AI Receptionist

Your AI Receptionist answers calls on your behalf, greeting callers, answering common questions, and capturing new job requests — so you never miss a lead while you’re out on the tools or after hours.

Pricing

The AI Receptionist is a paid add-on for SortScape customers. It is currently only available in Australia and New Zealand but will be coming to other countries soon.

For the current AI Receptionist add-on price, see the pricing page.

The AI Receptionist has a flat monthly rate, works with any SortScape plan, and is not priced per user.

Managing your AI Receptionist subscription

The AI Receptionist is billed as a monthly add-on on your SortScape subscription. Manage it from Billing in a web browser (not the SortScape mobile app).

Remove the add-on

To stop paying for AI Receptionist:

1. Open Billing in a web browser
2. Find AI Receptionist in your plan details
3. Click Remove and confirm

What happens when you remove it:

• AI Receptionist turns off immediately and stops answering new calls
• You are not charged for the add-on going forward (monthly plans are prorated on your next invoice)
• Your dedicated phone number is kept for 30 days so you can add the add-on again without losing the number
• After 30 days, the number is released if you have not re-added the add-on

There is no option to schedule add-on removal for the end of your billing period while keeping the service running until then.

Temporarily stop answering calls (keep billing)

If you want to pause call answering but keep the add-on on your account:

1. Go to Admin → AI Receptionist
2. Turn AI Receptionist enabled off

You will still be billed for the add-on until you remove it from Billing.

For general SortScape plan changes and account cancellation, see Billing plans, changes, and cancellation.

How it works

When a customer calls your AI Receptionist number, the assistant:

1. Greets the caller with your custom message
2. Answers questions using the FAQs you’ve provided
3. Captures details for new job requests and saves them to your SortScape account
4. Optionally transfers the call to your team if the caller wants to speak to a human
5. Automatically sends an SMS follow-up to the caller after creating a request All conversations are recorded and you can review transcripts, summaries, and recordings from the AI Receptionist page in SortScape.

Getting started

To start using the AI Receptionist:

1. Go to the AI Receptionist admin settings screen
2. Toggle AI Receptionist enabled to on Once enabled, you’ll see your dedicated phone number displayed on the page. This is the number your AI Receptionist answers on.

To start receiving calls, you can either:

• Use your AI Receptionist number publicly — Add the number SortScape provides to your Google Business profile, website, or other marketing so customers call it directly
• Set up call forwarding — Forward calls from your existing business number to your AI Receptionist number when you’re busy, unavailable, or after hours

How you set up call forwarding depends on your phone provider. See AI Receptionist — call forwarding for step-by-step instructions, or contact your phone provider if you need help.

If you already have the AI Receptionist enabled on your account, you can test your own setup at any time by pressing Test AI Receptionist on the admin settings screen to place a call directly.

Try a demo call

Want to hear the AI Receptionist before you sign up? Call our live demo line and try it the same way your customers would:

• Australia demo number: +61 468 077 621
• Recorded example and more details: sortscape.com.au/receptionist/

You will be talking to the AI Receptionist, not a SortScape support person. SortScape does not offer phone support for general product help, but you can call this demo number any time to hear how it greets callers, answers questions, and captures job requests.

The AI Receptionist add-on is currently available in Australia and New Zealand only. The demo number above is for Australia.

Customizing your greeting

The greeting is the first thing callers hear when the AI Receptionist picks up. To change it:

1. Go to the AI Receptionist admin settings screen
2. Edit the text in the Greeting message field
3. Your changes save automatically when you click out of the field If you leave the greeting blank when enabling the AI Receptionist, a default greeting will be filled in for you that includes your business name.

Important: We strongly recommend mentioning in your greeting that the call is being recorded, as you may be required to disclose this depending on local laws in your region.

Choosing a voice

Choose the voice callers hear when the AI Receptionist answers and throughout the rest of the call.

To change the receptionist voice:

1. Go to the AI Receptionist admin settings screen
2. In the Voice section, open the Receptionist voice dropdown
3. Select one of the available voices:
   • Male Australian
   • Female Australian
   • Male New Zealand
   • Female New Zealand
4. Click Preview voice to hear a sample before your next call comes through

Your selection applies to the entire conversation, not just the greeting.

Adding FAQs

FAQs give your AI Receptionist the knowledge it needs to answer caller questions accurately. The more relevant information you provide, the better it can help your callers.

To manage FAQs:

1. Go to Admin > Quotes & Requests > AI Receptionist
2. In the Frequently asked questions section, enter a question and its answer
3. Click Add topic to add more question-and-answer pairs
4. To remove a topic, click the X button next to it Here are some examples of useful FAQs:

• Which areas do you serve? — List your service areas
• What services do you offer? — Describe your services and any specialties
• What are your rates? — Provide general pricing information or explain how you quote
• Do you offer regular maintenance? — Explain your recurring service options Both the question and the answer need to be filled in for the AI Receptionist to use a topic. Incomplete entries (with a blank question or answer) are ignored.

Call transfer

Call transfer lets callers ask to speak with a real person. When enabled, the AI Receptionist can transfer the call to a phone number you specify.

To set up call transfer:

1. Go to Admin > AI Receptionist
2. In the Call transfer section, toggle Allow call transfers to on
3. Enter the phone number you’d like calls transferred to (e.g. your mobile or office number) When a caller asks to speak to someone, the AI Receptionist will transfer the call to this number.

SMS follow-up

When the AI Receptionist captures a new job request from a conversation, an SMS follow-up is automatically sent to the caller. This confirms their enquiry and reassures them you’ll be in touch.

To customize the SMS follow-up:

1. Go to the AI Receptionist admin settings screen
2. In the SMS follow-up section, select an SMS template from the dropdown, or click Add template to create one The SMS is sent shortly after the AI Receptionist creates the request. You can manage your SMS templates from Admin > Messaging > Templates.

Reviewing calls

To see what your AI Receptionist has been up to:

1. Click AI Receptionist in the main navigation menu
2. You’ll see a list of recent conversations showing the time, caller, call duration, and a brief summary
3. Click on any call to see the full details, including:

• Summary — A brief overview of what was discussed
• Recording — Listen back to the call audio
• Conversation transcript — Read through the full conversation between the caller and the assistant If the caller is a known contact in SortScape, their name will appear as a link so you can quickly view their details. Any requests captured by the AI Receptionist will appear in your requests list as usual.

Tips for getting the best results

• Keep your greeting concise — A short, friendly greeting works best. Include your business name and a recording disclosure.
• Pick a voice that fits your business — Use Preview voice to compare options, and choose an accent (Australian or New Zealand) that matches where most of your callers are based.
• Add plenty of FAQs — The more context the AI Receptionist has, the more helpful it will be. Think about the questions your customers ask most often.
• Review calls regularly — Check the conversation history to see how the AI is handling calls and adjust your FAQs based on what callers are asking.
• Customize your SMS follow-up template — Follow-up texts are sent automatically after new requests. Choose a template that confirms the enquiry and sets expectations for when you’ll respond.
• Set up call forwarding strategically — Consider forwarding to your AI Receptionist only when you’re busy or outside business hours, so callers always get a response.