Answers · AI voice agent
AI receptionist for small business: what it costs and how it works
An AI receptionist answers your business phone 24/7 and books the job. Here is what it costs, how it works, and what it does with calls it cannot handle.
An AI receptionist is software that answers your business phone, holds a real conversation, and books the job into your calendar. It picks up at 2 in the afternoon while you are under a sink, and at 9 at night after you have closed.
Ours is called Jessica. She costs $89 CAD a month for up to 100 calls, or $149 CAD a month for up to 500. No setup fee, no commitment. Here is how she works, what she costs, and what she cannot do.
What is an AI receptionist and how does it actually work?
It is a voice agent that picks up your business line and talks to the caller the way a receptionist would.
Calls forward from the number you already use. She listens, answers questions about your services, hours and service area, then asks what the caller needs. If they want an appointment, she puts it in your calendar. When the call ends you get a text summary.
Start by writing down the 10 questions your callers ask most. That list is most of the setup.
How much does an AI receptionist cost for a small business?
Ours is $89 CAD a month for up to 100 calls, or $149 CAD a month for up to 500 calls. There is no setup fee, it is month to month with 30 days notice, and there is no commitment.
Test the number against your own jobs instead of ours. If your average job is $400 CAD and you miss two calls a week, that is about 8 missed calls a month. Even if only half of them would have booked, that is $1,600 CAD.
Pull last month's call log and count the calls you never returned.
Can an AI receptionist really answer my phone calls and book appointments?
Yes, and the booking is the part that matters. She takes the call, has the conversation, and writes the appointment into your calendar while the caller is still on the line.
There is no phone tree and no "press 1 for service". She asks what the job is, where it is, and when the customer is free, then confirms a time. You get a text summary of every call, booked or not, so nothing sits in a voicemail box until 8pm.
Try it on the voice agent section of the home page and book yourself a fake appointment.
Does an AI receptionist sound robotic or like a real person?
She sounds like a person. The pacing is natural, she handles being interrupted, and she does not read a script out loud.
Most owners do not believe that until they hear it. That is why the demo sits on the site instead of inside a sales call. She is listed in our work as Jessica, the Samro Studios voice agent. The demo runs the same agent our clients have on their line.
Call her with a real question your customers ask. If she fumbles it, you learned something in 30 seconds.
Will callers know they are talking to an AI?
Some will, most will not, and she never pretends otherwise. If a caller asks whether they are speaking to a person, she says she is an AI assistant.
That is deliberate. A caller who feels tricked does not book, and the ones who ask are usually fine once they get a straight answer.
We recommend a short line in the greeting, something like "this is our AI assistant". Disclosure rules are not the same in every province and state, so check yours before you go live.
What happens when a caller asks something the AI cannot handle?
She takes a message and tells you right away. She does not guess.
Not every call is a booking call. A complaint, an unusual job, a price that depends on seeing the property: those need you. She gets the name, the number and the reason, sends it to you, and the caller knows someone is calling back.
Write a short list of topics that always come to you, and hand it over at setup.
AI receptionist vs a live answering service: which is right for my business?
Pick by what your calls are actually for. If most callers want a quote, an appointment, or an answer about hours and service area, the agent handles that and books it.
A live answering service uses people, which helps on the messy calls: an upset customer, a negotiation, something that needs judgement. Those services are usually billed per minute or per call. The bill climbs in your busy season, which is the season you can least afford to miss a call.
Sort last month's calls into two piles, booking and complicated. The bigger pile is your answer.
Is an AI receptionist worth it for a solo operator or a very small business?
Usually yes, and more than for a bigger shop. A business with a front desk already has someone answering. You do not, because you are on a roof or under a truck.
Do the math with your own average job. At $89 CAD a month you spend $1,068 CAD a year. If your average job is $400 CAD, three jobs you would otherwise have missed cover the whole year.
If you honestly miss fewer than one call a month, skip it.
Does it work with my existing business phone number?
Yes. You keep the number on your truck, your cards, and your Google Business Profile, the free listing that puts your business in Google Maps.
Calls forward from that line to the agent. You choose whether every call forwards, or only the ones you do not pick up after a few rings. Most business lines have call forwarding in their settings, and we show you where it is.
Nothing gets reprinted and no number gets moved.
How long does it take to set up?
Days, not months. There is no hardware, and nothing is ripped out of your phone system.
We write her answers from your services, hours, service area and prices, test her against real questions, then you forward your line. The slow part is usually you, gathering the answers.
Write down your top 10 questions and your booking rules first, and the rest moves fast.
Can it answer in French as well as English?
Yes, English and Québec French on the same line. She follows the language the caller starts in, and she switches when they switch.
This matters more than a translated voicemail greeting. In Montréal and Laval a caller may open in French and finish in English. A menu that forces a choice up front loses them.
If a good share of your calls come in French, say so at setup so the greeting is bilingual from the first word.
Is it legal to use an AI to answer calls, and do I have to tell callers?
Answering your own business line with software is ordinary, but the rules on telling callers and on recording them vary. They are not the same in every province and state, and we are not your lawyer.
What we recommend is simple. Put one short sentence of disclosure in the greeting, and check your own province or state rules on call recording before you go live.
If you are unsure, ask the lawyer or accountant who already handles your business.
How do I get started with Samro's voice agent, and what does it cost?
Samro Studios builds and runs these agents. The price is $89 CAD a month for up to 100 calls, or $149 CAD a month for up to 500. No setup fee, month to month with 30 days notice, no commitment.
Start on the voice agent section of the home page. Try her live in your browser, then tell us your hours, services, service area, and how you want jobs booked.
Most lines are answered within days of that conversation.