Home Services
How to Introduce an AI CSR to Your Customers
2 min read
Finding good employees to hire is a challenge. Having staff or an answering service to answer after hours is not only a challenge, but it's a very costly business expense. Do you ever feel you are spending a lot of money on leads and ads but can’t see the ROI?
Implementing AI as your CSR, whether it's overflow or after-hours, will ensure you never miss an inbound call again. In this article, we will discuss how to get your customers comfortable interacting with it, how to build scripting that gets your calls booked, and how to ensure your AI is empathetic.
When do you disclose that your CSR is an AI Voice Agent?
One of the first decisions you'll face is whether to introduce the AI as a digital assistant immediately or to let the interaction unfold naturally before disclosing its identity. The choice often depends on your customer base and how you expect them to respond.
An HVAC company in Atlanta, GA, had implemented Free2Grow as its AI assistant. They had noticed some people would hang up immediately as soon as “Sarah” answered and disclosed she was their AI Voice Agent. So they decided to test the scripting: not to reveal right away, but to ask how she could help. Then, after the customer responded, she would disclose that she was their digital assistant. This seemed to help eliminate many of the hangups, but if someone did hang up at this point, they had now captured all their details and could call them right back to book their appointment.
If you immediately disclose, you foster transparency, which, in turn, creates trust. It also allows you to set appropriate expectations of the interaction. However, in some cases, customers may not engage or request a human representative, thereby defeating the purpose of using AI to streamline operations.
If you delay disclosure, you allow your AI CSR to demonstrate its capabilities without preconceived notions. This can also lead to more natural, unbiased interactions and enable you to impress your customers with the effectiveness of AI.
You can test both options and choose the one with the better outcome.
Crafting an Effective Booking Script
Imagine being able to coach your AI-CSR just like you would a new team member. With Free2Grow, our system lets you design your scripting as if a live human were answering the call, with the steps you would expect them to take while handling that call. In our system, you can review calls, provide feedback, and refine the AI's responses to align perfectly with your company's tone and values. It is like having a dedicated employee who's constantly learning and improving, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
With Free2Grow, we offer two options for scripting, booking, and extensive message taking.
Booking is a type of scripting we can help you customize, but you must be able to integrate it with your CRM and connect it to your dispatch schedule for availability or to view a specific time frame the customer may request.
Extensive message-taking is a more personalized approach that asks for the customer's availability, so it doesn't feel like they're being cornered into a time that may or may not be convenient for them. This also puts the schedule back under the office's control, ensuring the right technician is dispatched to a job that might require a more advanced skill set.
Both of these can be toggled on and off. Some customers use only one option, while others use the booking for both the shoulder season and the busy season.
Training AI for Empathy
While AI can't truly feel emotions, it can be trained to recognize and respond to customer emotions in ways that convey empathy. With our Train the AI function, you can provide feedback on how the AI should have handled specific situations, helping it become more empathetic. This creates a continuous learning loop in which your AI-voice CSR becomes an extension of your team, reflecting your company's personality and policies.
Every call is an opportunity for improvement. You can review interactions, guide the AI to handle situations with more warmth, and refine its responses to align with your brand's voice. This ongoing process leads to better emotional understanding, more satisfying customer interactions, and ultimately, increased booking rates and customer loyalty.
For more information on how Free2Grow can help you never miss an inbound call again, reach out to Nate Keller, Free2Grow’s Co-Founder and Chief Sales Officer, at nate@free-2-grow.com or try our AI Voice line: (828) 799-8660.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the cost of Free2Grow?
We offer a month-to-month subscription for a flat rate based on the number of technicians you have. This includes unlimited calls and minutes, as well as spam filtering. For specific pricing, you will need to talk with one of our sales reps.
What CRM's does Free2Grow integrate with?
Free2Grow fully integrates with ServiceTitan, FieldPulse, and Housecall Pro. We are constantly working on new integrations and plan to integrate with more soon. We can also sync to a Google Calendar ifu don't use one of the three CRM's we integrate with today.
What is Free2Grow?
Free2Grow is an AI-powered voice answering solution built for the home services industry. It is designed to automate and streamline your business communications., handle incoming calls, intelligently adapt to every call scenario, create leads, and schedule appointments automatically into your CRM, all while providing best-in-class customer service.
How does Free2Grow work?
Free2Grow can be used as overflow, after-hours, or weekend phone support. You can select from a variety of voices, both male and female, and train through scripting and triggers to become an integral part of your team. When you sign up with Free2Grow, you are assigned an onboarding specialist and a dedicated customer success manager to help you build out your tool and integrate it with your CRM.
Can I customize the AI Voice assistant?
Yes! Our AI Voice assistant is highly customizable. You can build a script, inbound workflows, and a tailored voice. If you hear a call that you want to change some things that were said, you can go to the backend and use the Train the AI option and put in exactly what should have happened in the call. Our ability to integrate with home service CRM’s makes customization even more productive for your business.
What does onboarding look like for Free2Grow?
Our experienced customer success managers lead our onboarding process. They will work with you to build out your scripting and set up triggers for escalations and emergency calls. Your dedicated customer success manager will also help you get your AI-Voice integrated with your CRM. Our onboarding process typically takes 1-2 weeks. It doesn't stop there. Your CSM is assigned to your account as long as you are a customer and is available for any questions or help you may need.
Can Free2Grow handle complex customer inquiries?
Yes! Our AI Voice tool will handle complex customer inquiries and can even route calls to dedicated staff as needed. We work with you to script your calls, and set up triggers exactly how you would have a live person The knowledge of our AI system also automatically improves over time for your business.