What is an AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is software that answers your business phone in your company's name. It speaks to the caller, answers questions about your services, prices, hours and areas, takes their details, and - if it is connected to your diary - books the appointment before they hang up.
What it actually does on a call
It picks up, greets the caller with your business name, and has a conversation. It knows what you sell because you have taught it - usually by pointing it at your own website, which it reads and turns into a set of facts you check and approve.
When the caller asks a question it can answer, it answers. When they ask something it has not been told, a good one says so and takes a message rather than guessing. Inventing a price is the worst thing one of these can do, and it is the thing to test for before you trust it.
If it is a booking call, the useful ones check your real availability - your working hours, your existing appointments, your calendar, the gap you need between jobs - and offer times that genuinely exist.
How it differs from an answering service
A traditional answering service is a person in a call centre who takes a message and emails it to you. You still have to ring the customer back, still have to find a slot, still have to do the admin in the evening.
An AI receptionist can complete the job on the call. That is the entire difference worth paying for. If it only takes messages, you have bought a more expensive voicemail.
What it cannot do
It cannot fix your boiler, and it cannot make a judgement call that needs your experience. It should not be quoting for a job it has not seen - a good one books you a visit instead.
It also should not pretend to be human. Callso's receptionist tells callers the call is recorded, in the greeting, and says she is an assistant if she is asked.
Related questions
Can callers tell it is not a person?
Some can, some cannot. What matters is that it does not lie about it. A well-built one says it is an assistant when asked, and discloses that the call is recorded.
Does an AI receptionist replace a real receptionist?
For a small business that has never had one, it replaces voicemail, not a person. For a business with a receptionist, it usually covers the calls that person cannot get to - overflow, evenings, weekends.
What happens if the AI breaks mid-call?
In a properly built system, the call falls back to your own mobile at the phone network, so it rings as it did before. An outage should never produce dead air. Ask any provider exactly what happens when their platform goes down.
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