AI Receptionist
A managed AI receptionist for Australian businesses.
It answers the calls your team can't, captures the details, books approved work and hands off to a person when it matters. Set up, supervised and improved by Alban in Geelong. It is a managed service, not another app to configure.
What is it costing you?
Run the maths in ten seconds.
Missed calls quietly become lost customers. Drag two sliders to see the lifetime value going to voicemail each month.
Free tool
What are missed calls costing you?
Two sliders. A live answer.
Total revenue a typical customer brings over the years, not one job.
Lost
$5,196 /month
in customer lifetime value. About $2,598 of it is profit.
Test every assumption in the full calculatorExample for trades & home services: 50% of missed calls genuine, you win 30%, 50% margin. Placeholders, not a forecast.
In short
An AI receptionist is a voice system that answers your business phone, talks naturally with callers, captures their details, answers approved questions and books approved appointments or jobs. Anything it should not handle goes to your team.
Excelsior AI's version is managed. We configure it around your services and rules, review real calls and keep improving it. The top plan comes with an outcome guarantee.
- Answers overflow, after-hours and busy-period calls so enquiries are not lost to voicemail.
- Books only the services, areas and times you approve. Complex quotes and commitments stay with your team.
- Managed, not self-serve: set-up, monitoring and a monthly review are part of the service.
- From A$390 a month for trades and A$590 for healthcare, after a 14-day pilot with no management fee.
Hear it first
Call the demo line and talk to the AI receptionist yourself. A demonstration, not a business line.
What it does on a real call
Every call is different, so the receptionist works from rules you agree in advance. Depending on the plan, a typical call looks like this.
- Answers promptly when your team is busy, on another call or closed.
- Captures the caller's name, number, reason for calling and preferred callback time.
- Answers the frequently asked questions you approve, such as hours, service areas and how to get started.
- Qualifies the enquiry against your services, location and urgency.
- Books approved appointment or job types directly into the availability you set, or takes a complete callback request when it cannot.
- Sends your team a structured summary straight away, and escalates anything urgent or outside its remit.
AI receptionist, virtual receptionist or answering service?
These three are often confused. A traditional answering service or virtual receptionist is a person, usually shared across many businesses, who takes a message or follows a script during set hours. That works well for some businesses, and a person is the better choice for emotionally difficult calls or decisions that need real judgement.
An AI receptionist is not limited by a roster, so it can answer when every person is busy, and it can do more than take a message: qualify the call and book the job. The trade-off is that it needs clear rules, testing and ongoing supervision, which is what the managed service provides.
Many businesses do best with both: the AI receptionist handles routine calls and after-hours enquiries, and your people take the calls that need them.
Managed service or software: which do you need?
Self-serve AI receptionist software can cost far less than a managed service. If you are comfortable writing the call flow, testing it, watching the calls and fixing mistakes yourself, software alone may be all you need.
Our service is for owners who would rather not do that. We design the call flow with you, set the boundaries, monitor real calls and correct problems, and on the top plan we stand behind the outcome with a guarantee. You pay for the result and the supervision, not for a login.
What it deliberately does not do
- It does not quote complex jobs, agree prices or make commitments your team has not approved.
- It does not give professional, medical or legal advice.
- It does not replace the people who build relationships with your customers.
- It does not guess. Where it is unsure, it captures the details and hands over.
- You decide how it introduces itself. We recommend it is upfront that it is an AI assistant.
Who it suits, and who it does not
It suits established businesses where calls become revenue and your team cannot always answer: trades and home services, clinics and practices, and professional-services firms. If a missed call can mean a lost job or a lost client, the maths is usually worth doing.
If you only receive a handful of calls a week, it may not be worthwhile yet. Our missed-call cost calculator helps you check before you spend anything.
How it works
From first conversation to live calls.
- 01
Talk it through
A free 30-minute conversation with Alban about your calls, your team and what a good outcome looks like. No obligation.
- 02
Agree the rules
We set the services, areas, hours, approved answers and escalation rules the receptionist works within. Anything outside them goes to your team.
- 03
Run a 14-day live pilot
Your first 14 live days carry no management fee. You pay actual call usage at cost, so you can judge it on real calls.
- 04
Keep, adjust or stop
Choose the plan that fits what the pilot showed. Each month we review calls, fix what needs fixing and report what happened.
Pricing
Priced for a managed service, with a trial first.
Trades and service businesses start at A$390 a month. Healthcare practices start at A$590, which includes healthcare-specific privacy, safety and escalation controls. You see the exact plan and price before anything is agreed.
From A$390 a month
Message capture
A safety net for missed calls: collect the essential details and notify your team.
Callback
Answers, qualifies and sends your team an actionable callback request, including after hours.
Self-booking
Books approved appointment or job types directly, with a callback as the fallback.
Guaranteed
Self-booking plus priority support, monthly optimisation and the outcome guarantee.
- All prices are in Australian dollars. Excelsior AI is not currently registered for GST.
- Each plan includes a monthly allowance of voice minutes. Extra minutes are A$0.35 each.
- There is no separate set-up fee; implementation is covered by the monthly fee. Initial terms run 6 to 12 months depending on the plan, then month to month.
- The top plan carries an outcome guarantee: if fewer than 80% of eligible calls produce a useful outcome in a month (with at least 30 eligible calls), the following month's management fee is credited, up to twice in a 12-month term. Full terms are in the written agreement.
FAQ
Questions.
What is an AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is a voice system that answers your business calls, speaks naturally with callers, captures their details, answers approved questions and books approved work. It follows rules you set and passes anything else to your team.
How much does an AI receptionist cost in Australia?
Self-serve software can cost less than a managed service. Excelsior AI's managed AI receptionist starts at A$390 a month for trades and service businesses and A$590 for healthcare, including set-up, supervision and a monthly review. The right plan depends on your call volume and whether you want direct booking.
Will callers know they are speaking to an AI?
You decide how the receptionist introduces itself. We recommend it is upfront that it is an AI assistant, and callers who need a person are escalated under rules agreed with you.
What happens to calls it cannot handle?
It captures the details and either escalates to your team or sends a complete callback request. It does not guess or make commitments outside its approved scope.
Does it replace my receptionist?
No. It covers calls your people cannot take, such as overflow, after-hours and busy periods, and takes routine calls off their plate. People stay in charge of anything needing judgement.
Can I hear it before I commit?
Yes. Call the demo line shown on this page to talk to the AI receptionist yourself. It is a demonstration, not a business line.
How does the 14-day pilot work?
Your first 14 live days carry no management fee. You pay only actual call usage at cost. At the end you choose a plan, adjust the set-up or stop.
Is it suitable for a medical practice?
Yes, with a healthcare configuration. It handles approved administrative enquiries and bookings only, never clinical advice. See our page for medical practices for details.
Keep exploring
Related.
By Alban de Vaucorbeil, Geelong. Reviewed . Guidance, not a guarantee of results.
Stop losing work to missed calls.
A free 30-minute conversation with Alban about your calls. If an AI receptionist is not the right move, he will say so.
For established, multi-employee businesses.