Hey MrBackflow
Congratulations on joining Jobber!
I echo HUGEHomePros sentiments on AI receptionist. It's a great tool in the tool belt when using it outside of business hours or when the humans are too busy to respond.
I've been on the forefront of training with ai in general. There are a lot of strong suits. Interacting "face-to-face" with humans is not one of them. I think as long as you realize it's just a tool Jobber AI receptionist is good; however, I would not recommend it replacing someone who does these tasks for you. The AI receptionist should piggyback what they already do to make them better and free up time.
As a consumer the quickest way for me to not do business with a company is the utilization of ai for customer facing interactions. There are also significant issues with ai in this position as the primary source. For instance, I was attempting to hire a cleaning company. I reached out to four smaller companies. All four of them used AI in some form for the intake. I needed the cleaning done within 3 weeks. I heard back from one company 5 weeks later and didn't hear back from the rest of the companies. Long story short, all four of these companies lost a repeat customer with a strong referral basis and they probably have no idea.
I can elaborate more on the limitations and business pros/cons if you would like but it can get rather lengthy.
Great topic! What platforms have you tested?
Matt
Kalea Consulting
This is a great perspective. I completely agree that AI should be a tool that supports your team, not something that replaces the human connection customers expect. Saving time is great, but if it costs you a customer or a referral because they felt ignored or couldn’t reach a real person, it defeats the purpose. I think the businesses that find the right balance between technology and personal service are going to have a huge advantage moving forward
