reschedules.
• Transfers require a configured destination and rules, and pickup is not guaranteed.

A short checklist keeps the rollout smooth, especially if you operate more than one location and want each one set up the same way.

• Decide whether to forward all calls or only missed calls, based on how often you can answer yourself.
• Confirm your saved services, prices, hours, and policies match your specific location.
• Choose whether new bookings go to the dashboard calendar or a connected Google Calendar.
• If you want transfers, set the destination number and the rules for when transfers should happen.
• Plan to review transcripts and summaries in the dashboard so you can correct any information the service got wrong.