The 5 signs: (1) You're missing calls during busy periods, (2) Staff spends too much time answering repetitive questions, (3) Customers complain about wait times or voicemail, (4) You lose leads outside business hours, and (5) You can't scale without hiring. An AI phone assistant like Iris AI from Sandos Solutions can address all five issues.
Nobody starts a business thinking, "I can't wait to answer the same phone questions 50 times a day." But for many business owners, that's exactly where they end up. The phone rings constantly. Staff gets pulled away from important work. And still, calls get missed.
I've talked to hundreds of business owners in this situation. Most know something needs to change, but they're not sure if AI is the answer—or if they're "big enough" to need it. Here are the five signs I look for when determining if a business would benefit from an AI phone assistant.
Sign #1: You're Missing Calls During Busy Periods
This is the most obvious sign, and it's often the one that finally pushes business owners to seek a solution.
You know you're missing calls. You see the missed call notifications. But you're not sure how many, or how much business those missed calls represent.
Here's a way to estimate the damage: Take your average customer value and multiply it by the number of missed calls you get per week. Even if only 10% of those missed calls would have become customers, the number is probably bigger than you'd like.
For a service business where the average job is $500, missing just 10 calls per week (at a 10% conversion rate) means losing $2,500 per month in revenue. That's $30,000 per year walking out the door.
What an AI phone assistant does: It answers every call immediately. No hold times. No missed calls during lunch rush. No voicemail black hole where leads go to die.
Sign #2: Your Staff Spends Too Much Time on Repetitive Questions
"What are your hours?"
"Do you take my insurance?"
"How much does a consultation cost?"
"Where are you located?"
If your staff could predict 80% of the questions they'll get each day, that's a sign that much of the phone work could be automated.
Think about what your highest-paid employees are actually being paid to do versus what they're actually doing. If a dental hygienist is spending 30 minutes a day answering phone questions about office hours, that's 30 minutes they're not using their specialized skills.
It's not just about efficiency—it's about sanity. Answering the same questions repeatedly is draining. Your team didn't sign up to be a phone answering service.
What an AI phone assistant does: It handles the FAQs so your staff doesn't have to. The AI knows your hours, your services, your pricing, your location. It answers these questions tirelessly, all day, every day, while your team focuses on what they were actually hired to do.
Sign #3: Customers Complain About Wait Times or Voicemail
When customers start complaining, you've already lost some who didn't bother to complain—they just went elsewhere.
Common complaints include:
- "I called three times before anyone answered."
- "I left a voicemail and never heard back."
- "I was on hold for 10 minutes and gave up."
- "I couldn't get through after 5pm."
Each of these complaints represents a customer experience problem—and probably several customers who had the same experience but didn't say anything.
The frustrating thing is that most business owners want to provide great phone service. They just don't have the resources to answer every call instantly, 24 hours a day.
What an AI phone assistant does: It eliminates wait times entirely. The AI answers on the first ring. It's available 24/7. And unlike voicemail, it actually engages with callers and helps them get what they need.
Sign #4: You Lose Leads Outside Business Hours
People don't just need things between 9 and 5. Someone searching for a plumber at 11pm after discovering a leak isn't going to wait until morning to call someone. They're calling now—and they're calling every plumber they can find until someone answers.
The same is true for less urgent situations. A parent researching childcare options might only have time to make calls after their kids are in bed. A busy professional might only think about making a dental appointment during their evening commute.
If your business only "exists" during business hours, you're invisible to a significant segment of potential customers.
Some businesses try to solve this with after-hours answering services. But those services often just take messages—they can't answer questions about your specific business, check appointment availability, or provide the information the caller actually needs.
What an AI phone assistant does: It provides genuine 24/7 availability. At 2am, a caller can get answers to their questions, book an appointment for the next day, and get a confirmation—all without a human being awake.
Sign #5: You Can't Scale Without Hiring
This is where things get strategic. If your phone volume is growing and your only option is to hire another person to answer calls, you're facing a difficult decision.
Hiring is expensive—not just the salary, but the benefits, training, management time, and the risk of turnover. A full-time receptionist might cost $35,000-50,000 per year when you factor in everything. And that person can still only handle one call at a time.
What happens during peak periods when call volume spikes? What about when they're sick, on vacation, or quit with two weeks notice?
For many growing businesses, the economics of hiring just for phone coverage don't work—but neither does continuing to miss calls.
What an AI phone assistant does: It scales automatically. Whether you get 10 calls today or 100, the AI handles them all. It doesn't take sick days. It doesn't need training. And it costs a fraction of a full-time employee.
What to Do If You See These Signs
If you recognized your business in one or more of these signs, here's my recommendation: don't overthink it. The technology has reached a point where it's proven, affordable, and low-risk to try.
Most AI phone services, including Iris AI from Sandos Solutions, offer demos where you can actually call the AI and experience it yourself. You'll immediately understand what the technology can do—and whether it feels like a fit for your business.
The businesses I see thrive with AI phone assistants share a few traits:
- They start with clear, limited goals (like handling after-hours calls)
- They take time to set up the AI with accurate information about their business
- They review the AI's conversations and make improvements over time
- They view the AI as an extension of their team, not a replacement
The businesses that struggle are usually ones that expect perfection immediately without putting in the setup work, or ones that try to automate everything at once instead of taking an incremental approach.
The Bottom Line
Phone communication is a bottleneck for many small businesses. The traditional solutions—hiring more staff or accepting missed calls—both have significant downsides.
AI phone assistants offer a third option: technology that can handle routine calls, free up your team, and ensure you never miss an opportunity. The question isn't whether this technology works—it does. The question is whether it's time for your business to adopt it.
If you're seeing the signs we discussed, the answer is probably yes.
Johnathan Sandoval is the founder of Sandos Solutions, creators of Iris AI. With over 7 years supporting NASA projects and more than a decade in software development, he builds AI communication tools that help businesses never miss an opportunity.