Receptly 1300 556 520

How it works

What happens when someone rings.

No diagrams, no buzzwords. Here is the actual journey a call takes, from the second ring to the text that lands on your phone.

The first thing they hear

It says what it is

“[Your business name], this is the virtual receptionist. This call may be recorded so we get your job details right. How can I help?”

That line is said before anything is recorded, on every call. If a caller asks whether they are talking to a person, they are told plainly that they are not. We are not interested in fooling your customers — and neither should you be, because they are the ones you have to face on site.

The call journey

Six things, in about ninety seconds

  1. It picks upSecond ring, every time, including 2am on a Sunday. It says your business name and that it is a virtual receptionist. Nobody is tricked into thinking it is you.
  2. It works out what the call isA burst pipe, a quote, a reschedule, or someone selling you SEO. Those four calls need four different things and it sorts them in the first twenty seconds.
  3. It gets the details rightName, number, address, and what is actually wrong. It reads the phone number back. Addresses get repeated. This is where most messages fall apart and it is the part we are fussiest about.
  4. It does something with itBooks it into your calendar, or transfers the call to you, or takes a message — whichever your rules say for that kind of call at that time of day.
  5. You get toldA text and an email with the caller, the number, the address, what they want, and how urgent it is. Usually before they have finished putting their phone down.
  6. The call is keptRecording and written transcript, so if there is ever a disagreement about what was said, there is an answer.

What it knows

It is not a generic robot with your name bolted on

The difference between a receptionist that helps and one that embarrasses you is what it knew before it picked up. Here is what we load in during setup.

  • Your tradeA plumber’s receptionist asks about water going anywhere it should not. A locksmith’s asks whether you are standing outside right now. Same system, different head on it.
  • Your areasIt knows which suburbs you cover and what you do about the ones you do not. No booking a job ninety minutes away that you were never going to take.
  • Your hoursAnd what after hours means for you specifically. Some trades want the 11pm call, some want it taken as a message and dealt with at seven.
  • Your rulesWho gets which job, which calendar it goes in, what needs a call back from you before anything is promised.
  • Your call-out feeIf you want it said out loud, it will say it, exactly as you worded it. If you would rather it did not, it will not.

Urgent or not

How it tells a burst pipe from a price shopper

You tell us what counts as an emergency in your trade and we teach it those words. For a plumber that is water going somewhere it should not, no hot water, sewage, gas. For a sparky it is burning smells, no power, anything a kid can reach.

When it hears one of those, it says so out loud — that this is an urgent one and it is getting marked that way — and then it follows whatever rule you set. Transfer to you, ring a second number, or take it as a flagged message. It does not quietly decide on your behalf.

And it does not do the thing where it says “someone will be in touch shortly” and leaves the caller guessing. It says what is actually true: it has been marked urgent, here is who is being told, here is when you will hear back.

The limits

What it will never do

Worth reading properly, because this is where trust in the thing is won or lost.

  • Quote the work. It will not guess a price for a job nobody has looked at. Your call-out fee is the one number it can say, and only if you tell it to.
  • Promise a time. It books what your calendar says is free. It will not tell someone you will be there within the hour because they pushed.
  • Say you are on your way unless it has been told you are.
  • Take card or bank details over the phone. Ever, for any reason, however the caller asks.
  • Make something up. If it does not know, it says it does not know and that someone will ring back — which is what a good receptionist does too.
  • Pretend to be human. Ask it and it will tell you straight.

There is a longer version of this in what an AI receptionist cannot do. We would rather you knew the edges before you bought it.

Afterwards

What lands on your phone

A text and an email, straight after the call. Who rang, their number, the address, what they want, and whether it is urgent. Not a notification telling you that you have a notification — the actual details, so you can decide what to do from the roof you are standing on.

The booking is already in your calendar if it was bookable. If it went into ServiceM8, simPRO, Fergus or AroFlo, it is in there too.

The recording is kept for six months and the transcript for as long as you are a client. The full detail, including how a caller gets a copy or has theirs deleted, is on the call recording page.

Getting started

What week one looks like

  1. Day oneThe discovery call. Fifteen minutes. You talk, we write it down.
  2. Day two to threeWe build it and send you the script. You read it and tell us what is wrong with it.
  3. Day fourYou ring it yourself and try to break it. We fix whatever you find.
  4. Day fiveYou divert your number. It starts answering.
  5. The month afterWe listen to your real calls and keep tuning. Month two sounds noticeably better than day five.

You keep your number the whole way through. Diverting it is a setting on your phone, and you can turn it off whenever you like. How to divert, by carrier.

Hear it

Reading about it only gets you so far

Ring the number. Be difficult. That is the only demo worth having.

1300 556 520
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