Think of Smith.ai as an extra receptionist. We help with answering telephone calls, giving directions to your office, scheduling appointments, screening leads, and more. We'll provide a simple-to-use overflow live answering service.
As a business owner, capturing every opportunity is critical to your success. Every person sent to voicemail represents a missed chance for new business. With AI-first call answering enhanced by human support, you can be confident that intelligent technology handles your incoming calls with seamless escalation to professional agents when complex situations arise. Our system ensures swift call completion with minimal friction and lag, keeping your customers engaged and your business growing.
Never miss a call from a new lead - even at 2am. The AI Receptionist from Smith.ai handles all of your after-hours calls with 24/7 intelligent coverage. By combining AI efficiency with human escalation capabilities, you can ensure potential customers receive timely, professional service that nurtures them through your sales funnel in a matter of minutes.
Running a successful marketing campaign? Experiencing a spike in inquiries? Our AI-first system can manage unlimited simultaneous calls, with intelligent routing and human support for complex situations. This ensures you capture every opportunity during high-demand periods while maintaining the professional quality your brand deserves.
Prefer 100% live agents? We've got you covered.
While our AI Receptionist with human support delivers exceptional results for most businesses, we understand that some situations require dedicated human coverage. That's why Smith.ai also offers comprehensive virtual receptionist plans with 100% live, North America-based agents answering your calls 24/7.
Our virtual receptionist plans provide:
You don't need to sacrifice important information when you're focused on core business activities. The real-time call intelligence from Smith.ai allows you to monitor call activities through our comprehensive online dashboard. Make data-driven business decisions with superior accuracy, accessing everything from AI-generated summaries to human agent notes, including metadata such as completed actions, caller disposition, priority, relevance, and detailed interaction analytics.
Improve customer experiences with 24/7 AI-powered engagement built specifically for your business. Unlike basic AI competitors that offer one-size-fits-all solutions, Smith.ai delivers infinite customization with white-glove implementation tailored to your exact needs and goals.
The best receptionist services do much more than answer phone calls and take messages. At Smith.ai, we provide AI-first call handling with human support capabilities ranging from intelligent appointment scheduling to sophisticated lead intake and qualification. Whether you need AI-powered coverage 24/7, during specific hours, for escalation support, or comprehensive after-hours answering services, here are answers to the most common questions about our AI-first call answering solutions.
The AI Receptionist from Smith.ai can offer your business intelligent call support when your team is busy or unavailable. Our AI-first service with human assistance can handle calls efficiently while ensuring complex situations are escalated to professional support when needed. The AI Receptionist from Smith.ai manages incoming calls swiftly, screens inquiries, and schedules appointments so you don't miss out on potential customers. This frees your staff from regular call handling duties to focus on their core responsibilities without interruption. Your incoming calls will be answered by our AI receptionist with human support available for escalations, ensuring callers always receive appropriate assistance. Our system provides detailed call summaries so your team won't miss important information. With AI call answering services, your business can maintain professionalism at all times and grow more successful. Missed calls are missed opportunities, and as a business owner it's important to capitalize on every opportunity. With our AI receptionist handling calls your team can't answer, you can be confident your potential customers are being accommodated.
By enabling AI call answering services through Smith.ai, your business can:
AI call answering services are invaluable to your business's success. Without frequent call interruptions, you can improve your team's responsiveness and productivity, putting your business ahead of competitors. Whether your business needs lead screening assistance, customer service support, or relief from call handling pressures when your team is busy, an AI answering service with human support can transform your business operations for the better.
Call centers and in-house receptionists often deliver inconsistent quality, longer response times, and higher costs. The AI Receptionist from Smith.ai provides:
Smith.ai offers transparent, flexible pricing with no hidden fees or setup costs. Our AI Receptionist plans start at just $97.50/month for 30 calls, providing intelligent call handling with seamless human support when needed. For businesses preferring dedicated human coverage, our virtual receptionist plans begin at $292.50/month.
Our per-call pricing model means you pay only for actual calls answered — never for idle time like you would with in-house staff. If you exceed your plan’s call allowance, you simply pay for each additional call without being forced into a higher-tier plan. There are no setup fees, cancellation fees, or long-term contracts required.
You can save 10% with annual payment, and month-to-month flexibility is always available. Most businesses save 60-80% compared to hiring full-time staff while gaining 24/7 coverage with the perfect blend of AI efficiency and human support for complex situations.
Whether you choose our AI-first service or full virtual receptionist coverage, you’ll receive the same white-glove onboarding, custom call instructions, and ongoing support that sets Smith.ai apart from competitors who simply provide a subscription and leave you to figure it out alone.
Running a business means juggling a million things at once. Phone calls come in at the worst possible moments, and suddenly your team is scrambling to answer every ring while trying to get actual work done. Sound familiar?
Here are the telltale signs your business could use an AI answering service:
Your team can't keep up with calls and stay productive
Business calls don't care about your schedule. They come in during meetings, when you're with customers, and right when your team is hitting their stride on important projects.
With over 20% of calls being spam, your staff spends time figuring out which callers actually matter. Meanwhile, real customers and leads slip through the cracks because everyone's too busy to answer properly. Your team ends up with a growing pile of tasks they never seem to finish.
You can't afford full-time front desk staff
In-house receptionists and call centers cost tens of thousands of dollars annually. For most small businesses, that's budget they don't have.
Free solutions like Google Voice? They're often worse than having nothing at all. Customers hear amateur voicemail greetings and assume you're not serious about business. Without proper phone support, you lose leads and frustrate existing customers who can't reach you.
Your staff struggles to capture and qualify leads
Not everyone on your team knows how to handle sales calls. When someone who's great at their job but terrible on the phone answers a lead call, bad things happen. They might not ask the right questions, fail to capture contact information, or just sound unprofessional.
Potential customers hang up thinking your business isn't organized enough to handle their needs.
Customers get frustrated with slow response times
Happy customers keep businesses alive. When customers call with questions or problems, they expect quick answers.
But your team is buried in work. Calls go to voicemail, customers wait on hold forever, or staff rushes through conversations to get back to their "real" work. Frustrated customers hang up and call your competitors instead.
If any of this sounds like your business, an AI answering service can solve these problems fast. The AI Receptionist from Smith.ai handles calls immediately, screens out spam, captures lead information, and transfers important calls to your team when needed.
Your staff stays focused on what they do best while customers get the professional service they expect. It's like having a full-time receptionist without the full-time cost.
Every business struggles with phone calls, whether you're a one-person shop or running a huge company. Here's how an AI answering service helps at every level:
Small businesses get big company phone presence without the big company costs
Small business owners wear every hat. You're the CEO, janitor, salesperson, and everything in between. The last thing you need is spending half your day screening spam calls and taking messages.
An AI answering service gives you that professional phone presence customers expect from bigger companies. No more scrambling to answer every ring. No more full voicemail boxes scaring away potential customers. Your AI receptionist handles the calls while you focus on actually running your business.
Plus, you're not hiring a full-time receptionist at $35,000+ per year. You get professional call handling for a fraction of the cost.
Medium businesses can finally handle growth without chaos
Medium-sized companies face a unique problem. You're too big for everyone to answer phones, but too small to have dedicated phone staff. Calls get missed, leads slip away, and customers get frustrated.
Your team is buried in projects, but the phone keeps ringing. Someone has to answer, but whoever does it gets pulled away from their real work. It's a no-win situation.
The AI Receptionist from Smith.ai takes that pressure off your team. Calls get answered professionally, leads get captured properly, and your staff can focus on what they're actually good at.
Large businesses get personalized service without the overhead
Big companies have big problems. Your staff is managing massive operations, but customers still want that personal touch when they call. Hiring enough receptionists to handle every call would cost a fortune.
An AI answering service scales with your needs without scaling your costs. During busy periods, every call gets answered. During slow times, you're not paying for idle staff.
Your customers get immediate, professional service. Your team stays focused on high-level work. Your budget stays under control.
This is especially helpful for schools during enrollment periods. When thousands of prospective students are calling, the AI Receptionist from Smith.ai handles the volume while your admissions team focuses on the students who are ready to enroll.
The bottom line
No matter what size business you run, you need someone answering your phones professionally. The AI Receptionist from Smith.ai gives you that without the headaches of hiring, training, and managing reception staff.
Your customers get better service. Your team gets to focus on their actual jobs. Your business runs smoother.