6 Ways AI-Powered Virtual Receptionists Can Transform Your Workday

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere these days. It powers your Amazon search, helps you find the fastest way to work in the mornings, and helps you make shopping lists without having to use pen and paper. 

AI is also making inroads into the area of business services, including virtual receptionists. That’s a good thing because this technology can dramatically transform your workday. Here’s a look at a few of the ways it’s doing that.

Spend less time answering phone calls

How much time do you and your team spend answering the phone and checking voicemail? If your office is like most others, it’s a lot. And while answering the phone is an essential step toward success, it often takes you away from what you do best. That’s not even counting the number of wrong numbers, marketing calls, and spam calls you’re required to field. 

AI-powered virtual receptionists can take that task off your hands. How much more productive would your office be if you never had to worry about answering the phone without knowing who it was or what it pertained to? How much more productive could your team be if all calls were pre-screened and vetted? What would your workday look like if you always knew who was on the other end of the line, what they needed, and how you could help?

That’s just what AI-powered virtual receptionists can do for you. Thanks to the unique combination of humanity and advanced technology, the right answering service can do more than just sort, route, and rank phone calls. Virtual receptionists can answer questions, provide guidance, and jumpstart the lead-to-customer conversion process.

Inform your processes with essential information

One of the most important steps in building a relationship with a prospective client is gathering information about them. This usually includes personal details, like their name and geographic location, as well as contact information. Depending on the nature of the relationship and other factors, it might extend to business or industry-related information, demographics, and more. 

Getting that information is time-consuming. Manually entering it into your CMS also leads to errors and issues. An AI-powered virtual receptionist can reduce the time required to obtain this information while improving accuracy. When a prospective client calls, your virtual receptionist can quickly and accurately record their name, location, business/industry, reason for contacting you, and more.

With this information in hand, you can make better decisions and build a stronger relationship with the soon-to-be client. 

Improve the accuracy of qualifying leads

All businesses must qualify their leads. Some potential customers might be a great fit but not quite ready to purchase. Others might still be in the early stages and learning about their challenges before seeking solutions. Yet others might not be well-suited to be customers. 

The process of qualifying leads is time-consuming and challenging. Not to mention the fact that it takes you or a team member away from other tasks. An AI-powered virtual receptionist can simplify and streamline this process, helping you save time and money while improving the quality of your leads.

Stop losing clients in the shuffle

We get it. Business offices are often busy. It’s very easy to lose sight of a customer, particularly if they’re still in the early stages. However, dropping the ball here can have negative consequences, including damaging trust. An AI-powered virtual receptionist can help prevent clients from being lost in the shuffle in several ways, including:

• Appointment scheduling
• Automated communication by phone, email, and text
• Follow-up communication
• Payment collection and processing
• Call recording and transcriptions
• Around-the-clock service

Automating the appointment reminder process

From law firms to medical offices and everything in between, clients must make appointments. Of course, many of those appointments are ultimately missed, costing you time and money and leaving you scrambling to set another appointment. 

Clients may miss appointments for any number of reasons. People are busier than ever before, so it’s possible that something else came up, and they weren’t able to let you know they could not make their appointment. Of course, it’s possible that they just forgot about the appointment. 

This is surprisingly common across all industries, but it’s not unavoidable. Sending appointment reminders helps ensure that your clients don’t miss important dates. It’s time-consuming to do, though. You’ll need to have a team member take time out of their day to determine who needs reminders, create those reminders, and then send them by email, text, or phone.

AI-powered virtual receptionists can automate the entire process. That ensures that your team members stay focused on high-value tasks while also providing customers with important notifications about upcoming appointments.

Spend more time with high-value prospects

How much time do you spend on the phone with potential customers who ultimately end up investing very little (or nothing) in your company’s offerings? Chances are good it’s not an insignificant amount. What if you could ensure that every phone call you answered was a high-value client ready to buy?

One of the things an AI-powered virtual receptionist can do is forward warm calls to waiting team members. It’s perhaps the simplest way to maximize the value of your team’s time while providing customers who are ready to buy with a streamlined process.

AI power backed by human expertise and warmth

AI is everywhere, but it isn’t always an ideal solution in and of itself. At Smith.ai, we’ve built our entire business model on advanced technology, but we understand the importance of combining that with the warmth and relatability of human beings. 

We can provide AI-powered virtual receptionists to streamline business processes, handle lead intake, set appointments, send appointment reminders, and more. Still, our team of experienced human receptionists ensures that your business has the human touch that your customers need and deserve. That ensures incredible adaptability and scalability, as well as the perfect fit every time.

To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai.