AI Receptionist
Software that answers your business phone calls automatically using artificial intelligence. It greets callers, answers common questions, gathers information, and can book appointments — all without a human picking up the phone. It sounds natural, not robotic, and is available 24/7 including nights, weekends, and holidays.
How this applies to your business: When you're on a job site and can't answer the phone, your AI receptionist answers instead. Customers get a response immediately, leads don't go cold, and you get a summary of every call when you're free.
API (Application Programming Interface)
A connection between two software programs that lets them share data or trigger actions automatically. Think of it like a translator between apps — when one thing happens in one system, the API tells another system about it and passes along the information.
How this applies to your business: When a customer books an estimate through BizBot, an API can automatically add that appointment to your Google Calendar, create a row in your spreadsheet, and send the customer a confirmation text — all at once, without you touching anything.
Appointment Reminder
An automated text message or phone call sent to a customer before their scheduled appointment. The timing is usually set by you — for example, 24 hours before and again 1 hour before. If the customer needs to reschedule, they can reply and it handles the change automatically.
How this applies to your business: No-shows cost service businesses real money. Automated reminders can cut no-show rates by 30–50%, meaning your crew shows up to jobs that are actually happening.
Automation
Using software to complete a task without a person doing it manually each time. Automation handles repetitive steps — like sending a follow-up text, updating a customer record, or sending an invoice reminder — so you don't have to remember or do them yourself.
How this applies to your business: Instead of texting every missed caller by hand at the end of the day, automation sends the text within 60 seconds — every time, without you thinking about it.
Call Routing
Automatically directing an incoming call to the right destination based on what the caller says or selects. Advanced AI call routing understands spoken language — so a caller saying "I have an emergency" gets routed differently than one saying "I want to get a quote."
How this applies to your business: Emergency calls can go straight to your mobile number. Estimate requests can go to voicemail or be handled by your AI. Existing customers calling about a job can reach a specific person. All automatically.
Chatbot
A program that holds a text-based conversation with a customer on your website or by SMS. Older chatbots followed rigid scripts. Modern AI chatbots understand natural language and can handle complex questions, qualify leads, and book appointments without human involvement.
How this applies to your business: A chatbot on your website can answer "Do you serve my zip code?" or "How much does a panel upgrade cost?" at 2am — and capture the lead's name and phone number before they leave.
Churn Prediction
An AI model that analyzes your customer data to estimate which customers are likely to stop buying from you. It looks at patterns like time since last purchase, declining engagement, or complaints — and flags at-risk customers so you can reach out proactively.
How this applies to your business: If a regular maintenance customer hasn't booked in 14 months and ignored your last two check-in texts, churn prediction flags them before they become a lost account — giving you a chance to win them back.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of leads or visitors who take a specific desired action — like booking an estimate, signing up for a trial, or calling your business. A higher conversion rate means more of the people who find you actually become customers.
How this applies to your business: If 100 people visit your website and 3 call you, your conversion rate is 3%. Improving your conversion rate by even 1–2% can mean tens of thousands of dollars in additional annual revenue without spending more on advertising.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Software that stores your leads, customer information, job history, and conversations in one organized place. A CRM replaces the combination of spreadsheets, sticky notes, and memory that most small businesses rely on to track who owes them a callback.
How this applies to your business: With a CRM, every lead that contacts you gets logged automatically. You can see at a glance which leads have been followed up with, which jobs are in progress, and which customers are due for a seasonal check-in.
Drip Campaign
A series of automated emails or texts sent to a contact on a pre-set schedule. "Drip" refers to the idea of delivering content in steady drops over time, rather than all at once. The goal is to build trust and move a lead toward a decision without overwhelming them.
How this applies to your business: When someone requests a quote but doesn't book immediately, a drip campaign can follow up automatically on Day 2, Day 5, and Day 10 with helpful information — keeping you top of mind until they're ready.
Follow-Up Sequence
A planned series of messages — texts, emails, or calls — sent automatically after a customer takes an action. Unlike a drip campaign (which is ongoing), a follow-up sequence is tied to a specific trigger event, like a missed call or a downloaded resource.
How this applies to your business: When someone fills out your contact form, a follow-up sequence sends a confirmation immediately, a reminder in 24 hours if they haven't responded, and a final check-in three days later — all without you lifting a finger.
Intent Detection
An AI feature that figures out what a customer is trying to accomplish from the words they use — even if they don't phrase it perfectly. It categorizes messages and calls by purpose (emergency, quote request, complaint, general question) so the system can respond appropriately.
How this applies to your business: When a caller says "my lights keep flickering and I smell something burning," intent detection flags this as an emergency and routes it to your phone immediately — instead of treating it like a standard estimate request.
IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
The automated phone menu system most people have encountered: "Press 1 for sales, press 2 for support." Modern AI-powered IVR systems understand natural spoken responses instead of requiring button presses — you can say what you need and the system understands you.
How this applies to your business: A basic IVR lets you separate emergency calls from routine inquiries automatically. AI IVR goes further — it can qualify the caller, gather information, and resolve simple requests without routing to anyone.
Lead Magnet
A free resource — like a checklist, script, guide, or calculator — that you offer to potential customers in exchange for their contact information. The idea is to give something genuinely useful so the person is willing to share their email or phone number.
How this applies to your business: A free "Missed Call Recovery Script for Contractors" is a lead magnet. Someone downloads it, you get their email address, and you follow up with helpful content that builds trust until they're ready to become a customer.
Lead Scoring
An AI system that assigns a numerical score to each incoming lead based on how likely they are to convert into a paying customer. Higher scores mean higher priority. It considers factors like urgency, job size, location, and engagement level.
How this applies to your business: Instead of calling back leads in the order they came in, lead scoring tells you to call the person who said "I need this done this week" before the one who said "just getting some quotes." Same time, better results.
Machine Learning
A type of artificial intelligence that improves its performance over time by learning from data — without being manually reprogrammed. Instead of following fixed rules, it identifies patterns and adjusts its behavior based on what it has seen before.
How this applies to your business: An AI receptionist using machine learning gets better at understanding the types of calls your specific business receives over time — handling your most common questions more accurately the longer it runs.
Missed Call Text-Back
An automated system that detects when your business receives a call that goes unanswered and immediately sends a text message to the caller. The text typically acknowledges the missed call and invites the person to reply with what they need.
How this applies to your business: About 60% of callers who reach voicemail hang up without leaving a message. Missed call text-back recovers those leads automatically — usually within 60 seconds of the missed call, before the customer calls a competitor.
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
The branch of AI that enables computers to understand, interpret, and generate human language — both written and spoken. NLP is what allows a voice AI to understand what a caller says even if they don't use exact keywords or speak with an accent.
How this applies to your business: NLP is the technology behind your AI receptionist's ability to have a real conversation. Without it, the system would only understand rigid commands. With it, it understands context — "I need someone out today" vs. "whenever you have time."
ROI (Return on Investment)
A measure of how much financial return you receive relative to what you spent. For software tools, ROI is calculated by comparing what you pay for the tool against the revenue it generates or the costs it eliminates.
How this applies to your business: If BizBot costs $49/month and recovers one $800 job per month that you would have lost to a missed call, your ROI is over 1,500%. The math is usually very favorable for service businesses with high average job values.
Sentiment Analysis
An AI feature that reads the emotional tone of a message or phone call — classifying it as positive, neutral, or negative. It can detect frustration, urgency, or dissatisfaction from word choice and tone, allowing the system to escalate appropriately.
How this applies to your business: If a customer texts "this is the third time I've had to call about this" — sentiment analysis detects the frustration and flags it for immediate human attention, rather than routing it through standard follow-up.
SMS Marketing
Sending promotional or informational text messages to a list of customers who have opted in to receive them. Text messages have open rates of 95%+ compared to 20–30% for email, making them a high-impact channel for offers, reminders, and follow-ups.
How this applies to your business: A seasonal SMS campaign — "Spring AC tune-up special, reply YES to book" — can generate immediate bookings from your existing customer list at near-zero cost.
Spam Detection
An automated filter that identifies robocalls, telemarketer calls, and fraudulent lead inquiries before they reach you or consume your AI's time. It typically uses a combination of number reputation data, call pattern analysis, and keyword detection.
How this applies to your business: Without spam detection, your AI receptionist would spend time handling robocalls and fake lead submissions. Spam detection blocks those automatically, so your system (and your time) is spent on real customers only.
Text-Back
An automatic text message sent in response to a triggering event — most commonly a missed call. The text arrives within seconds, acknowledges the missed contact, and opens a two-way SMS conversation so the customer knows someone is paying attention.
How this applies to your business: The first business to respond to a lead wins the job 78% of the time. Text-back ensures you're always first — even when you're on a roof, under a house, or in a trench and can't physically answer the phone.
Voice AI
A software system that conducts real phone conversations with customers using artificial intelligence. Unlike a recording or a phone tree, a voice AI listens to what the caller says and responds naturally — answering questions, gathering information, and completing tasks like booking appointments.
How this applies to your business: Voice AI is how BizBot answers your calls. It sounds like a real person, understands your trade-specific language, and handles routine calls completely — so you only get involved when a human judgment call is needed.
Webhook
An automatic notification that one software system sends to another the moment a specific event occurs — like a payment completing, a form being submitted, or a customer booking an appointment. Webhooks are what make real-time automation possible between different tools.
How this applies to your business: When a customer pays their invoice through Stripe, a webhook can immediately trigger a thank-you text, update your CRM, and add them to your review request sequence — all in under a second, with zero manual work.
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