How Graham got his receptionist back, without hiring one

Graham 0:00

Before, I used to have a lady called Lisa, so I've renamed Jodie to Lisa. She was 100% invaluable to me. She answered all my calls, all my messaging. I go out, teach people to drive, and I actually hate talking on the phone. She was then made redundant, which meant I'd got to talk to people on my phone.

Graham 0:19

So I just ended up forwarding all my calls to voicemail: send me a text or a WhatsApp message and we'll get it done. And that actually worked. I could actually get people in my diary without talking to them in the first place. Then I was just scrolling Facebook and I saw one of the case studies, and now all my calls are answered. I've got my WhatsApp doing the same thing as well. So even though it's AI, I've now got a personalised service rather than just a voicemail and 'send a message'.

Max Jodie 0:50

Amazing. Before Jodie, was there a time where you ever did try and take the calls, or was your diary booked?

Graham 0:58

Yeah, and if I'm honest, I didn't really convert many, because I don't like talking on the phone. If I take a call, it's normally a sales call, and I know what they're doing on the end of the phone. They're going, 'I don't want to talk to him.' And I thought that we can convert a different way.

Max Jodie 1:12

Okay, so you went from that to the voicemail and text system, and then you discovered Jodie. When you discovered Jodie, how did it change your business and how you operated?

Graham 1:25

Once we got Jodie in, it means it's like having somebody real to answer my phone, rather than people getting a voicemail message saying, can you do this now, can you do that? I don't get that many phone calls, but I do get quite a few WhatsApps, which is why that side of it is quite important. It filters out people who just want to find out prices and availability. Jodie's answered all of them.

Max Jodie 1:51

Great. On a given day with Jodie, at what point would you take the Jodie messages and put people in?

Graham 2:02

I've put half an hour between all my lessons, so I've got 11.30 to 1 today. So if Jodie kicks in between 11 and 1, the messages will just sit there, and then at one o'clock I can start replying and deciding who gets what.

Max Jodie 2:16

Fantastic, that sounds great. So have you set up Jodie so that she picks up if you don't answer within a certain number of rings? Or how does that work?

Graham 2:25

I just forward all my calls to Jodie. My family know to WhatsApp me, don't call me.

Max Jodie 2:29

Okay, so it sounds like Jodie's really made it so you can focus on your high success rate and your clients.

Graham 2:37

Yeah. If I'm getting a referral, which means it's come from another pupil, they come through on my personal number anyway. But if it comes through Jodie, it's been a cold call, and I can filter it that way.

Max Jodie 2:46

Okay, so what surprised you most about using Jodie? Is there anything that you weren't expecting, in how it would change how your weeks go?

Graham 2:58

I would say the main reason that I chose Jodie was how natural the voice sounded compared to other AIs. There's a little bit of a pause, but not as much of a pause as a lot of the others.

Max Jodie 3:08

Yeah, amazing. So the types of calls that Jodie receives, are they mainly new enquiries, or do you also get some spam calls?

Graham 3:17

I do get spam calls. She filters them out for me.

Max Jodie 3:20

Okay, so she filters the spam. And with most of the new calls that come in, how do those calls typically go, and how does Jodie handle them?

Graham 3:32

Jodie handles them really well, because if they ask for prices, she's read from the website what the prices are. I changed the prices and Jodie seemed to pick that change up quite quickly. I don't need to go changing two things, I only change one thing and it seems to be picked up. So lesson prices and availability. Jodie knows my availability: I run about an eight to 10 week waiting list.

Max Jodie 3:53

Oh, wow. Okay, so you've told her that as well. Cool. It sounds like she's right at home and she's having a good time. That's fantastic.

Graham 4:04

It meant that I could go back to having a real person answer my calls. I'd always wanted one, it's finding the right one. I think the ad that I saw was a plumber, and I thought, let's have a look. I'm not somebody who waits for anything, so: click, trial, let's trial it. We ran the trial the same day, and I think we ended up subscribing straight away.

Max Jodie 4:27

Fantastic. To summarise, what would you say Jodie's top-level impact has been on your business? Be it revenue, time saved, or just anything that we can lead the case study with.

Graham 4:40

Mainly it's the time saved on the cold calls that just want the price.

Max Jodie 4:45

And if you had to estimate how much time Jodie's been saving you, what would you say?

Graham 4:51

I'd say maybe 15 to 20 minutes a day. That's a third of a lesson, so I could equate that to 20 quid.

Max Jodie 5:00

Okay, that's fantastic. And if you were to say something to people who have maybe seen a bit about Jodie, and maybe they've had some doubts, what would you say to them?

Graham 5:12

Just do what I did: take the trial. If it doesn't work, we don't use it. But it will work, so we use it.

Max Jodie 5:17

Yeah, fantastic. And if you had to quickly summarise, in one sentence before Jodie and in one sentence after Jodie, what would you say?

Graham 5:28

I've not got before and after. I've got before, when I had somebody, and in the middle, when I didn't have anybody, and I've now got Jodie. So I'm going back to when I was really happy, just around Covid.

Max Jodie 5:38

Amazing. That's fantastic, and that makes sense. That's exactly why we built Jodie. And she's on evenings and weekends, and she never takes a holiday.

Graham 5:48

My calls on my phone go 24-7 to Jodie.

Max Jodie 5:52

Amazing. So has it affected after hours, or weekends or holidays? Because I think as business owners, same as me, we're always on. How has it affected things outside of your day-to-day lessons where you schedule stuff in?

Graham 6:06

My missus normally stares at me when the phone buzzes, especially after seven o'clock at night or over the weekend. The phone will go, we leave it, and I go, 'It's getting sorted, don't worry about it.'

Max Jodie 6:16

So before, it was an issue: if a call came in, you didn't know whether to answer or not.

Graham 6:20

Yeah. It could be there's a message and she'd go, 'Don't reply to it now,' but I've got to reply to it now, or else I will lose that customer.

Max Jodie 6:26

So your missus likes Jodie?

Graham 6:29

Yes.