An AI receptionist that knows when to get a person.

What an AI receptionist handles well

Most small businesses get the same handful of calls over and over. Those are the calls to hand off first.

• Common questions. Hours, location, service area, what you do and don’t offer, how to pay.
• Messages. Name, number and reason for the call, sent to the right person by email, text or Slack.
• Appointments. Checking your calendar and booking a time, where your calendar or scheduling software allows it.
• After-hours and overflow. Answering at night, on weekends, or when everyone is already on a call.
• Routing. Sending a caller to the right person by department, urgency or language, including English and Spanish.
• Screening. Filtering spam and robocalls before your phone rings.
• Record keeping. Transcripts and call outcomes saved to your email or CRM.

What should still go to a person

A good setup is defined as much by what the AI won’t do. We agree this list with you before anything goes live.

• Upset customers and complaints.
• Anything needing judgment about money, such as discounts, refunds or a price you haven’t approved.
• Medical, legal or financial questions that call for a professional.
• Any caller who asks for a human. That request should always work.
• Calls the AI doesn’t understand after a reasonable try. It should say so and take a message, not guess.

How a call works

1. The greeting. The AI says who it’s answering for and that it’s an automated assistant.
2. Working out what the caller needs. Callers speak normally, with no “press 1” menu.
3. Doing the job. It answers from the information you approved, looks up an open time or collects details.
4. Handing off. If the call needs a person, it transfers or takes a message and says what happens next.
5. The summary. You get who called, what they wanted and what was done, usually within moments of the call ending.

If you’d like to understand the technology behind those steps, read what an AI voice agent is.

How to choose the best AI receptionist

There is no single best product, and be careful with rankings published by the companies being ranked, including anyone selling you one. What matters is the fit with your calls. Test any option against these questions:

• Can it reach what it needs? A receptionist that can’t see your calendar or CRM can only take messages.
• What happens when it’s stuck? Call it and ask something it can’t know. Then ask for a person.
• Does it get names and numbers right? Spell a difficult name and read out a phone number on a bad line. This is where voice AI most often slips.
• Can you see what it said? You should have a transcript of every call and a way to correct its answers.
• How is usage counted? Per minute, per call and per customer produce very different bills. Our cost comparison works one example through.
• Where does the call data go? Ask which outside companies process it, and whether it’s used to train their models.

If a ready-made product does what you need, buy that. A custom setup earns its cost when calls have to connect to your own tools, follow your own rules or route in ways a packaged product won’t allow. We’ll tell you which one you’re looking at.

How we set it up

We start with your real calls: what people ask, what they need, and what you’d want done with each. Then we write the scope, including what it connects to, what it costs and which usage fees are separate.

We build and test it against examples from your business and fix what we find. It goes live only once you’ve called it yourself and approved it. Keeping your existing number is usually possible through call forwarding or by moving the number. We agree who handles upkeep as part of the scope, because phone systems and the businesses behind them change.

WildRun is based in Bend, Oregon, and focuses on Central Oregon. Work elsewhere is possible when it’s a good fit.

Your line of work may raise its own questions:

Disclosure and call recording

We set receptionists up to say they’re AI and to confirm it when someone sincerely asks. Recording and transcription rules differ from state to state, and some require everyone on the call to agree, so the greeting tells callers when a call may be recorded.

Calling people is a different matter from answering them. In February 2024 the FCC ruled that AI-generated voices count as “artificial” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which generally means getting the person’s consent before an AI calls them. We don’t build calling or texting to people who haven’t agreed to it. Business texting also needs carrier registration, which we build into the plan when it applies. This is general information, not legal advice.

Common questions about AI receptionists