Cost efficiency
Unlike most answering services, Upfirst is affordable — even for small businesses. Because our answering service is powered by AI, we can offer it at a lower price than traditional virtual receptionists.
Meet Upfirst
The affordable business answering service
Upfirst’s answering service for small business makes sure calls are professionally answered at any time of day or night — 24/7 — and captures the information you need.
Introduction
Is a business answering service right for you?
Whether you’re a solo attorney, or a busy catering business, you can’t afford to miss your calls. According to online review statistics, 37% of negative reviews stem from poor communication. But being there around-the-clock is hard. Front office staff may be busy with with other work, or simply out to lunch. You may not be large enough to dedicate the necessary back office staff, or just don’t want to manage the complexity of running a phone answering service.
Upfirst’s AI-based phone answering service makes sure every call is answered, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It can even ask the caller questions to collect the information you need. As an added bonus, our telephone answering service knows as much about your business as an expertly trained employee, all at the fraction of a typical outsourced phone answering service.
quick, easy setup
How our call answering service works
Sign up for an account with our call answering service. You’ll have the option to connect your phone number or select a new one. Then you can choose your AI agent’s voice, set up a welcoming greeting, and fill it in on the details about your business. Our phone call answering service can do more than just pick up calls. You an also connect it to your scheduling system or CRM and have it automatically create appointments or log customer information. Just like an outsourced receptionist—only faster, because it’s AI.
It’s easy to train our AI-based call answering service. Once you’ve given it information about how you’d like it to answer calls, give it a ring and test it out. We generally recommend a few practice calls to fine-tune responses. Just like a human-based call answering service, you’ll want to provide a script and guidelines for what to say if a caller asks unexpected questions. This was you can rest assured knowing your AI will only provide approved information.
This is the fun part. Set your answer service live and enjoy the extra time you’d have on your hands now that you don’t have to be glued to the phone. With Upfirst, you’ll always be kept in the loop. Our business answering service will automatically send you an easy-to-read summary with the details of the call. You can even listen to the recording within your dashboard. And if you’d prefer important calls to be forwarded to you, you can do that too.
Benefits
Why choose our business answering service?
With our live answering service, you can provide a better customer experience for less money. It’s powered by AI, which means it’s more affordable and learns quickly.
Key features
What can our business phone answering service do for you?
With a live answering service, you get 24/7 availability, bilingual support, message taking and forwarding, appointment scheduling, plus call screening and forwarding.
Answer calls 24/7
Our business answering service lets you be there for customers even outside regular business hours, without having to hire an expensive firm to pick up calls for you. Just connect your phone number, train your AI, and set it live to start answering phone calls no matter the time or day. Your customers will never be sent to voicemail again.
Ask callers for information
Ever see a missed call with no message? Or even worse, ever listen to a long voicemail that is missing all the important details you need? Tell our AI-powered small business phone answering service what info you need to collect from callers and it will gather it for you. You'll get a quick, skimmable email with the details.
Schedule appointments
Upfirst does more than just answer calls. Think of it like a virtual receptionist service that can take messages, transfer calls, and even schedule appointments. All you have to do is connect it to the software you already use.
Forward calls
For important leads or customers, you may want to pick up the phone yourself. No problem. Give our call handling service for small business the criteria for when a phone call should be forwarded, and it will follow your directions. That way you can run your business knowing only the important calls will make it your way.
Answer questions
Most answering services for small business know next to nothing about your business. Sure, they can take a message – but that's about all they can do. With Upfirst, you can feed the AI phone assistant your training materials, website, brocures, and FAQs. The more it knows about your business, the more helpful it can be.
who we serve
What industries does our business answering service serve?
At Upfirst, call answering service isn’t your average virtual receptionist. It’s AI-driven, so it learns the ropes of any industry fast. You can have it up and running in minutes, and it gets smarter about your business with every call.
Realtors
For Realtors, every call could be a potential sale. If the call goes to voicemail, you risk losing out. A realtor answering service ensures every call is answered quickly and professionally. Whether it’s a lead following up on a listing or a current client asking for updates, our answering service keeps opportunities from slipping through the cracks. Let Upfirst pick up the phone so you can focus on closing deals and showing properties.
Contractors
If you’re a contractor, it can be downright unsafe to answer the phone while you’re working. And with tight margins, hiring a full-time staff member to handle calls isn’t an option. That’s why Upfirst’s answering service for contractors is perfect for plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, and other home service businesses. It’s professional, easy to set up, and professional.
Legal
Callers may be existing clients or those replying to attorney advertising and shopping for an attorney to handle their case. It’s important that clients be responded to timely and handled professionally because an attorney’s ability to effectively communicate with a client is important to that client’s overall satisfaction. There is little room for error when a single potential lead may be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Medical
Medical providers need an answering service to help with appointment scheduling and after-hour physician response service. The service must also be HIPPA compliant and make sure protected information is not leaked.
Software and IT companies
If you run a help desk, you may not have the resources to be there for users around-the-clock. When a customer is sent to your voicemail, they’re left wondering whether or not they’ll get the help they need. With Upfirst’s telephone answering service, you can give them a better experience and automatically collect the information you need to provide support.
Ready for a free trial of our answering service?
Be one of the first to try Upfirst — an AI-powered virtual answering service that picks up the phone for you. Sign up for our waitlist today.