AI phone assistant / Answering service
A name and a number are not a job. An assistant takes the whole case.
An answering service takes a name and a number; CoderConda's AI phone assistant takes the whole case, for €495 one-off, then €25 a month. Otherwise you only hear the case in the call back.
| Field | Answering service | Assistant |
|---|---|---|
| Caller | The Hansen family | The Hansen family |
| Number | 0172 ·· ·· 42 | 0172 ·· ·· 42 |
| Subject | Bathroom | Bathroom renovation |
| Size | not recorded | 3.00 × 2.50 m |
| Scope | not recorded | Tub out, walk-in shower in |
| Call back | not recorded | today from 18:00 |
| What reaches the office | “Please call back” | The whole case, filed |
| Questions on the call back | 3 | 0 |
On the left the call back starts again. On the right it starts at the quote.
An example call, not a measured client.
01 — Comparison
The human wins on the unexpected. The assistant wins on repetition.
Five questions you can put to any provider. One of them goes to the human.
| Question | Answering service | Assistant |
|---|---|---|
| What is recorded | Name, number, keyword | The complete case with a call-back time |
| Technical questions | Not possible without training | Prepared per trade in advance |
| Nights and weekends | A surcharge, or not at all | Same price, same questions |
| On an unusual call | A human improvises and usually gets it right | Records what it has and marks the rest as open |
| Billing | Usually per call or per minute | Monthly, 60 minutes, then €0.15 a minute |
The square marks who is ahead on that question.
02 — Setup
It knows only your company. That is its entire advantage.
You give the answers once, instead of paying for onboarding every month.
- 01
It knows your range of work
What the company does and does not do. An enquiry outside it is recorded as exactly that instead of producing an appointment.
What you hand over onceThe range of work and the enquiries that fall outside it
- 02
It knows your trade’s questions
Measurements for a renovation, meter number for electrical work, vehicle type in a garage. A general service cannot ask those.
What you hand over onceThe question set a call back can run on without follow-ups
- 03
It knows the emergency rule
What gets forwarded immediately is agreed in advance. An external service decides that for itself when in doubt.
What you hand over onceEmergency keywords with a forwarding destination
- 04
It writes into your system
The record lands where it is handled, not in another email for somebody to retype.
What you hand over onceResponsibilities and call-back windows per person
03 — Limits
There are calls where a human on the line is the whole point.
- 01
An angry caller wants to be calmed down, not questioned. For that I set up a forward, not a recording.
- 02
Where every call is a negotiation, over prices, dates and exceptions, the assistant records and decides nothing.
- 03
At very low call volumes neither option pays for itself. Then voicemail with a good greeting is the honest answer.
04 — Questions
What is still open before you switch.
01Can I run both at once?
Yes, and in the first weeks that is often the calmest arrangement. The assistant records from the fifth ring, and one agreed keyword forwards to the human service. After the first month the log shows how often each route was taken.
02What if more calls come in than usual?
Up to 60 minutes of calls a month the price does not change: €495 one-off, €25 a month, cancellable monthly. Each further minute costs €0.15. The assistant takes up to 10 calls at once.
03Will a regular customer notice the difference?
Yes, in the first sentence, because it says an assistant is speaking. What they will not notice is having to say everything twice.
05 — Appointment
Pick a time.Fifteen minutes.
In the call I tell you whether an assistant or an answering service suits your company. If the service suits better, I say that too.
The calendar is hosted by cal.com.
Loading it opens a connection from your browser to cal.com (USA), which transmits your IP address; cal.com may set cookies when it loads. You can also go straight there instead.
Three neighbouring pages