Customer Support and Voice AI
AI receptionist for small business: calls, bookings and handoffs
What an AI receptionist does on a real call, the rules that apply, a sample greeting and a pass/fail checklist to launch one safely.
Inbound
AI Voice Receptionist
Every call answered, routine questions handled, appointments booked, and the right calls passed to a person.
Missed calls are missed customers. This receptionist picks up on the first ring, day and night, in a voice and greeting you choose. It answers the questions your team hears every day, books straight into your calendar, and hands real conversations to the right person with the context already captured. You own the number, the accounts and every recording.
- Answers every call, including lunch breaks, evenings and weekends
- Books, moves and cancels appointments in your live calendar
- Logs a transcript, summary and outcome for every call
$4,900
20–30 working days
Optional maintenance $249/mo
What it is
An AI Voice Receptionist answers your business phone line, handles routine questions, books or reschedules appointments, and passes callers to the right person when they need one. It runs on your own number, around the clock, and records every call in your CRM with a transcript, a short summary and a clear outcome.
Why businesses buy it
Most businesses lose calls at exactly the wrong moments: during the morning rush, over lunch, and after closing. Each of those calls is someone ready to book or buy. A receptionist that never misses a ring turns them into appointments without adding headcount, and your staff stop being pulled away from the customers in front of them. Because the scope is written down before you order, you know exactly which questions it handles, which calls it transfers and how it books.
Problems this solves
After-hours callers reach voicemail and try someone else instead
The receptionist answers your own number around the clock. It handles routine questions and books or reschedules appointments, so callers get help even when the office is closed.
Front-desk staff spend the day answering the same basic questions
Answers come from up to fifty documents or an FAQ set you provide. Routine questions are dealt with on the call, leaving staff free for the ones that need them.
Callers who need a person get passed around or left on hold
Up to five call flows decide what the receptionist handles itself. When a caller needs someone, it transfers them live to the right person on your team.
Phone messages get scribbled down and never reach the CRM
Every call is recorded in your CRM with a transcript, a short summary and a clear outcome. Follow-ups start from a proper record rather than a sticky note.
A good fit if
You miss calls during busy hours, at lunch, or after you close.
Most callers ask the same handful of questions: hours, prices, availability, directions, order status.
You already keep an online calendar, and a CRM or a shared contact list.
You want every call logged without asking staff to write notes after each one.
Not the right fit if
Most calls need expert judgment in the moment. A receptionist routes and books; it does not diagnose. AI Voice Customer Support resolves support calls from your knowledge base instead.
You need more than one language on the line. This build covers one language, and the Additional Language Pack adds a second.
You need more than five distinct call flows, for example separate paths for six departments. Add a note at checkout and we quote the extra flows, or start from a custom build.
You mainly make outbound calls. The AI Outbound Calling Agent is built for reminders, confirmations and follow-ups.
How it works
- The call is answered immediately. On your number, in the voice you choose, with your greeting and your recording disclosure.
- The caller is understood. The receptionist works out what they want, whether that is your hours, a price, a booking, or a particular person. Callers can interrupt and change direction mid-sentence, as they do with people.
- Routine questions are answered. Answers come only from the FAQs and documents you approve, so nothing is improvised. If the answer is not there, it says so rather than guessing.
- Appointments are booked. It reads your live availability and books, moves or cancels inside the rules you set, then confirms the details back to the caller.
- The right calls reach a person. Callers who ask for someone, or whose question sits outside the agreed scope, are transferred to the number you choose. If nobody is free, it takes a message.
- Everything is written down. A transcript, a short summary and the outcome land in your CRM, with any follow-up the call created.
What you provide within 72 hours
Your portal lists these the moment you order. Delivery starts the working day after everything is in and your access is checked.
- A voice and telephony account in your name, such as Twilio, Vonage or Exotel, with the number to use, forward or port
- Your call scripts, FAQs and business hours
- The phone numbers calls should transfer to, and who takes which type of call
- Access to your calendar and your CRM, shared by adding our team as a user or creating a key you control, never by email
- Your preferred voice and language
- Your call-recording disclosure wording
- One person who can approve decisions
- An API key for your own AI model account (for example OpenAI or Google Gemini), created for this build with a spending limit.
The 72-hour rule. Send everything on your checklist, including access, within 72 hours of ordering so your build starts on time.
Timeline
Start
Intake verified, call flows agreed
Weeks 1–2
Voice, flows and knowledge built
Week 3
Calendar and CRM connected
Weeks 3–4
50 test calls, with transcripts sent to you
Week 4
Your review and two rounds of changes
Go-live
Live, recorded handoff session, support starts
| Option | Delivery time | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 20–30 working days | $4,900 |
| Express | 15–25 working days | $5,750 |
| Rush | 10–20 working days | $6,600 |
What you receive at handover
- The AI Voice Receptionist live on your own business number
- Call flow, prompt and guardrail configuration, including live transfer rules
- Connections to up to two systems, such as your calendar and CRM
- A test report from test calls, with transcripts
- An admin guide and a recorded handoff session
- 30 days of post-launch support
Expected benefits and how to measure them
- Can help more calls end with an answer or a booking.
- Helps staff focus on the calls that need a person.
- Makes every call easy to review in the CRM.
- Answered-call rate
- Compare your phone system's report for the four weeks before launch with the four weeks after.
- Appointments booked by phone
- Count phone bookings in your calendar or CRM. Compare the month before launch with the month after.
- Calls transferred to staff
- Use the call log to track how many calls need a person. Watch the trend as call flows are refined.
Before you start: Export four weeks of call data from your phone system, including missed and after-hours calls. Note how many bookings come by phone today.
These are things to track, not promised results. Outcomes depend on your data, your team and your market.
Running costs
The build price is one-time. Running it is paid in your own accounts, and for a receptionist that is mostly call minutes: roughly $0.13 to $0.31 per minute all in, covering the voice platform, the AI model and telephony, plus your number rental. A business taking 400 calls a month at three minutes each sits in the low hundreds of dollars.
AI usage during the build and testing is also billed to your accounts, so you keep ownership of every provider relationship. Nothing runs through us.
Ask about running costsCustom requirements
If you need something outside the Scope Card, add a note at checkout. You get a written Change Quote, and that work only starts once you accept it. Your original order runs on its normal timeline either way. Larger or bespoke projects go through the Custom AI request form instead.
Request a custom versionKeep it running
After launch, monthly maintenance keeps the receptionist current as your business changes. It covers monitoring, fixes, updates, a monthly health report and change hours for new FAQs, price updates, seasonal hours and tweaks to the flows. It starts after the post-launch support period, bills monthly and can be cancelled any month.
$249/mo (the minimum fee, includes 2 change hours)
Optional. Starts after the post-launch support period. Cancel any month.
How maintenance worksHow this compares
| Do it yourself with a SaaS tool | Hire a custom agency | Upmark Labs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | An answering service charges a monthly fee, often per minute or per call | A custom agency quotes after discovery calls | Ours is one fixed price, shown on this page before you buy |
| Scope | An answering service takes messages and reads scripts | An agency agrees scope during the project | Ours is written on the Scope Card before purchase |
| Delivery | An answering service takes days | An agency usually takes several weeks, set per project | Ours has a fixed delivery time shown before you buy, with faster options |
| Bookings | An answering service usually passes them to you | An agency build depends on what was agreed | Ours books directly in your calendar |
| Call records | An answering service sends message summaries | An agency build depends on what was agreed | Ours writes a transcript, summary and outcome into your CRM |
Questions about this product
Can it use my existing phone number?
Yes. You can forward your current number to the new line, which is the fastest route, or port it to a telephony account in your name. Porting times depend on your carrier, so if you choose it, start the request during intake.
What happens when it does not know the answer?
It says so and transfers the caller to the number you chose for that type of call. If nobody is available, it takes a message and logs it with the transcript. It never invents an answer, because it can only use the FAQs and documents you approved.
Will callers know they are speaking to AI?
Yes. The greeting includes a short disclosure in your own wording, so callers are told before they say anything. Some countries and US states now require this on automated calls. You approve the wording during intake, and you can change it later through monthly maintenance.
Can it book straight into my calendar?
Yes. It reads your live availability and books, reschedules or cancels inside the rules you set: slot length, how much notice you need, buffer time between appointments, and which staff member handles which appointment type. The caller hears the confirmed time before the call ends, and the booking appears in your calendar straight away.
How much does it cost each month?
Call minutes run about $0.13 to $0.31 a minute all in, covering the voice platform, the AI model and telephony, plus your number rental. You pay those providers directly, in your own accounts. Monthly maintenance is optional. We charge nothing per call.
Can I add more call flows later?
Yes. Small changes to an existing flow, such as new questions or seasonal hours, fit inside the monthly change hours in maintenance. A whole new flow, for example a new department or a new service line, comes through the Additional Workflow add-on, which is quoted before the work starts.
How much of my team's time does this take?
The intake takes most businesses one to two hours, spread across the 72 hours after you order, and much of it is gathering things you already have: hours, FAQs, transfer numbers and account access. After that, expect about an hour to review the test transcripts, plus the sixty-minute handoff session at launch.
What if it is not right at launch?
You get two rounds of changes inside the build, after you have heard the test calls, so most adjustments happen before launch. After delivery you have five working days to report anything that does not match the Scope Card, and we fix that as part of the price, not as a Change Quote.
Guides on this topic
All guides Stop losing the calls you already paid to earn.
Order the AI Voice Receptionist today and it starts answering your line on a fixed delivery date. The scope above is exactly what you get, in writing, before you pay.
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