How to block unwanted calls: a phone number blacklist in the CRM

How do you block unwanted calls when spammers, pushy salespeople or people who just troll your voice bot keep calling your business number? Every such call distracts a manager, and the bot spends paid minutes on it and can spoil the lead's step. A blacklist cuts these callers off before the connection.

A number blacklist is the “Blacklist” CRM field with the “Block incoming calls” value plus a condition in the incoming scheme that checks this field. Mark a caller in the lead card, and their next call ends immediately.

Watch the 90-second video, and below you'll find step-by-step setup for the bot and for managers.

Why businesses need it

• Voice bot on incoming calls: the bot doesn't waste minutes on people who call to “test the robot” and doesn't overwrite the “Interest” step with “Refusal”.
• Sales team: managers aren't distracted by ad sellers and repeat calls from the same spammer.
• Salon, delivery service, clinic: you can close the line to a caller who dials by mistake dozens of times a day.
• Company with a new number: if the number used to belong to another firm, you can cut off that firm's clients without changing the number right away.

How the incoming call blacklist works

The scheme checks the “Blacklist” field of the caller's lead. If it says “Block incoming calls”, the call ends right away: before the step check, the bot and the employees. If there's no such value, the call continues through the scheme as usual.

The check works for callers who already have a lead in the CRM. A new caller isn't marked yet, so their first call goes through. You can also block a number that hasn't called yet: create a lead with that number manually and mark the field.

How to turn on the blacklist for a voice bot

1. 1
   Link the number to the bot

   “Numbers” → ⚙ next to the number → tick the bot's funnel in “Autofunnels”.
2. 2
   Open the setting

   In the “Add a step condition to the incoming scheme?” window, look at the “Blacklist” block. If the CRM has no such field yet, the “Blacklist for incoming calls” window opens by itself. If the field already exists, the block is “On” right away, and the “Change” link lets you pick another field. If you turned the check down earlier, click “Set up”.
3. 3
   Choose a field

   “Create the “Blacklist” field”: a category field with the “Block incoming calls” value appears in the lead card. Or “Choose my own field” that you already use to mark unwanted callers, and tick the values under “Values that block the call”.
4. 4
   Finish linking

   Choose the steps for incoming calls or “No, without a step condition”.
5. 5
   Mark callers

   In the lead card, set the “Blacklist” field to “Block incoming calls”.

The same setting is on the “Incoming call conditions” tab of the bot card. How the bot answers incoming calls is covered in the article 24/7 AI receptionist.

How to keep blacklisted numbers away from managers

When you link a number to the bot, the condition goes into the bot number's branch automatically. For calls to managers, add it manually in “Incoming call”:

1. 1
   Create the lead without a call

   Put “Call employees / create a lead” first in the “Do not call, only create a lead” mode. A “Condition” works with the lead, and the lead is created in this block.
2. 2
   Add a condition

   “+” after the block → “Condition” → “set up the filters” → “Add filter” → the “Blacklist” field → the “Block incoming calls” value → “Done”.
3. 3
   Split the branches

   Leave the “Equal” branch empty: an empty branch ends the call. Put “Call employees / create a lead” with managers in the “Not equal” branch.
4. 4
   Save

   “Save” on the bar at the bottom, then the “Settings applied” toast.

Other routing rules — schedules, CRM field conditions, a regular client to their own manager — are described in the article time-based call routing.

What to do with irrelevant calls to your number

Sometimes clients of another company call you: the number used to belong to it, and someone saved it. If there are only a few such calls, mark the callers with the blacklist. If there are many, replace the number: rent a new one in “Numbers” and delete the old one. How to choose a new number and what it costs is covered in the article virtual phone number for business.

If “calls” from numbers like 100 or 1001 keep hitting your SIP handset, these aren't clients but scanners from the internet. How to close the device to them is covered in the article SIP phone setup.

Spam in chats and from website forms

The number blacklist works only for calls. A chat bot has its own “Login blacklist”: “AI chat bot” → the bot's gear → “Edit” → the “Settings” tab. Turn on the toggle, choose the entry type — “Telegram login”, “Telegram user ID”, “MAX user ID” or “IP (site chat)” — click “Add” and save the bot with the “Save changes” button. It's easy to copy the value you need in the bot's “Dialogs”: the copy button sits next to the delete button. The bot fully ignores such a person: the AI isn't called, triggers don't fire and no lead is created. In the “Reply to a blocked user” field, enter what to answer them, or leave it empty so the bot stays silent. How the bot's conversations are organized is covered in the article chatbot conversation history.

There's no blocking of website form requests and emails by email address or IP. You can work around form spam with a “Condition” in the “Lead from a site form” entry:

• put “Call employees / create a lead” first in the “Do not call, only create a lead” mode;
• after it, add a “Condition” with a filter on a sign of spam — for example, “Pages”, “Geolocation”, “City” or “Site capture forms”;
• in the “Equal” branch, put “Lead editing” → “Funnel stage” and choose a spam stage created in the funnel in advance;
• in the “Not equal” branch, put “Call employees / create a lead” with managers.

The lead is still created, but managers won't be called about it, and it's easy to filter out of reports by its stage.

Read also: Time-based call routing: forward calls by schedule, lead step and CRM, 24/7 AI receptionist: how to set up a voice bot to answer every call, Virtual phone number for business: prices, SIP and a bot number