An AI receptionist is an automated virtual receptionist that answers calls, schedules appointments, and provides basic customer support. Small and medium-sized business owners who receive several calls during the day can use them to handle basic tasks and streamline their operations. AI receptionists offer 24/7 availability with low overheads. Which in today’s business landscape, can help you increase efficiency, improve customer service, and save time in the process. Let’s see what makes an AI receptionist, a valuable addition to your business.
Features of an AI Receptionist
Customer Engagement
When you subscribe to an AI virtual receptionist service, you effectively have an AI answering service. It’s prompt and smart. Regular answering services intercept customer calls outside business hours, and take down messages, which they would then relay to your assistant/front desk. An AI receptionist does just that but, without any involvement from a third party; no answering service or human assistant. You and your clients are with an AI mediator that parses a call word for word. AI virtual receptionists can greet clients, transfer calls, schedule appointments, and even collect payments; all over the phone. This frees up more time for human staff to focus on more important tasks than answering phone calls all day.
Call Handling
An AI assistant or receptionist is also a wizard at call handling. The sheer number of tasks that they can complete in real-time is no short of magic. AI receptionists are available 24 hours a day, all year. They automatically log calls, they talk to the customer on your behalf, answer questions, and even resolve basic queries. So missed calls from prospects? Never again! To address queries, they use natural language processing, an industry-specific knowledge base, and your website. Additionally, they can also act as AI agents (Interactive Voice Response) and get initial customer information to redirect the customer calls to the right department. Next, we will see how an AI receptionist can help businesses.
How AI Receptionists Support Businesses
Compared to a full-time receptionist, an AI one costs significantly less. For small businesses and solo practitioners, this is a big cut in business overheads. With one less hire, you have more resources to allocate toward your business. At an organizational level, the savings can be massive.
Having an AI answer your calls means that all incoming calls will be answered at all times. The lines are always open, and there is always “someone” to receive the customer when they call. Be it holidays, vacation, or simply nighttime. Callers who are calling about an emergency, do have an option to reach you if they need to.
Additionally, these receptionists can access your CRM tools and manage new clients and existing customers with ease. This makes onboarding and follow-ups an absolute breeze, thereby improving overall service quality.
Use Cases
AI receptionists are highly adaptable across industries. Be it service, products, or contact centers. Small businesses can save money by reducing personnel, while large ones can free up time. Both of these lead to cost savings. Here are a few use cases:
- Dentists: Dentists can use AI receptionists for appointment bookings, reminders, and patient queries (answered using your website and knowledge base). Most are HIPAA Compliant as well.
- Lawyers and Legal Aids: For those in the legal profession, an AI receptionist can manage client inquiries and schedule consultations. This enables solo practitioners to handle more cases while the AI attends to the clients. You can view the transcripts for these calls too, which may prove useful in your legal proceedings.
- Real Estate Agents: For those who work in real estate, AI can act as an AI voice agent that can manage viewings, handle leads, and answer listing-specific questions as well.
How to Choose the Right AI Receptionist for Your Business
If you are looking for a new virtual receptionist or someone to manage the front desk, you should give Phonely a shot. With Phonely, you can build a receptionist in minutes by simply connecting it to your website. It’s customizable and is priced to meet your needs perfectly. If you’re still looking for something else, make sure that your AI receptionist has the following features:
- Customizable Solution: Look for a tool that allows you to personalize your receptionist. This means altering your business name, style of greeting, and voice. They should also have a deep knowledge base of your industry. This helps answer basic questions that your clients may have about your profession or services.
- Integration: It should be able to connect and work with your current tools. This means your CRM, appointment scheduling, and any other vital software that helps run your business.
- Affordable: Your AI receptionist should offer multiple pricing options so that you only pay for the minutes and features that you use.
Initially, there can be some challenges to implementing your AI receptionist as well. This can include personnel training, gaps in the training of the AI, and its integration with the business. So make sure there’s a solid team like Phonely behind the tool you’re using who can help address the issues as they arise.
