Businesses usually have a team to handle the front desk. Smaller companies have one or two people for regular call management, while the ones with a budget have bigger teams. However, technology now offers a promising shift with AI at the forefront of handling calls. With an ai voice receptionist, your business can reap a bunch of advantages besides ensuring all calls are promptly attended to. In this guide, we take you through various tangible and intangible benefits.
- 24/7 Availability: Your regular staff have to go for lunch breaks, have sick days, holidays, and weekends, and only work during business hours. That’s not the case with AI. Voice answering services are different from voicemail, so ensure your business remains available to customers 24/7 throughout the year.
- Reducing Workload for Staff: A significant number of calls every month involve callers and customers who want similar information or have repetitive requests. With AI handling the routine calls, you can free up the front desk and admin teams for other essential tasks.
- Reduced Staffing Expenses: Scaling the customer support and front desk according to changes in call volume isn’t a practical or economical decision for many businesses. Hiring people often requires initial recruitment expenses, followed by paying salaries, benefits, and perks. Not to miss, there is also additional work involved in training and management. With an AI receptionist, you can get rid of all that.
- Handling Multiple Calls Simultaneously: Even the most efficient staff members and front desk executives can handle only one caller at a time. That often means the remaining callers have to wait until someone is available. AI voice agents are designed to solve this issue and can handle as many as a thousand calls without delays.
- Scalable Solution: If your business experiences seasonal activities, an increase in call volume, or unexpected spikes erratically, an AI receptionist is your ideal solution. Most providers offer fixed packages, and if you need more call time and minutes, you can always choose a new deal or pay for the extras.
- Consistent Caller Experience: AI voice receptionists are trained on scripts and responses that you share with the provider or update in the knowledge base. Humans can make errors or may fail to offer a good response if they are frustrated, tired, or overworked, but AI ensures consistent and standard answers for all callers.
- Lead Capture and Qualification: AI can easily capture caller information, such as name, address, phone number, requests, or anything they share. This information is automatically saved, which can help your team members capture potential leads and future customers.
- Call Routing and Smart Transfers: AI models use the latest natural language processing and other things, such as voice synthesis, to understand callers’ intent and requests. The process goes beyond keywords. Suppose the voice agent cannot respond or offer an accurate answer. In that case, it can still transfer the call to the next available executive, ensuring critical calls are handled as a priority.
- Easy Customization and Updates: AI receptionists are incredibly customizable. As the client, you can update all details in the knowledge base, such as greetings, responses, and entire scripts. No matter how many policies you change or new products you add, AI will make sure callers get accurate information.
- Lower Operational Costs: Many providers offer AI receptionists for as low as $80 per month. The affordable monthly pricing is much lower compared to the cost of hiring additional team members. Also, you can get away with the cost of outsourcing the work to call centers or virtual assistants.
If your business hasn’t considered getting an AI voice receptionist yet, it is time to shortlist providers and request demos. You will be surprised to discover a new way to manage your front desk and customer service.
