AI receptionist or a virtual receptionist?

What a virtual receptionist is

A virtual receptionist is a receptionist who works for an outside company rather than in your office. Your calls are diverted to them, they answer as your business, and they pass on a message or put the caller through. Most work in teams covering many businesses, which is how the price stays below a salary.

An AI receptionist is the same idea with a voice assistant in place of the person. It answers in your name, asks the questions it has been set up with and sends you the details. Some providers, Kallorix included, call theirs a virtual receptionist too, so it is worth asking which kind you are being offered.

Where a person is better

• Complicated or sensitive calls. A person handles a confused, upset or vulnerable caller with judgement software can't fully match.
• Working in your systems. Some services book into your software, take payments or chase invoices.
• Callers who want a human. A few people will only talk to a person.

If your calls need any of that, a staffed virtual receptionist is the right choice.

Where an AI receptionist is better

• Every call, at once, at any hour. No queue and no busy periods, and nights and weekends cost the same as weekdays.
• Questions for your trade. A shared receptionist covering a dentist, a solicitor and a plumber in one hour takes a general message. One set up for a recovery firm asks where the vehicle is and whether it rolls.
• A bill you can predict. Staffed services are usually priced per call or per minute of someone's time. Kallorix is a flat monthly price: £39 for 250 minutes, £99 for 500, £149 for unlimited with a fair-use ceiling. You are never billed for going over.
• Extras on the call. She can text the caller a link to share their location or a photo, and switch to the caller's language while still texting you in English.

Cost

We won't quote other companies' prices, because they vary and change. The shape of the pricing is what matters.

Staffed virtual receptionist services usually charge a monthly fee plus a price for each call or each minute of a receptionist's time. Evening, night and weekend cover is often an extra, and some have a minimum term. That is fair, because you are paying for people's time, but it means a busy month costs more and the bill is hard to predict in advance.

An AI receptionist is cheaper to run, so the allowance goes further. Kallorix plans include a set number of minutes, at any hour, with no contract. If you use the allowance up, your phone still rings as normal, callers you miss hear that you will ring back, and we text you their number.

To compare fairly, take your own figures: how many calls you miss in a month and roughly how long each one lasts. Ask each provider what that month would cost, including out-of-hours, and whether there is a set-up fee or notice period.

Set-up

A virtual receptionist service usually needs a briefing and a call script, which takes days. The receptionists then learn your business from those notes, and the person answering may change from call to call. Kallorix reads your website, drafts what she should know, and you check it and change anything you like. You can hear her answer in about two minutes. Going live is one divert code on your mobile, and your phone still rings first, so she only takes the calls you can't.

Honesty with callers

A Kallorix receptionist answers as your business and sounds natural. If a caller sincerely asks whether they are talking to a real person, she says she is your virtual receptionist. If they ask something that isn't in her notes, she says she doesn't know and takes a message rather than guessing. Ask any provider, staffed or AI, what theirs does in the same situation.

Questions to ask any provider

• What does a month with my number of calls cost, including nights and weekends?
• Is there a contract, minimum term or set-up fee?
• Will the person or system answering know my trade's questions, or take a general message?
• How quickly do I get the details, and in what form?
• What happens to callers when you are busy or the allowance runs out?
• Can I hear it working for my own business before I pay?

Which to choose

Choose a staffed virtual receptionist if your calls are complex, sensitive, or need someone to act inside your own systems.

Choose an AI receptionist if most first calls follow a pattern, you need them answered instantly at any hour, and what you want from each call is the details, quickly.

The quickest test is to hear one. Build a free demo from your website and ring it. No card, about two minutes. See also AI receptionist or a telephone answering service and how to compare AI receptionists.