Does anyone use AI to answer the phone?

[MasterCarpet]

I use housecallpro and they’ve been recently adding a lot of ai stuff. I haven’t looked too much into it, but I do keep up with it just as a bit of a hobby.

I tend to not answer my phone through the day. Partially because 90 percent is spam, and also I just hate talking to customers while I’m driving or in the middle of cleaning.

They have an AI answering service now. I did a little demo with it and it seems interesting. My number 1 problem as an owner operator is not getting back to people quickly enough. Usually it’s fine but not so much for new customers or customers under 40 yrs old.

I feel two way about this. One is that, I could never miss a call again. At least if someone calls it will be picked up and the info will be taken, and the job will probably get scheduled, or at the least a message taken with details. But on the other hand, the whole AI customer service thing hasn’t gone totally mainstream yet, although I’m sure it will within the next year or two. I kind of worry that all the boomers I work for will be put off by it and think that I’m some big crappy national company that doesn’t care about them. When in reality it’s just a way to get their info to help them and myself at the same time.

Has anyone done this or thought about doing this yet?

 

[SamIam]

No I couldn't afford Allen Iverson

 

[Luky]

I use housecallpro and they’ve been recently adding a lot of ai stuff. I haven’t looked too much into it, but I do keep up with it just as a bit of a hobby.

I tend to not answer my phone through the day. Partially because 90 percent is spam, and also I just hate talking to customers while I’m driving or in the middle of cleaning.

They have an AI answering service now. I did a little demo with it and it seems interesting. My number 1 problem as an owner operator is not getting back to people quickly enough. Usually it’s fine but not so much for new customers or customers under 40 yrs old.

I feel two way about this. One is that, I could never miss a call again. At least if someone calls it will be picked up and the info will be taken, and the job will probably get scheduled, or at the least a message taken with details. But on the other hand, the whole AI customer service thing hasn’t gone totally mainstream yet, although I’m sure it will within the next year or two. I kind of worry that all the boomers I work for will be put off by it and think that I’m some big crappy national company that doesn’t care about them. When in reality it’s just a way to get their info to help them and myself at the same time.

Has anyone done this or thought about doing this yet?

I believe that with enough input, AI can successfully pave the way and take over basic conversations with prospects, maybe not all the prospects, but the easy ones, for sure. For now, live customer service is gold. I clean, my wife takes calls, schedules appointments( full- time) , life is good.

 

[Brian H]

We are looking at the possiblity of adding AI to our office as a replacement for one of our CSRs.

Up until recently, a "machine" answering a phone had less than a 50% ability to complete the call with the customer without having to hand off to a real person. With AI, the claims are that they are in the 80%-90% range. The majority of those people never know they are talking to a machine. We are right in the middle of working through whether it is a good idea for us or not. I have seen demos of some of the new AI CSRs and they are pretty convincing to at least add to one to our "staff".

For us it would be a supplement to our live staff. Saving us a body or two answering calls and booking appointments.

The positives:

• It works 24/7
• It gives accurate information for every call, nothing is omitted. All claims of " they never told me" are eliminated.
• No more "The girl in the office said it would be free" claims.
• It never calls in sick
• Never takes a lunch, potty, or cigarette break.
• All calls have the ability to be transcribed for review later.
• They can monitor the tone of the call and/or key works so it knows when to transfer to a live person.
• Cheaper than a live person.

The negatives:

• It lacks the personal touch as much a real person.
• It doesn't have the ability to grow the relationship after multiple interactions.

We will see over the next few months where we go.

 

[Kenny Hayes]

No cigarette break ought to be worth something. I think I've had two smokers in the last decade One would really #burn my ass

 

[MasterCarpet]

We are looking at the possiblity of adding AI to our office as a replacement for one of our CSRs.

Up until recently, a "machine" answering a phone had less than a 50% ability to complete the call with the customer without having to hand off to a real person. With AI, the claims are that they are in the 80%-90% range. The majority of those people never know they are talking to a machine. We are right in the middle of working through whether it is a good idea for us or not. I have seen demos of some of the new AI CSRs and they are pretty convincing to at least add to one to our "staff".

For us it would be a supplement to our live staff. Saving us a body or two answering calls and booking appointments.

The positives:

• It works 24/7
• It gives accurate information for every call, nothing is omitted. All claims of " they never told me" are eliminated.
• No more "The girl in the office said it would be free" claims.
• It never calls in sick
• Never takes a lunch, potty, or cigarette break.
• All calls have the ability to be transcribed for review later.
• They can monitor the tone of the call and/or key works so it knows when to transfer to a live person.
• Cheaper than a live person.

The negatives:

• It lacks the personal touch as much a real person.
• It doesn't have the ability to grow the relationship after multiple interactions.

We will see over the next few months where we go.

The housecallpro ai informs the customer immediately that they’re the AI assistant for the business. I felt like maybe that’s a good thing.