Calls belong beside the pipeline
Outbound calls through Vapi run today. The phone number, the text back and the receptionist are on the roadmap, all writing to the same database.
- Unlimited seats
- Your own database
- Consent gate on every call
The short answer
- Outbound calls through Vapi are available in SalesCrew today, and a call can be logged against the contact it belongs to.
- Phone numbers, two-way SMS, missed-call text-back, the softphone and the AI receptionist are on the roadmap and ship with the Local pack.
- A do-not-call scrub applied when an audience is frozen and a consent gate on starting a call are part of the same roadmap pack, not features you can rely on yet.
- The argument on this page is that a voice agent needs a database behind it: SalesCrew will be the CRM the voice agent books into.
Read the status line before the rest of this page
Voice is the part of this product most likely to be described in the wrong tense, so here is the plain version.
What works today: outbound calls through Vapi, as a channel beside email, LinkedIn and inbound. A call can be started from the app or through the call_start tool, and the outcome logged against the contact with call_log. Bookings from Calendly arrive as meetings, and reminder and no-show records exist as data.
What is on the roadmap: phone numbers and inbound routing with hours, whisper and voicemail transcription. Two-way SMS through Twilio with templates, consent handling and STOP processing. Missed-call text-back. A softphone in the browser with recording, dispositions and power dialling. The AI receptionist that answers, qualifies, books and transfers. Reminders and no-show recovery that actually send rather than only record. A do-not-call scrub at audience freeze and a consent gate on call_start.
If your business needs a phone answering today, this is not the product for you today. That is a straight answer and it is better than a demo that quietly shows a screen which does not exist. What this page argues is the design underneath, and why it matters when those pieces do arrive.
The seven phone jobs
Each card says plainly whether the job is done today or on the roadmap.
Answer after hours
An AI receptionist that picks up, qualifies the caller, books into the calendar and transfers a live one to a person. On the roadmap, through Vapi or Retell as the inbound provider.
Text back a missed call
A missed call triggers an SMS within seconds, so the caller who was about to try the next company on the list replies to you instead. On the roadmap, with the phone and SMS pack.
Reach a new lead fast
Speed-to-lead actions on a new inbound: an automatic SMS reply, an AI callback, round-robin assignment, and an escalation when nobody has touched the lead in time. On the roadmap.
Work a call list
Outbound calls through Vapi work today. A browser softphone with recording, dispositions and power dialling is on the roadmap.
Log and transcribe
Call logging against a contact works today. Voicemail transcription, and calls appearing in the same thread list as email, are on the roadmap.
Remind and rebook
Meetings and no-show records exist today. Reminders at 24 hours and 2 hours that actually send, plus no-show recovery and a reschedule link, are on the roadmap.
Read moreChoose a voice platform
SalesCrew runs Vapi in production for outbound calls, and Retell is the planned option for inbound. The comparison between voice platforms is a separate question from the CRM behind them.
How a phone lead will flow
The design of the Local pack. These stations are on the roadmap unless marked otherwise.
- 1
The call arrives
A number routed by business hours. Inside hours it rings your team; outside them the receptionist answers. On the roadmap.
- 2
The caller is qualified
Name, reason for calling, address or company, urgency. The receptionist works from your knowledge base, so the answers sound like your business rather than a generic script. On the roadmap.
- 3
A booking is made or a person is fetched
The agent books into the same calendar your team uses, or transfers a caller who needs a human. Bookings landing as meetings works today through the Calendly webhook.
- 4
A confirmation goes out
An SMS with the time and a reschedule link, then reminders at 24 and 2 hours. On the roadmap with the SMS pack.
- 5
The record is written
The contact, the call, the transcript and the booking land in your own database as linked rows. Contact and call records work today; transcripts are on the roadmap.
- 6
The follow-up runs
A no-show enters a recovery cadence; a completed job enters a review request. Cadences work today on email and the LinkedIn queue; SMS and call steps inside a cadence are on the roadmap.
Why a voice agent needs a CRM behind it
A voice agent on its own is a good demo and a poor system. It answers, it sounds fine, and then the call ends and nothing happened. The reason is that a voice platform is a conversation engine, not a record of your business.
Three things go wrong without a database behind it. The agent does not know who is calling, so a customer of four years is treated as a stranger. The booking it makes lands in a calendar and nowhere else, so no one follows up when the caller does not show. And the call itself leaves no trace on the contact, so the next person who speaks to them starts from zero.
Put a CRM underneath and each of those closes. The agent can look up the caller before it speaks, because contact_search is a tool it can call. The booking becomes a meeting linked to a contact and a deal. The call is logged with its outcome on the same timeline as the emails. And the follow-up is a cadence that runs whether or not anybody remembers.
This is where dual-control earns its keep. Every action a voice agent needs is an MCP tool, and every one of those tools has a screen twin. The agent is not calling a private back door; it is doing exactly what a person in the app would do, under the same scopes, with the same audit row written afterwards.
It is also why the honest position on this page is the one worth taking. SalesCrew will be the database the voice agent books into. The voice half is on the roadmap. The database half is what you can evaluate today.
Consent, do-not-call and recording, as designed
Phone contact is the most regulated channel in this product, so the controls are part of the design rather than a later addition.
Two are planned and named. A do-not-call scrub applied when an audience is frozen, in the same place the email suppression list is applied, so a number on a DNC register drops out before a list becomes callable. And a consent gate on call_start, which means the tool that begins a call checks for a recorded consent basis rather than trusting the list. Both ship with the phone pack and are on the roadmap.
The obligations themselves stay with you. In the United States the TCPA governs calls and texts to mobile numbers and carries statutory damages per message, which is why cold SMS to consumer mobiles is a poor idea without clear consent. Application-to-person SMS in the United States also requires 10DLC registration of your brand and campaign with the carriers before traffic flows. Call recording law varies by state: some require only one party to consent, others require every party on the call, so a recorded call across state lines needs the stricter rule. None of this is legal advice, and a lawyer who knows telephony rules in your markets is worth the hour before you dial.
What the product will do is make the mechanical parts hard to skip: the scrub at freeze, the gate at call start, STOP handling on SMS, and an audit row for every call an agent begins.
This page is not legal advice
Where SalesCrew fits on voice today
Worth starting now
- You want the CRM in place before the phone pack arrives, so the data is ready when it does.
- Your outbound calling runs through Vapi and you want those calls logged against real contacts.
- Email, LinkedIn and inbound are your live channels and the phone is the next one.
- You want a voice agent that can look a caller up, and you need the database that makes that possible.
Wait, or buy something else
- You need a phone number answered this month. Numbers and the receptionist are on the roadmap.
- You need two-way SMS with your customers today. On the roadmap, and 10DLC registration takes time on top.
- You need missed-call text-back as the whole reason you are buying. On the roadmap.
- You need a dialler with recording and dispositions for a calling team. The softphone is on the roadmap.
- Your team works from phones in the field. There is no native mobile app, only the responsive web app.
Which tier covers phone and SMS
Per month, unlimited seats on every tier.
| Tier | Price | Phone and SMS | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core | $299/mo | Outbound calls through Vapi as a channel, call logging against contacts, and inbound bookings from Calendly landing as meetings. | Available |
| Local | $499/mo | Core plus phone numbers and inbound routing, two-way SMS, missed-call text-back, speed-to-lead pools, reminders and no-show recovery that send, review requests, forms, quotes with payment links, and the Inbox and speed-to-lead agents in review. Telephony and SMS billed at cost plus 20 percent. | On the roadmap — ships with the voice and SMS pack, and is not purchasable until then |
| Outbound | $699/mo | Core plus the SMS and phone pack, the Instantly send provider and the Campaign and LinkedIn agents. Allowance of about 25,000 model calls a month. | Partly available — the phone and SMS parts are on the roadmap |
| Agency | $1,200/mo | Outbound plus marketplaces, data sources, the marketing module and every agent. Allowance of about 60,000 model calls a month. | Partly available — the phone and SMS parts are on the roadmap |
The Local tier is the phone tier and it is not sold until the pack ships. Start on Core today if you want the CRM ready for it.
What phone-first businesses ask
- Can SalesCrew answer my phone today?
- No. Phone numbers, inbound routing and the AI receptionist are on the roadmap. Outbound calls through Vapi are available today, and calls can be logged against contacts. If answering the phone is why you are here, wait for the Local pack rather than buying on a promise.
- Can it send SMS today?
- No. Two-way SMS through Twilio, with templates, consent handling and STOP processing, is on the roadmap. Missed-call text-back is part of the same pack.
- Which voice provider do you use?
- Vapi for outbound calls, which SalesCrew runs in its own production setup. Retell is the planned option for the inbound receptionist. Twilio is the planned provider for numbers, SMS and the browser softphone.
- How will minutes and messages be billed?
- Telephony and SMS on the Local tier are planned at cost plus 20 percent, on top of the tier price. That is a pass-through model, so a heavy month costs more than a quiet one. The AI allowance is separate and metered by model call.
- Will the AI call people on its own?
- Not without you deciding it should. Any external action from an agent, a call included, defaults to review, and anything that spends money is human-only regardless of mode. The planned consent gate on call_start adds a second check before a call begins at all.
- What about do-not-call lists?
- A do-not-call scrub applied when an audience is frozen is on the roadmap, in the same place email suppression is applied today. Until it ships, scrubbing a call list is your responsibility and is worth doing before the list reaches the product.
- Can I record calls?
- Recording is part of the planned softphone rather than something available today. When it arrives, remember that consent law varies: some states need one party's consent and others need everyone on the call, so a call that crosses state lines follows the stricter rule. This is not legal advice.
- Can a voice agent I already run book into SalesCrew?
- Yes, and that is the design. Every action in the app is also an MCP tool, so a voice agent can look up a contact, create a meeting, log the call and add a note using the same tools and scopes a person has. Outbound webhooks push events the other way.
Get the database ready before the phone pack lands
Fourteen days on Core. Contacts, pipeline, inbox and cadences, with outbound calls through Vapi already working.