AI Receptionist

The AI receptionist for small business that answers every call.

SmallForce is an AI receptionist and 24/7 AI answering service for small businesses. It answers your local business number, replies from what you’ve taught it, takes down caller details and puts urgent calls through to your iPhone. The same virtual receptionist talks to people on your website, too.

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Hear it answer

Hear our AI receptionist answer real calls.

Three recorded calls to sample businesses: a same-day HVAC repair, a weekend house viewing and a remodel estimate. Each one ends with a recording, a transcript and the caller’s details, saved where you and your AI employees can use them.

Recorded calls to sample businesses. Names, numbers and addresses are fictional.

Cedar Valley Heating and Air Recorded call
0:00 0:34

Transcript

Select a line to jump to it

Captured on this call

  • Issue AC running, blowing warm air
  • Started About an hour ago
  • Caller Alex, 42 Willow Lane
  • Wants Someone today, if possible

Same-day service request sent to the team with Alex’s details.

Now call it yourself

An AI receptionist for your website, with a face.

Add the same receptionist to your website. Visitors talk to it by voice, or face to face with a talking avatar. Same knowledge, same rules, same transcript afterwards. 

npm install @smallforce/embed
createEmbed({ embedId: "…" })

  • Front desk

  • Real estate

  • HVAC

  • Contractor

How to get an AI receptionist

Set up your AI receptionist once. It answers from then on.

Four steps from sign-up to your first answered call. You can test every answer before a single customer hears it.

Set up yours

  1. Step 1

    Pick a local number

    Choose one in your area code. Available in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia.

  2. Step 2

    Teach it your business

    Add your services, hours, service area and policies. It answers from what you give it and hands over when it doesn’t know.

  3. Step 3

    Decide who picks up

    The AI first, your team first, or the AI with a hand-off to you. Set your hours and a fallback.

  4. Step 4

    Read every call

    The recording, transcript and caller’s details land in your dashboard and the workspace your AI employees share.

What an AI receptionist does

The calls your AI receptionist takes off your plate.

Most missed calls aren’t complicated. They come at the wrong moment: after hours, mid-job, or while you’re already on the phone.

  • After-hours emergencies

    Gets the details, keeps the caller calm and brings you in when it’s urgent.

  • Hours, prices and services

    Answers the questions you get ten times a day, from your own material, the same way every time.

  • New customer inquiries

    Asks the questions you would ask and saves the answers, so the first callback starts informed.

  • Quote and appointment requests

    Collects what the job needs and when they’re free, so your team can confirm without a second call.

  • Existing customers checking in

    Takes a clear message with the context, instead of a voicemail you have to decode.

  • Calls while you’re busy

    Picks up when your team can’t: on another call, on a job, or closed for the day.

One receptionist, three front doors

One AI receptionist for your phone line, website and call links.

It knows the same things and follows the same rules wherever someone reaches you, and every conversation lands in one place.

  • On your business number

    A local number with your hours, routing and fallback. Every call recorded and transcribed.

  • On your website

    Visitors talk to it by voice or with a talking avatar, without leaving your page. Add it with one embed.

  • Through a personal link

    Send a customer their own call link. The receptionist already knows why they’re calling.

Plumber taking a call in his work van

You stay in charge

Answer any call yourself, from your iPhone.

Can AI replace a receptionist? For routine calls, yes. For the calls that need you, the receptionist rings your iPhone like any other call, and the app shows why they’re calling as you pick up. You join the same call, so the caller never hangs up and starts over.

  • Rings on iPhone, even when the app is closed.
  • Or answer from the web dashboard at your desk.
  • Set the hours you’re reachable, or pause hand-offs while you’re on a job.
Get the iPhone app

Gets better every week

An AI receptionist that learns from every call.

Every transcript goes into your private workspace. Your AI employees find the questions the receptionist couldn’t answer, the complaints that keep coming up and the services people ask for that you don’t offer yet. Then they tell you what to change.

  • Unanswered questions

    Gaps in what the receptionist knows, found and fixed before the next caller asks.

  • Customer pain points

    The complaints and delays callers mention, collected across every call instead of lost in voicemail.

  • Follow-up that happens

    Call details sit in the same workspace as your other AI employees, so the follow-up email or quote can start from the call.

One of your AI employees

The receptionist is one hire. The rest of your team handles the follow-up.

SmallForce isn’t a phone tool with AI attached. The receptionist works in the same workspace as your other AI employees, so a call can turn into the email, the calendar slot and the review request without you copying anything across.

Salon owner checking her phone between clients
  1. Receptionist Answers Sam’s call and saves it: balayage, new client, Thursday afternoon.
  2. Assistant Finds an open Thursday slot and drafts the confirmation email for you to send.
  3. Marketer After the visit, asks Sam for a Google review.
  4. Operator Adds the call to Friday’s review, with anything the receptionist should learn.

Follow-up uses the apps you connect, like Gmail and Google Calendar. You decide what needs your approval.

Compare

AI receptionist vs. voicemail vs. a virtual receptionist service

SmallForce AI receptionist Voicemail Virtual receptionist service
Answers every call, 24/7 Yes No, takes a message Depends on the plan
Answers questions about your business Yes, from your own material No Usually a short script
Talks to website visitors Yes, voice or video No Rarely
Recording and transcript of every call Yes Audio only Varies
Puts the caller through to you live Yes, in the app No Often a message instead
Learns from past calls Yes, reviewed by your AI team No No

By industry

An AI receptionist for businesses that live on the phone.

Private by design

Your calls stay your business.

  • Your own machine

    Each business runs on its own private SmallForce machine. Recordings and transcripts live in your workspace.

  • Your disclosure, your words

    You write the greeting, including that callers are talking to AI and that the call is recorded.

  • Trains nobody else’s AI

    What your callers say is used to serve your business, not to train anyone else’s models.

FAQ

AI receptionist questions, answered

Anything else? Talk to us.

What is an AI receptionist?

An AI receptionist is software that answers your business phone in a natural voice, answers questions from your own information, collects the caller’s details and brings in a person when needed. SmallForce’s receptionist also answers on your website.

What does an AI receptionist do?

It answers every call, day or night. It answers common questions about your services, hours and service area, takes down the caller’s name, number and what they need, and puts urgent callers through to you. Every call is recorded and transcribed.

Can AI answer my business phone calls?

Yes. You get a local number the AI receptionist answers, or you forward your existing line to it. You choose whether it answers every call, only when your team doesn’t pick up, or answers and then hands over.

Can an AI receptionist replace a human receptionist?

For routine calls, often yes: hours, prices, directions, new inquiries and after-hours calls. For calls that need judgment, it hands the caller to you or your team in the app, so you don’t have to choose one or the other.

Is an AI receptionist worth it?

If calls go to voicemail because you’re on a job, with a customer or closed, it usually is. Every call it answers is one that would have gone unanswered, and each arrives with a transcript you can act on.

How much does an AI receptionist cost?

Most AI receptionists charge a monthly plan plus usage. SmallForce includes the receptionist in your plan alongside your other AI employees, with calls billed by the minute.

See current plans
How do I get an AI receptionist?

Sign up, pick a local number, add your business information and test a few calls. When it answers the way you want, publish the number or forward your existing line to it.

Can I keep my existing business number?

You get a new local number from SmallForce. To keep publishing your current number, turn on call forwarding with your phone carrier so those calls reach the receptionist.

What happens when a caller needs a real person?

The receptionist rings you in the SmallForce iPhone app or web dashboard with a summary of the call. When you accept, you join the same call. If you’re unavailable it follows the fallback you chose.

Will callers know they’re talking to AI?

You write the greeting. We recommend saying it’s an AI assistant, and in many places you must tell callers the call is recorded.

Can I try an AI receptionist for free?

Yes. Talk to the live demo at the top of this page. It runs in your browser and needs no sign-up.

Does it send text messages?

Not yet. Today it answers phone calls and website conversations, and collects the caller’s details for your follow-up.

Which languages does it speak?

English today.

Where do recordings and transcripts go?

Into your private SmallForce workspace, where you and your AI employees can read them.

Hear the AI receptionist answer before you set it up.

Two minutes with the free demo tells you more than this page can.

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