What questions should I ask an AI receptionist vendor before buying?

2026-06-26 · AI Revenue Forge · all answers

TL;DRMost AI receptionist vendors won't volunteer the answers you actually need. The 10 questions that separate a real vendor from a marketing site: (1) Can I hear a live demo right now? (2) What's your no-fault exit clause? (3) Which practice management software do you integrate with? (4) How do you handle emergencies? (5) What happens when the AI can't answer? (6) Who tunes the script after launch? (7) What's the actual setup time? (8) What does my front desk experience? (9) Show me a real call recording, (10) Why your AI doesn't fail like the bad AI I've heard.

The 'can I hear a live demo right now' test

Many vendors send a polished sales video. A real vendor gives you a live phone number you can call from your own cell in 30 seconds. If they don't have one, the product probably isn't production-ready. Our live demo line is +1 (877) 640-3761 — call from your cell and ask anything.

The exit clause question

Ask: 'What happens if it's not working in month 2?' A real vendor has a no-fault exit clause — you walk, no penalty, no contract trap. A vendor without one is gambling on you not being able to leave when the experience drops. Always ask. Always get it in writing.

Integration questions that matter

Ask about YOUR specific software, not their 'we integrate with everything' marketing line. Dental: 'Do you write into Open Dental v21.2 via the booking API or do you do screen-scraping?' Trades: 'Do you push into ServiceTitan with the right tags?' Real estate: 'Do you create the lead in Follow Up Boss with the right source attribution?' If they hesitate, the integration is bolted on, not native.

The 'when AI can't answer' question

Real vendors have explicit fallback logic: route to a designated voicemail, transfer to your cell, page the on-call. Vendors who say 'our AI handles everything' are lying or about to find out the hard way. Ask: 'Show me the escalation script.'

The post-launch tuning question

Who tunes the script when you discover your AI is missing a specific question type? A real vendor includes ongoing tuning in the monthly cost. A bad vendor charges $300/hour to make changes. Always ask: 'Once we're live, who fixes things?' If the answer involves a change-order process, walk.

Going deeper

We hold ourselves to all 10 questions and answer each one publicly. The full vendor evaluation framework is in our free 5-minute audit — bring a competitor's pitch deck and we'll grade it against the 10 questions. Or call +1 (877) 640-3761 to hear how we answer them ourselves.

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