The AI phone receptionist
Lethra can answer your firm’s phone line with an AI receptionist that holds a live voice conversation. It picks up when a call comes in, speaks with the caller in real time, and puts what it learns onto the right record.
When it answers
Section titled “When it answers”The receptionist answers within your configured business hours, and outside them if you have turned on after-hours coverage. If a call comes in while neither applies, it forwards to your configured number instead, or plays a short closed message if no number is set.
You can also give it a forwarding number so it can hand a live call straight to a person when that is the right thing to do.
What it can do on a call
Section titled “What it can do on a call”All three can run together, and the receptionist moves between them smoothly within a single call rather than forcing a caller to choose.
- Intake. If someone has died, it gathers their name and a callback number calmly, reassures them the team has been alerted, and takes the message as urgent. It does not walk into a planning conversation on this path, even if planning is also enabled.
- Questions and answers. It answers from your firm’s knowledge base and the details on your company profile: address, phone number, services, team. If it does not know something, it offers to take a message rather than guess.
- Plan ahead. For a caller arranging their own funeral in advance, it walks through what matters, burial or cremation, the kind of ceremony, music or readings, who should be involved, one topic at a time, and records it as a lead for your team to follow up on.
For anything urgent or requiring a human decision, including complex pricing or a complaint, it transfers to a human if a forwarding number is configured, and takes a message if one is not.
What it records
Section titled “What it records”Every call is recorded with the caller’s number and a running transcript. Depending on how the conversation went, it also records:
- A message, with the caller’s name if given, a callback number, the reason they called, and an urgency level. The message becomes a Call back item in your inbox. A high-urgency message, such as a death being reported, goes to the top of the inbox as urgent and alerts your team immediately.
- A pre-planning lead, when the caller was arranging their own arrangements ahead of time, with their wishes and contact details. It also becomes a Call back item, so someone follows up.
- A transfer, when it hands the call to a human.
Throughout the call, the receptionist listens for a death, or a death that is expected soon. As soon as it hears one, it alerts your team as urgent, with the caller’s number to call back, without waiting for the end of the call.
What it never promises
Section titled “What it never promises”- It does not invent an answer. If something is not in your knowledge base or company details, it says so and offers to take a message instead of guessing.
- It does not quote or negotiate pricing.
- It does not commit your firm to a date, a supplier, or a service it has not been told about.
- It does not act on anything outside the call it is currently handling. If a family already told your firm something on a different call or by email, the receptionist only knows once it is on the case.
Where messages and callbacks end up: The inbox, in depth.
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