How to Use AI for Your Business Phone Line

An AI receptionist answers your business phone 24/7, handles bookings and cancellations, and plugs into your existing POS or calendar. It forwards to a human when needed and works with the same customers, staff, and menu you already have. Lumoras Voice can be switched on at any time, on day one or a year later, with no disruption to current operations (Lumoras product facts). AI receptionist for small business is available on a per-minute basis, and you control the on/off switch yourself at all times (Lumoras product facts). You can learn more about What is an AI receptionist before diving into setup details below. ## What AI Does on a Business Phone Line An AI receptionist picks up every call, whether it is 2 p.m. or 2 a.m. It answers, takes the booking, reschedules, or cancels on the caller's behalf. Every appointment carries a staff member, a service and a time, and moves through booked, completed, cancelled or no-show (Lumoras product facts). When a caller needs something the AI cannot handle, the call forwards to a number you set. The AI handles booking, rescheduling, and cancellations without touching a human. For salons and the other beauty verticals, availability offers the least-loaded staff member first, over a fairness window of 7 days by default (Lumoras product facts). ## How Voice AI Works for Call Handling The AI uses real-time speech recognition to hear the caller. Natural language understanding lets it figure out what the caller wants without a rigid script. It integrates with your business systems so the booking lands in your calendar or POS instantly. You can read the full technical breakdown in How voice AI works. The receptionist answers in one language, English unless Lumoras has set it up otherwise. It never switches language because a word sounded foreign and it asks a caller to repeat a word that makes no sense rather than guessing (Lumoras product facts). It keeps your business's own service names whatever language it is speaking. ## Setting Up an AI Receptionist First, connect your phone number to Lumoras. You can walk through the steps in Connect your phone number. Next, configure your services, staff, and availability in the POS. Set the language and greeting to match your brand. Test the line before going live to make sure bookings land correctly. A staff member with no services assigned can perform every service; one with services assigned can perform exactly those (Lumoras product facts). Commission is a per-business setting, standard for salons, nail salons, hair salons, barbershops and spas. The default staff share is 60% of what that person sells, and any staff member can have their own percentage from 0 to 100 (Lumoras product facts). ## Cost Comparison: AI vs. Human Receptionist Sonorch POS plans start at $99 a month with unlimited staff. Sonorch AI receptionist can be bought on its own at $0.25 a minute (Lumoras product facts). Lumoras POS and Lumoras Voice are quoted after a demo. No deposit is taken at booking. A shop can require a card on file before an online booking is confirmed, and no money moves when the card is saved (Lumoras product facts). A no-show fee is charged by hand after a missed appointment, by a named staff member, and only once per appointment ever (Lumoras product facts). A no-show fee is not a sale: it is recorded on its own and never counted in sales reports (Lumoras product facts). For a fuller breakdown, see AI receptionist cost and Plans and billing. ## When to Turn the AI Off A business controls its own on/off switch for the AI receptionist (Lumoras product facts). While it is off, inbound calls are forwarded to a number the business sets and the AI answers nothing. With no number saved, calls are not answered at all. This is useful for temporary suspension during special events or when you need every call to go to a human. You can follow the steps in Turn the receptionist off. ## FAQ Does AI handle multiple callers at once? Each call is handled separately. The AI answers one caller at a time on the connected line. Can AI book appointments for specific staff? Yes. Every appointment carries a staff member, a service and a time (Lumoras product facts). The AI matches the caller's request to available staff. What happens if a caller hangs up early? Across about 10,000 hours of calls a month on the Lumoras platform, around 100 callers hang up early (Lumoras product facts). The call simply ends and no booking is recorded. Is the AI available in multiple languages? A line answers in one language, English unless Lumoras has set it up otherwise (Lumoras product facts). It does not switch mid-call. Can AI take card payments on calls? The AI receptionist says a card is needed and the most the shop could charge on a phone booking where a card is required. The card itself is saved on the booking page or at the counter. Lumoras never stores a card number (Lumoras product facts). A shop chooses who is asked for a card: nobody (the default), only clients it has flagged, or everybody. A client the shop has banned is refused under every setting (Lumoras product facts).