> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.fluents.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Call Screen Handling

> Give your agent something to say to the receptionist or assistant who answers before your actual contact does.

**Call Screen Handling** is for the person who answers before your contact does. A
receptionist, an assistant, whoever screens the call. Without this skill an agent
tends to deliver its pitch to the screener, which wastes the call.

***

## Set it up

On the agent's **Basic Information** tab, click **Call Screen Handling** under
**Choose Skills**. Two fields, both required.

**Reason for the call** is what gets shared with whoever is screening. The agent uses
it to explain itself and justify being put through, so write something a receptionist
would accept.

**What to do if the right person isn't available?** is the fallback.

| Option | What the agent does |
| - | - |
| **Request transfer to someone else** | Asks to speak to someone who could help with the same purpose. |
| **Leave a message** | Asks to leave a message, and summarises why it called. |
| **Call back later** | Asks your contact to call back, and gives details for reaching you. |
| **End the call** | Politely ends the call. |

***

## How it behaves

The agent only uses this handling if it actually identifies a screener, and only at
the start of the call. It will not run twice on the same call, and if nobody is
screening, the conversation proceeds normally.

There is one behaviour worth knowing that is not configurable. If the agent learns the
contact is not reachable on this number at all, for example it is simply the wrong
number, it politely ends the call regardless of which fallback you chose.

<Tip>
  A vague reason is what makes screeners say no. "Following up on the quarterly
  restock order they requested" gets further than "a business matter".
</Tip>

***

## Where to go next

* Handle an automated menu rather than a person: **[IVR Navigation](./ivr-navigation)**
* Book the follow up when your contact is out: **[Call Back Later](./call-back-later)**
* Everything else on the agent: **[Agents](/product/features/agent)**


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