Call answering
Check what the greeting says, which business questions an agent can answer and how callers reach a person. A polished demo does not show every difficult call.
After-hours coverage
Compare coverage hours, outage handling and what happens when an urgent caller cannot reach the nominated person. An AI receptionist is not an emergency service.
Appointment booking
Check the exact calendar connection, scheduling rules, rescheduling support and whether an appointment is confirmed or only requested.
Lead questions
Look at the questions an agent can ask about a job, service area and timing. Check what it does with an answer it cannot interpret.
Live transfers
Ask whether transfers are included, how they are billed and what happens if the destination does not answer.
Summaries and CRM connections
Compare what gets captured, where it goes, who can access it and whether the connection is included or an extra.
Setup and support
Separate a hosted service from a toolkit that needs technical work. Ask who maintains the scripts and integrations, and what support costs.