Getting started: your first five steps
Getting started
FirstFiveMin answers a new lead in the first five minutes: you get a claim window to call first, and if you cannot, the AI assistant calls, qualifies, and books onto your calendar. Setup takes about fifteen minutes. The Getting started card on your Leads page tracks these steps from your real account state and disappears when they are all done.
1. Finish the setup wizard and activate
The wizard (Setup) walks through Business → Plan → Agent → Hours → Number → Activate. On the last step press Activate. Until you do, the assistant does not act on any lead, and a red banner on every page says so.
- The Number step lets you continue with the FirstFiveMin shared number for now (button "Continue with the FirstFiveMin shared number for now") when the platform has one. Calls and texts go out from it until you add your own.
- Texting registration details (legal name, EIN, website, contact) are optional at this step; calls work right away and texting activates once the carriers approve.
2. Connect your calendar
On Calendar → Calendar sync, press Connect Google or Connect Outlook. Busy time on that calendar blocks your openings, and every booked appointment is copied out. FirstFiveMin always keeps the full record even if the sync fails.
3. Set your working hours
On Calendar → Your working hours, pick a template or set each day. These are the only hours the assistant may offer a lead. Set the appointment length, the gap between appointments, and the minimum notice.
4. Teach the assistant your business
On Settings → What your AI knows, press Import from my site or add facts by hand. When the assistant knows your services, area, and price ranges, its answers get specific; when it does not know something it says so and offers to book.
5. Run a test lead
Place your lead form (Get leads → Embed snippet) or open your short link, submit it with your own phone number, and let the claim window expire. The assistant will call you. Then open Conversations to read the transcript and see the booking it made. This is the fastest way to see the whole flow and to hear your greeting as a lead hears it.
Explore before you pay
You can set up the whole product without a plan: the wizard's plan step has Set up first, pay when you are ready, and the calendar, working hours, your lead form, settings and the knowledge base all work. Leads you capture are stored and you are alerted; the AI will not call or text anyone until you choose a plan, and the lead sees a plain receipt instead of a promise of a call. Nothing expires and nothing is deleted. A reminder email arrives after 3, 7 and 14 days with the link to the plan step, and the notice at the top of every page says the same until you activate. Activating turns the AI on and starts your plan.
What FirstFiveMin is (and isn't)
FirstFiveMin is an automated responder, not a phone system. Not a phone system. The number you get from FirstFiveMin — or the shared FirstFiveMin number you start on — is a lead line, not a phone. Leads call and text it; the assistant answers, and it rings your own phone first when you want it to. You cannot dial out or type a text from it, and there is no inbox. Your phone, your carrier and your existing numbers stay exactly as they are — forward them here if you like, and take your FirstFiveMin number with you if you ever leave. When a lead calls, texts or fills out a form, the assistant answers, qualifies, books or takes a message, and hands the conversation to you. Nobody — not you, not us — can place a call or type a text from FirstFiveMin: every call and every text is triggered by a lead's own action and passes the consent, quiet-hours and opt-out checks first.
Common problems
- The banner says "not activated": open Setup and press Activate on the last step.
- No text alerts arrive: check the My cell field on Settings, and that text registration is not still pending on the Phone numbers page.
- The assistant never called your test lead: it only calls inside your calling hours and never outside the legal calling window for the lead's area. Try during business hours, and confirm the claim window has expired.