Every unanswered call is a customer who needed help right now — and moved to the next name on Google when you couldn't pick up. We show you what that's really costing, and how small trade businesses are fixing it.
If you haven't used one before, here's the short version — and why it matters for a trade or service business specifically.
An AI receptionist is an AI answering service that picks up your business phone when you can't — mid-job, driving between callouts, or after hours — and handles the call the way a real receptionist would. It answers questions about your services, takes down job details, and can book the work straight into your calendar. You'll sometimes see the same idea called a virtual receptionist — same job, different name.
For small business owners in Australia, this fills a gap that used to only have two bad options: pay for a full-time receptionist you can't justify at your size, or let calls go to voicemail and lose the job to whoever answers next. An AI receptionist for small business sits in between — a fraction of the cost of a human receptionist, answering every call, every time.
What makes a good AI receptionist for small business Australia different from a generic answering service is that it's trained on your actual business — your services, your pricing structure, your service area — so it sounds like part of your team, not a call centre reading a script.
Hey Jodie is the AI receptionist we recommend. It's built specifically for small and trade businesses in Australia, with plans starting from A$99/month — a fraction of the cost of even part-time reception staff, with none of the missed shifts.
Most tradies underestimate this because a missed call doesn't feel like a loss — there's no invoice, no evidence, nothing to point at. But the numbers add up fast once you actually track it.
These are general patterns we see reported across trade and service businesses, not a single sourced statistic — worth running your own numbers using your actual call volume and average job value.
Hey Jodie is an AI receptionist that picks up when you can't — takes the job details, answers the questions your customers actually ask, and gets you the lead before it goes cold.
You're mid-job, driving, or it's after hours. Jodie picks up on your existing number — no new number to give out.
She answers like a real receptionist, trained on your business — takes the job details, answers common questions, books it in.
Instant notification with the full transcript and recording. Call them back, or let Jodie book it straight into your day.
Practical, no-fluff guides on the admin gaps that quietly cost trade and service businesses money — and what actually fixes them.
A plain-English look at what these tools handle, what they don't, and whether it's worth it for a small operation.
Read the guide → After hoursWhy after-hours calls are often the highest-value ones you get — and how to make sure someone actually answers.
Read the guide → Virtual receptionistThese terms get used almost interchangeably — here's what each one actually means, and which fits a small trade business.
Read the guide →NeverMissTheCall helps small trade and service businesses stop losing jobs to missed calls. We write about why it happens, what it actually costs, and the tool we think fixes it best — grounded in real research, not vendor talking points.
This site is run independently. We're not Hey Jodie, and we don't work for them — based on our research into what's available for small Australian trade businesses, we think it's a strong option, and we're upfront that we earn a commission if you sign up through our links.
Hey Jodie is the AI answering service we recommend on this site. Links to it are affiliate links — if you sign up, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
We recommend it based on research into its features, pricing and fit for small Australian trade businesses — not on personal or hands-on use. If that changes, we'll say so here.
Is Hey Jodie a real AI answering service, or just a bot that reads a script?
It's trained on your specific business — your services, pricing, and service area — so it can actually answer customer questions, not just take a message. That's the difference between an AI receptionist and a basic voicemail-to-text tool.
What's the best phone answering service for a small business in Australia?
It depends on your call volume and budget, but for most trade and service businesses, an AI receptionist like Hey Jodie beats hiring reception staff on cost, and beats voicemail on every job it saves. We cover the comparison in more detail in our guides.
Do I need a new phone number?
No — Jodie answers on your existing business number. Customers dial the number they already have; nothing changes on their end.
How much does an AI receptionist cost for a small business?
Hey Jodie starts from A$99/month with unlimited minutes, no lock-in contract, and a 7-day free trial — see the current pricing on Hey Jodie's site.
Try Hey Jodie free and see what it catches in your first week.
Try Hey Jodie free