AI receptionist for UK businesses

What an AI receptionist is

An AI receptionist is software that answers your business phone and holds a normal spoken conversation with the caller. It answers questions, takes details and books appointments, so callers get a real answer instead of voicemail.

It is not a phone menu of the "press 1 for sales" kind. The caller speaks normally and it replies in a natural voice. It knows what you've told it about your business: your services, your hours, your areas, how you want urgent calls handled, and what it should never promise. When the call ends, you get a written summary of who rang and what they wanted.

How an AI receptionist answers your calls

You keep your existing number, and the calls you choose are passed to the receptionist. That can be every call, only the ones you don't pick up, or only calls outside your opening hours.

On a mobile this is usually a divert you can switch on and off. On an office phone system it is a forwarding rule. Any phone that can divert or forward calls will work: a mobile, a landline, a VoIP line or a cloud phone system. Larger office phone systems can also connect to it directly. Your customers keep ringing the number on your van, your website and your Google listing. Nothing changes for them except that someone answers.

What it does on a call

It does the work a good receptionist does on the phone. The exact list is set when we build it, because a dental practice and a roofer need different things from a call.

The usual jobs are:

• Answering the questions you get every day. Opening hours, prices you're happy to give over the phone, the areas you cover, parking, what to bring.
• Taking the details you would ask for. Name, number, address or postcode, what the job or appointment is, and how urgent it is, asked in your order and in your words.
• Booking appointments. It checks your real availability and books the slot while the caller is on the line. It books into Google Calendar, Cal.com and Calendly. Other systems, such as Outlook or your own practice software, are possible on a custom plan where the system allows it.
• Handling urgent calls the way you say. A burst pipe, a dental emergency or a viewing that is about to fall through can be put straight through to your mobile, or flagged to you at once. Before it connects you, it tells you who is calling and what they want.
• Telling you what happened. After each call you get a summary of who rang, what they wanted and what the receptionist told them. The summary comes by text message, by email, or both, whichever you prefer, and the full transcript and the recording are kept with it.

What it won't do

It can't use judgement it hasn't been given, and it shouldn't pretend to. When a caller asks something outside what it knows, it says so plainly, takes a message, and passes the call or the details to you.

We decide those limits with you before it goes live. Typical examples are not quoting for a job that needs a site visit, not giving clinical advice, and not agreeing to discounts. If you want a person to handle certain callers, such as an existing client with a complaint, it hands those over rather than trying to deal with them.

Announced as an AI on every call

Yes. It tells callers at the start of the call that they are speaking to an automated receptionist. We think that's the right thing to do, and it fits UK data protection guidance on being open with people about how their information is handled. The ICO's guidance on AI and data protection sets out that expectation.

It speaks in a natural voice rather than a robotic one, and it uses your business name and your greeting. Every call opens by saying that it is an AI receptionist and that the call is recorded. You choose the voice, from a range of British and other accents.

Out of hours, weekends and bank holidays

Yes. It answers at any hour, including evenings, weekends and bank holidays, because there's no rota to staff. You can also use it only for the calls you can't take: after hours, at lunch, or when everyone is with a customer or up a ladder.

You decide when it's on. If you'd rather answer yourself during the day, it only picks up the calls you miss, or only the calls that come in after you close.

Different from an answering service or a self-serve AI tool

An answering service puts a person on your calls, usually paid per call or per minute. A self-serve AI tool gives you an AI receptionist you set up and keep up to date yourself. We build the receptionist for you and keep it working. If the answering service you are weighing us against is Moneypenny, we have set out what it charges and when it is the better buy.

None of these is right for everyone. If you're a sole trader who wants the cheapest possible way to stop calls going to voicemail, and you're happy to set it up yourself, a self-serve tool may be all you need. We're the better fit when the calls matter enough that you want them handled properly. That usually means your receptionist needs to fit into how the business actually runs, and you'd rather someone else kept it right.

How we build it, and how long it takes

We build your AI receptionist around how your calls come in, and you hear it working before it answers your callers on its own. Here's how it runs.

1. A 30-minute consultation. You tell us how calls come in now, what callers usually want, which ones you miss, and what you'd like done with each kind of call. We tell you what we would build and give you the price.
2. Scope. We watch how your calls are handled today and agree with you what it knows about your business, the questions it asks, and the rules for urgent calls and handovers.
3. Build. We build it inside the tools you already use: your phone, and your calendar or systems where needed.
4. Test. You ring it, your team rings it, and then it answers real calls, checked by us, until it gets them right. You read the summaries and tell us whatever doesn't sound like you.
5. Live. It answers your calls on its own, and we keep it working.

How much it does on a call depends on what it has to connect to: one that answers and takes messages needs only your phone, while one that books into your own software depends on what that software lets another program do. While it is being tested, it takes only the calls you choose to divert to it. Fully functioning and delivering value in 30 days guaranteed, or you pay nothing more until your agents are.

Who keeps it up to date

We do. Keeping it working is what the monthly fee pays for. When your prices change, you add a service, you take on a new area, or callers start asking something it doesn't handle well, you tell us and we change it.

We also check how it's doing. If it starts getting a type of call wrong, or a connection to your calendar breaks, fixing it is our job. You ask by email or on WhatsApp. Small changes, like new opening hours or a new answer, are done within one working day.

Security and UK GDPR

We handle your data under UK GDPR, and we'll walk you through exactly where it goes on the call. Your receptionist can only reach the tools and data you approve, and you can withdraw that access at any time.

The receptionist, how it's set up and the call data are yours. If you leave, you take them with you. Recordings and transcripts are stored with our voice provider, ElevenLabs, in the US. They are kept for 90 days and then deleted. If you want them kept longer we can keep them for up to 18 months, or delete them sooner if you ask.

AI receptionist for your industry

The calls a business gets depend on the work it does, so we build each receptionist around the calls that matter in that line of work.

• AI receptionist for dentists. New patient enquiries, appointment booking and rebooking, and emergency calls outside practice hours.
• AI receptionist for estate agents. Viewing requests, valuation enquiries and questions about listed properties, taken while your team is out on viewings.
• AI receptionist for builders and trades. Job enquiries while you're on site, the address and details of the job, and urgent call-outs put through to you.

The receptionist is one of several AI agents we build. We are an AI automation agency for UK businesses, so the same build, and the same monthly fee, also cover agents for email, invoices, sales leads and customer service. If what you need is mainly booking, see AI appointment booking. For voice agents that make calls as well as take them, see AI voice agents. Our articles go into the choices behind an AI receptionist in more depth.

Stop missing calls

Tell us how your phone works today and what you'd like done with each call. We'll tell you on the call whether an AI receptionist is right for you, what we'd build, and what it would cost.

One flat monthly fee for unlimited agents, month to month. Fully functioning and delivering value in 30 days guaranteed, or you pay nothing more until your agents are.