The fastest way to choose an AI receptionist is to ask twelve questions about numbers, money, trust and fit, then make ten test calls that copy your real phone traffic. A provider that cannot answer the questions plainly, or an agent that cannot survive the calls, is not ready for your customers. Here are both lists, written for New Zealand businesses.
Numbers and calls
1. Can I keep my existing number, and is the number you give me a New Zealand one?
Most setups keep your existing number and divert it to the AI, which takes a minute on Spark, One NZ or 2degrees. Our guide to diverting business calls in NZ shows how. Ask whether the provider's own numbers are New Zealand numbers. Some services built overseas hand you an Australian or American number, which looks wrong on a business card and costs your callers more.
2. How many calls can it take at once?
The lunch rush and the Monday morning after a storm are exactly when two or three people ring together. Ask for the number of concurrent calls on the plan you are buying, not the maximum the platform can do. On KiwiAgent it is 3 on Starter, 10 on Pro and 25 on Business.
3. What happens when it cannot answer?
Every AI hits a question it does not know. The right behaviour is to say so, take a message or offer a callback, and never make something up. Ask the provider what the agent does with an unknown question, and who sets that rule. The answer should be you.
4. Can it transfer a live call to a person, and what if nobody picks up?
A burst pipe at 9pm should reach the person on call. Ask whether the agent can transfer in real time, whether you can set rules for which calls transfer, and what the caller hears when the transfer is not answered. KiwiAgent's call transfer page describes how ours works.
Money
5. Is the pricing in New Zealand dollars, and is GST shown?
You want an invoice your accountant can use without a currency conversion. Look for NZD pricing and a clear statement of whether GST is included or added. A price in USD moves with the exchange rate every month.
6. What exactly is included, and what does an extra minute cost?
Plans are sold on minutes or calls. Ask for the included amount, the overage rate, and whether calls are rounded up to the minute. If a plan says unlimited, ask for the fair-use policy in writing. KiwiAgent charges a flat $0.49 a minute above your plan's allowance, on every paid plan.
7. Is there a contract, a setup fee, or an introductory rate that ends?
Month-to-month with no setup fee is the standard for small business software, and you should not accept less. Some providers advertise a founding or launch rate that steps up after a few months, so ask what the price will be in month four. KiwiAgent plans are month-to-month, with no setup fee and no introductory rate.
Trust
8. Where is caller data processed, and how long is it kept?
An AI receptionist produces a recording and a transcript of every call, and both are personal information about your caller. Ask for the list of providers that process the audio and text, which countries they are in, how long recordings are kept, and whether you can delete them. Our guide to AI receptionists and the Privacy Act 2020 explains why this is your responsibility, not just the vendor's.
9. Does it tell callers it is an AI, and can I write the greeting?
Callers handle an AI well when they are told and badly when they work it out mid-call. Ask to hear the default greeting and confirm you can rewrite it. Our phone greeting scripts include AI receptionist greetings you can adapt.
10. Are calls recorded, and does the agent say so?
Recording is legal in New Zealand when your business is a party to the call, but the Privacy Act still expects you to tell people. Ask whether recording is on by default and whether the notice is in the greeting. Details are in our guide to call recording law in NZ.
Fit
11. What does it know about my business, and who keeps that current?
The agent answers from a knowledge base. Ask what formats it accepts, whether it can read your website, and whether you or the provider maintain it. Then ask how a price change gets into the system and how quickly. Our knowledge base checklist lists what should be in there before the first real call.
12. Who sets it up, how long does it take, and what happens after?
Some products are self-serve and expect you to build the agent. Others set it up for you. Neither is wrong, but you should know which you are buying and what support looks like once you are live. KiwiAgent sets up the agent for you from what you tell us, and most businesses are live within a day.
The test-call checklist: ten calls before you sign
Every provider sounds good on a demo they wrote. Test with your own scenarios. Ring the agent, or have a friend ring it, and make these ten calls. Keep the transcripts.
- The plain booking. Ask for the next available appointment for your most common job. Did it book, and did the details reach you?
- The price question. Ask for a price that is in your price list, then one that is quote-only. It should answer the first and explain the second.
- The place name. Give an address in Whangārei, Paraparaumu, Ōtāhuhu or Ngāruawāhia. Check the transcript spelling and whether it repeated the name back correctly.
- The interruption. Talk over it mid-sentence. It should stop and listen, not keep talking.
- The noisy ute. Call from the van with the radio on and the window down.
- The question it should not answer. Ask something that is not in the knowledge base. This is the most important call on the list. A good agent says it does not know and takes a message. A bad one invents an answer.
- The after-hours emergency. Call outside your hours with an urgent problem. Did it follow your escalation rule?
- The human request. Say you want to speak to a person. What happened next?
- The telemarketer. Have someone try to sell it SEO services. Did it politely end the call, or burn ten minutes of your allowance?
- Two at once. Ring it from two phones at the same time.
Score each call on four things: was the answer right, did the transcript match what was said, what did you receive afterwards, and how long were the pauses before it replied. Then decide.
Red flags
- You cannot hear the agent before you pay.
- It is designed to pass as a human.
- There is no public pricing page, or pricing is only in USD.
- Unlimited minutes with no fair-use policy you can read.
- No transcript or summary after each call.
- The provider cannot tell you where recordings are stored or who can access them.
Where KiwiAgent stands on the twelve
For the record, and because you should hold us to the same list: NZ numbers included, existing numbers divert in; 3, 10 or 25 calls at once by plan; unknown questions become messages or transfers under rules you set; live transfer with fallback; NZD pricing excluding GST with a flat $0.49 overage; month-to-month with no setup fee; processors and retention published in our privacy policy; greeting fully editable and identifies the assistant as an AI; recording notice available in the greeting; knowledge base built from documents, pasted text, FAQs or your website; setup done for you, usually live within a day.
Next step
Run the first few test calls against our demo agent right now. If it holds up, tell us about your business and we will set up a free pilot with your own greeting and knowledge base, so you can run all ten calls against the real thing before you pay anything.