A Virtual Receptionist Who Is Always at the Desk
All the cover of a receptionist — answering, booking, taking messages, knowing your prices — without the salary, the desk, the holiday rota or the recruitment round when they leave.
A virtual receptionist answers your calls from outside your office. Ours is an AI voice agent rather than a remote person: it works around the clock, knows your full service list, books straight into your calendar, and costs a flat monthly fee with no per-call charges.
See what a virtual receptionist would cost you
A straight monthly figure, not a per-minute tariff. We will build you a demo agent so you can hear it before deciding.
A new client enquiry to a solicitors firm, captured in full and booked into an intake slot — not left as a name on a pad.
Against Hiring, and Against Doing Nothing
Most people weighing up virtual receptionist services are really choosing between three things, and the honest comparison is rarely on the provider’s own website.
| Hire a receptionist | Leave it to voicemail | AI virtual receptionist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hours covered | Your office hours, minus breaks | None — nobody answers | 24/7, every day of the year |
| Holiday and sickness cover | You arrange and pay for it | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Calls at once | One | Unlimited, all unanswered | Unlimited, all answered |
| Books into your diary | Yes | No | Yes |
| Knows your prices on day one | After training | No | Yes |
| Ongoing cost | Salary, NI, pension, cover | Nothing, plus the lost work | Flat monthly fee |
Plenty of our clients have a receptionist and still use the agent — it takes the overflow, the lunch hour and everything after 5pm.
What Actually Drives the Price
Virtual receptionist pricing is usually quoted per call, per minute or per bundle of minutes, which makes it genuinely hard to compare providers — you are guessing at your own future call volume. We price differently, and it is worth explaining why.
Our cost is driven by complexity, not traffic. An agent that answers questions and takes messages is simpler than one that reads live availability from a practice-management system, applies your booking rules, and routes urgent calls to three different people depending on the time of day. The first is quick to build; the second takes real configuration. Call volume barely moves the number, because the agent does not queue and does not need more staff at 9am on a Monday.
So the questions we ask when quoting are: what does the agent need to know, what systems must it touch, and what must it never do on its own? Answer those three and we can give you a monthly figure that does not change when you have a good month.
We are also happy to tell you when it is not worth it. If you take four calls a week and answer all of them, an AI receptionist is solving a problem you do not have.
From Conversation to Live in a Week
One briefing session
Your services, prices, hours, who calls and what they ask. We turn that into the agent’s knowledge — you do not fill in a form.
A test line to poke at
Ring it, get your team to ring it, try to catch it out. Tell us what sounded off and we change the wording, the voice and the rules.
Forward on your terms
Everything, only unanswered calls, or only out-of-hours. Your number does not change and you can dial the coverage up or down.
| In the monthly fee | Not in it |
|---|---|
| Unlimited answered calls, 24/7 | Your phone line and number |
| Calendar-connected booking | Card payments over the phone |
| Email summary and transcript per call | Advice that must come from a qualified person |
| Unlimited knowledge and wording updates | Outbound calling — see Leads Outreach |
| Escalation rules you define | Inbox handling — see Email Manager |
What Our Clients Say
We looked at hiring part-time reception cover and the sums never worked. This covers evenings and weekends too, for less than the part-time role would have cost.
It knows our treatment list better than a temp ever did on their first week. Patients get a straight answer instead of “I’ll have to check”.
Done For You, Not Sold to You
Built to your business
The agent knows your services and prices because we put them in, not because you configured a template.
Flat monthly fee
No per-minute meter. Forward as many calls as you like without watching the cost.
UK company, UK rules
UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, ICO as regulator, retention periods you choose.
Changes are free
New service, new price, new opening hours — email us and it is updated. No change-request quote.
Which Agent Fits Which Problem
| If your problem is… | The right agent | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| Reception cover you cannot justify hiring for | AI Receptionist | AI receptionist |
| A per-call bureau bill you want rid of | AI Receptionist | Telephone answering service |
| A small business missing calls while on the job | AI Receptionist | Answering service for small business |
| An inbox that is as bad as the phone | Email Manager | Email management |
| Too few enquiries in the first place | Leads Outreach | B2B lead generation agency |
| A workflow no off-the-shelf tool covers | Custom build | AI consultancy |
Virtual Receptionist: Common Questions
How does virtual receptionist pricing work?
We charge a flat monthly fee, set by what the agent needs to know and do rather than by call volume. There is no per-call or per-minute element, so the cost is the same in a busy month as a quiet one. Tell us your setup and we will quote a figure.
Is a virtual receptionist for small business worth it?
It is worth it when missed calls are costing you work and a full-time hire is not justified. For a one or two-person business the phone is the bottleneck: you cannot be on a job and on a call at once, and an agent removes that trade-off.
Is this a real person working remotely?
No — it is an AI voice agent, and we say so plainly. That is why it can cover nights and weekends, take ten calls at once and still cost a flat fee. Anything needing genuine human judgement is escalated to your team.
Can it answer questions about our prices and services?
Yes. We load your full service list, prices, opening hours and the questions you actually get asked. It answers from that, and when it does not know it says so and takes a message rather than inventing an answer.
What if we only want cover at certain times?
Common and easy. Forward on no-answer, forward outside opening hours, or forward everything — the rule sits with your phone provider and you can change it whenever you like.
How quickly can we start?
About a week for most businesses. One session to capture what the agent needs to know, a few days of testing on a spare number, then you change your forwarding rule.
Ask What It Would Cost You
Tell us what you would want covered and we will come back with a flat monthly figure — and a demo agent you can ring.
Prefer email? sghaith@businessaiagents.co.uk