For most small businesses that miss calls while they work, yes. An AI receptionist answers every call and website visitor at any hour, books them onto your calendar and sends you the details, for less than a human answering service charges. It is not worth it if you already answer almost every call, or if you run a health practice. Telos Creative in Windsor, Colorado sets them up for Northern Colorado businesses.
Below is what one does, what it costs next to a person, what it cannot do and how to tell whether it would pay for itself. Every price on this page comes from the company’s own pricing page, checked on 23 October 2026.
What does an AI receptionist do?
It is software that answers your phone and talks to visitors on your website in a natural voice. The useful ones do four things. They answer questions from information you give them, they book appointments into your real calendar, they send you a record of every conversation, and they say they are an AI.
The phone side usually works through call forwarding. You keep your number, and calls you do not answer forward to the receptionist with your carrier’s own code. Nobody has to learn a new number, and another code switches it off.
On a website it is a button. A visitor taps it and talks, the same way they would on the phone, or types if they would rather.
How many calls does a small business miss?
More than most owners expect. Invoca’s 2026 home services benchmark report, drawn from a dataset of more than 70 million calls, found that 52% of callers to home services businesses speak with a person. Across the trades it covered, the answer rate ran from 32% to 74%.
Many of those calls come when you are closed. For one Colorado remodeling client of ours, 22 of 50 taps on the phone number on their website came outside their open hours, between 31 August and 17 October 2026. An AI receptionist answers those too.
An unanswered call is someone who wanted to talk to you right then. Invoca’s own reading of its data is that when an urgent call goes unanswered, the job goes to the next company in the search results.
Check your own numbers first. Your Google Business Profile shows how many people tapped Call, and your phone shows the calls you missed. If most missed calls come while you are on a job or after hours, that is the gap an AI receptionist fills.
What does an AI receptionist cost compared with a person?
There are three ways to get your phone answered when you cannot, and they are priced very differently.
| Option | Example | Listed price |
|---|---|---|
| Human answering service | Ruby | $250 a month for 50 minutes |
| Human answering service | Smith.ai receptionists | $300 a month for 30 calls, then $11.50 a call |
| AI receptionist you set up yourself | Smith.ai AI receptionist | Free for 25 calls; Pro from $150 a month for 75 calls |
| AI receptionist set up for you | A local agency such as Telos Creative | A setup fee and a monthly plan, quoted on a call |
Prices from Ruby’s pricing page, Smith.ai’s receptionist pricing and Smith.ai’s AI receptionist pricing, checked 23 October 2026.
A human answering service costs the most per call, and it is the right choice when callers need judgment a script cannot give. An AI receptionist costs a fraction per call and never puts anyone on hold, but it only knows what it has been told.
What are you paying for when someone sets it up for you?
The tool is the easy part. Most of the work is everything around it:
- Writing what it knows: your services, your towns, your hours and answers to the questions callers ask.
- Choosing the voice, then testing it on real calls before a customer ever hears it.
- Setting up call forwarding with your phone carrier.
- Connecting your calendar, so it books real open times inside your hours.
- Making sure every booking and every conversation summary lands in your own inbox.
- Keeping it current when your services, hours or offers change.
That is the work we do at Telos Creative. We build the whole thing, so it behaves like part of your business from the first call and the leads arrive where you already look. Here is what that includes: AI receptionist for Northern Colorado businesses.
What can an AI receptionist not do?
It is good at answering, booking and passing details on. It has limits, and a good setup plans for each one.
Judge a job it has not been told about
It answers from what it knows. A question outside that, such as a quote for an unusual job, should end with the caller’s details passed to you rather than a guess.
Quote prices on its own
Unless you give it price ranges you are happy to share, it should send callers to a conversation with you.
Handle health information
Medical, dental and therapy practices need a HIPAA business associate agreement from every service involved in the call. Check that each one will sign before using an AI receptionist in a health practice. We do not build them for health businesses for that reason.
Get every email address right
A spelled-out email address is the easiest thing to mishear. A good receptionist reads each one back on the phone. On a website it can show the address on screen for the visitor to check, catch typos such as gmial.com, and confirm the address can receive mail before saving it.
Text from day one
In the US, texts from a business phone number need carrier registration first, known as A2P 10DLC. Until that is approved, a receptionist can email the booking link instead.
When is an AI receptionist not worth it?
When you already answer almost every call. When most of your calls are existing customers who need one particular person. Or when you get only a handful of calls a month, so the setup would cost more than the calls it saves.
What should you check before you buy one?
- It says it is an AI at the start of every call.
- It books into your real calendar, inside the hours you set.
- Every conversation reaches your inbox, with the caller’s number and a summary.
- You keep your own phone number.
- It ends robocalls and sales pitches quickly.
- Someone updates it when your business changes.
Can you try one before you decide?
Yes. Ours is Theo, a Colorado black bear in a TELOS polo who loves his coffee, and he is the same setup we build for clients. He asks your name first, puts your details on screen to check, can run a free audit of your website and can book you a call with Arnold. Ask him whether he is a real person, too: talk to our AI assistant.
If calls are reaching you but your website is not making the phone ring, start with what a contractor website needs to bring in calls.
Questions about AI receptionists
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?
Listed prices start at free for a small number of calls on do-it-yourself AI services. Smith.ai’s AI receptionist Pro plan starts at $150 a month for 75 calls. A setup done for you adds a setup fee and is usually priced by call volume. Human answering services start at about $250 to $300 a month.
Is an AI receptionist better than voicemail?
For most businesses, yes. Voicemail takes a message. An AI receptionist answers the question, books the appointment and sends you the caller’s details, so the caller does not have to wait for a call back.
Can an AI receptionist book appointments?
Yes, when it is connected to your calendar. It should offer real open times inside your business hours and let your calendar send the confirmation and reminders.
Will customers know they are talking to an AI?
They should. A good AI receptionist says it is an AI at the start of the call and confirms it if anyone asks.
Does an AI receptionist work after hours?
Yes. It answers at any hour, every day, and books callers into the open times you set, so an evening call can still end with a booked appointment.
Want to know whether it would pay off for your business? Book a call with Arnold and he will look at how your calls come in. Arnold Jakobsen founded Telos Creative and is a StoryBrand Certified Guide.
