Since the dawn of the telephone there have been unsolicited calls, and the strategy employed back then still works today...with a twist. Instead of hiring a real receptionist and setting up a visitor's lobby in your home, subscribe to a RoboReceptionist online.
With this service (similar to Google Voice) you will get an interactive voice response (IVR) attendant that is designed to screen your calls.
An example of how RoboReceptionist works is the following conversation:
"Hello, you have reached [phone number here], who are you trying to reach?"
(software listens for a short pause and response--i.e. the average human response time...if it matches, then you get a followup message "Who shall I say is calling?")
(again software listens for a short pause and response--i.e. the average human response time...if it matches, then you get a followup message "One moment while I connect you...", and the call goes through)
Otherwise, if it does not match the average response time then a different challenge happens..
"I'm sorry they're not available, if would you like to leave a voice mail, please type in extension [random 3-5 digit number]"
(if the number does not match, then the call is sent to VM and flagged as possible spam)
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