Phone Tree for Business: How to Set One Up in Minutes
A phone tree is the menu callers hear when they reach a business: “For sales, press 1. For support, press 2.” Carly builds one for your business line from a chat. Tell ChatGPT or Claude your options, and each caller lands with your team, an AI agent or voicemail. Or skip the buttons, and callers just say what they need.
Copy this prompt into ChatGPT or Claude. That’s it. It sets up Carly, phone number included.
Carly business setup prompt
Copy this into ChatGPT or Claude. It sets everything up, phone number included.
Help me connect Carly Teams so I can work with my organization's business texts, phone calls, voicemail and voice/text agents from this chat. I'll add it to you myself: tell me exactly what to click for the app you are, one step at a time, and wait for me to confirm before moving on. If a step doesn't match what I see, ask me what's on my screen. If you can do the setup yourself (Claude Code, Codex, Muse, Grok Bot), go ahead, and ask me for any key in your secure credential prompt, never in the chat. Don't tell me it's connected until list_phone_lines works, and if I have several teams, ask which to use. Before sending a text or making a call, confirm the team, recipient and message or task with me. The steps are below.
# Connect Carly Teams to an AI app
> Carly Teams works a team's business phone lines through the team's AI agents: business texts, phone calls, voicemail, the voice and text agents, and the team's CRM.
MCP server: https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp (streamable HTTP, OAuth)
## Setup
Carly Teams isn't in any plugin or connector directory yet, so it's added as a custom connection by URL.
1. Add Carly Teams:
- ChatGPT: open https://chatgpt.com/plugins, click Add, and choose Create MCP App (not Create plugin or Upload plugin archive). If Create MCP App isn't on the menu, turn on Developer mode first in Settings > Security and login. Name it "Carly Teams" with the description "Work with my team's business texts, calls, voicemail and voice/text agents," paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp as the server URL, choose OAuth, create it, and sign in. Then in the message box open the + menu, choose Developer mode, and pick Carly Teams. No plugin needs to be built, packaged or uploaded.
- Claude (claude.ai, Claude Desktop, or Cowork): Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http --scope user carly-teams https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then /mcp, pick carly-teams, and authenticate.
- Codex: `codex mcp add carly-teams --url https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then `codex mcp login carly-teams`.
- Cursor: add {"mcpServers": {"carly-teams": {"url": "https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp"}}} to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then sign in to carly-teams from Customize.
- Muse: a custom connector to https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp with a Carly API key as its bearer token. The key comes from carlyassistant.com/account (API key under Carly Teams) and goes in Muse's connector settings, not in a chat message.
- Grok: grok.com/connectors > New Connector > Custom, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Grok Bot: a custom remote MCP server named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. Approve it and sign in.
- Perplexity: Plugins in the sidebar (or Customize > Connectors), then Add custom > Connector > Add MCP connector. Choose Remote, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, pick OAuth, check the box and click Add, then click the Carly Teams card to sign in.
- Anything else: a remote MCP server (streamable HTTP) named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. It signs in with OAuth.
Sign in with the Carly account that belongs to the organization.
2. Once it's added, the Carly Teams tools show up in the chat, including list_phone_lines. If they don't, turn Carly Teams on for the chat or start a new chat.
3. To check it worked, call list_phone_lines: it returns the teams and phone lines the account can reach. A team with no phone line yet can get one with find_numbers (optionally by area code) and get_number, which may return a checkout link to finish.
4. Something to try first: "Review our missed calls and voicemail and help me reply to customers." Carly Teams also reads and answers business texts, has the team's agent make calls, and edits the voice and text agents. Texts and calls go out at once from the agent's number and can't be taken back. Team permissions apply.
## Email, calendars and workflows
Email, calendars, files, booking pages and workflows are the regular Carly connector, added separately. It's listed in ChatGPT's plugin directory (https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6a67a26316b88191860222f918d4ec54) and Claude's connector directory (https://claude.ai/directory/carly), and connects anywhere else at https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/. Its setup is https://carlyassistant.com/mcp.txt.Tell your AI the menu you want
Once Carly is connected, say it in plain words:
Add a phone menu to my line. Press 1 for sales rings the team. Press 2 for support goes to the AI agent. Press 3 leaves a voicemail. If someone presses nothing, send them to the AI agent.
Carly reads the choices out to callers, or you write the words yourself. To change it later, say “add press 4 for billing.”
What you control
- Up to 9 choices, on any key from 0 to 9, plus * and #.
- Where each choice goes: your team, the AI agent or voicemail.
- Who rings: everyone at once or one at a time, for 5 to 60 seconds.
- Callers who press nothing: they go where you choose, never to a dead end.
- Hours: ring the team in business hours, and let the agent or voicemail take the rest.
- Bigger trees: more than one level, or a different person on each choice, with up to 30 steps.
Phone tree examples you can copy
- Small office: “For scheduling, press 1. For billing, press 2. Or stay on the line for our assistant.”
- Home services: “For a new job, press 1. For a job we’re already working on, press 2. If this is an emergency, press 3.”
- Sales team: “For sales, press 1. For support, press 2. To leave a message, press 3.”
“Stay on the line” works because callers who press nothing go straight to your AI agent. More scripts are in our auto attendant guide.
When to skip the buttons
A phone tree makes the caller do the sorting. An AI agent sorts for them. Someone says “I need a quote on a new roof,” and Carly asks the right questions and books the visit.
- It helps, not just sorts. Carly answers from your business info, qualifies leads and books on your real calendar.
- It knows who’s calling. It looks each caller up in your CRM and greets the people you know by name.
- It handles the language. It detects English or Spanish and answers in it, with no “press 2” (bilingual answering).
- It still reaches a person. Carly routes and transfers calls live to the right teammate.
Want both? Keep a short menu and let everything else fall through to the agent.
Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Get started.
FAQ
What is a phone tree?
An automated menu that sends callers to the right place when they press a key. It’s also called a phone menu or call tree. Carly sets one up from a chat in ChatGPT or Claude.
What’s the difference between a phone tree and an IVR?
The IVR is the system, and the phone tree is the menu it plays. An AI IVR listens to what callers say instead of waiting for a key press. Carly does both.
How do I set up a phone tree for a small business?
Connect Carly, then tell your AI the choices and where each one goes. There’s no call-flow diagram to build.
Can I keep my business number?
Yes. Forward your number to Carly and callers keep dialing the one they already know.
What is an emergency phone tree?
A list of people who call each other to pass on urgent news. Carly can do that job faster: ask ChatGPT or Claude to text up to 40 people at once from your business line.
Ready to automate your busywork?
Carly schedules, researches, and briefs you—so you can focus on what matters.
See what people say
"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
