AI phone receptionist for marble and stone
Quick summary
- You have a slab on the saw at the yard. Both hands are on the stone. That is when the number on the gate rings.
- A photo of a stair is not polish or replacement. The assistant books a look. It does not pick the job from the picture.
- A kitchen island, a cemetery plaque, a worn stair — those are different visits, not one free hour.
- Someone who wants an island this week will not wait on voicemail. They ring the next yard.
- It checks the book you already use before it offers a morning, writes the visit in, and texts the window.
- It answers every line at once. A Saturday of plaques before a name-day is several conversations, not a busy tone.
TL;DR
You are at a Greek stone yard with a slab of Dionysos on the saw. The phone on the gate rings. Someone has sent a photo of a kitchen island and wants a number today. Someone else wants a cemetery plaque for Saturday. A third wants a stair polished that is too thin to polish. They will not leave a message. They will ring the next yard. An assistant answers in the caller's language, asks whether this is a stair, an island, a plaque or a polish, takes the address or the yard visit, and books a look only if that morning is free. It does not invent a price from a photo. It does not pick polish over replacement. The stone and the job are yours, after you have seen the piece.
Key takeaways
- Put the assistant on the number on the gate and the van, with a forward-on-no-answer rule, so a free pair of hands still takes the call.
- Teach it the first split: stair, kitchen island, cemetery plaque, polish, or a move of a visit already in the book.
- Give it the sentence verbatim: it cannot pick polish or replacement from a photo. Someone has to see the stair.
- Let it book looks and plaque collections. Keep the quote, the stone choice, and polish-versus-replacement as a callback after the look.
- On Fridays before a name-day, and in the week a block wants three stairs done, shorten the ring-time so the third caller is not listening to a busy tone.
- Mark two kinds of visit: a look that needs you on the stair or at the island, and a short plaque or sample collection at the yard.
What an AI phone receptionist does at a marble yard
You are at a Greek stone yard. A slab of Dionysos is on the saw. Both hands are on the stone. White dust on the bench. The phone on the gate rings. Across town the other person is laying a paper template on a kitchen island. There is no third pair of hands at the office desk.
You put the assistant on the number already on the gate and on the van. It answers when you cannot. Then it does one of two things. It books a look that is actually free. Or it takes a request you will price after you have seen the stair, the island, or the plaque.
The first question is not “what morning would you like?”. The first question is what kind of visit this is. A photo of a stair is not polish and is not replacement. A kitchen island is not a cemetery plaque. A window sill is not a vanity. An assistant that opens with a free hour will put an island price into a plaque morning and leave the person whose stair is too thin to grind without a note.
A caller who rang in English gets the confirmation in English. A caller who rang in Greek gets it in Greek. The assistant works in 70+ languages. The SMS follows the language of the call.
At the yard with a slab, and the phone still ringing
One of you has a slab on the saw. The other is in a kitchen with a roll of brown paper. The published number still rings.
It is a burst. Friday before a name-day, when plaques have a date on them. The week a block manager wants three stairs done. The morning after a kitchen fitter has left an island open. A second line with the same two hands still leaves the third caller on a busy tone.
The person who sent a photo of an island this afternoon will not wait on voicemail. They have your yard and two others in the same search. They hang up and dial the next one. The person who needs a plaque for Saturday will not leave a message either.
People whose slabs you already cut will often wait. A person who cannot get a look at a stair, and a person who cannot start an island, will not. If those two wait behind the saw you are already on, the island is gone, and the stair arrives as an angry visit at five — or the next yard has already put a tape on that nosing.
Whoever takes the look often takes the order. That is why a missed photo-call is not only a missed note.
Stair, island, plaque, polish — then the address
Stair. Worn treads in a block, a chipped nosing, a landing that has gone dull. The question on this phone is polish or replacement. The assistant does not answer it. It takes the address and which flight. It books a look only if that morning is free. Remaining thickness, how far the nosing has rounded, whether the tread will take another grind — that is yours, on the step. A photo from the landing does not show it.
Kitchen island. They sent a picture of a slab, or of someone else’s island. The assistant asks which stone they named — Dionysos, Thassos, Volakas, or they do not know — and books a template visit or a yard visit to pick the slab. It does not invent a figure from the picture. It does not promise Thursday’s fit before the paper has been on the cabinets.
Cemetery plaque. A name, a date, a cemetery, often a Saturday. A plaque is not an island. Mark it as its own visit, or you will put a funeral on a morning that was held for a kitchen. The assistant takes the cemetery and the day. It does not promise the cut is ready. If you do not letter plaques, it says so from the line you typed in.
Polish. A floor, a stair, a sill that they want honed or brought back. Polish is not replacement. The assistant takes what they want looked at. It does not say the shine will come back. A stair that is too thin will not take another grind, and the assistant cannot see that from a photo.
People remember the stair. They do not remember whether they want it polished or new treads. Ask which job first. Then the address. One flight is enough to put the look on the right landing. None is still a request, not a guess at polish from a picture.
A sentence the assistant is not allowed to say
“Can you polish it or do we replace?” is the question on this phone. It comes from a block entrance in Patissia. It comes from a manager who photographed the stairwell. It comes from a neighbour who liked the grind next door.
The assistant does not answer it. Not with polish. Not with replacement. Not with “it usually polishes up”. A sentence that picks the job before anyone has been on the step is a sentence the yard now owns, and the assistant cannot see remaining thickness.
The line you give it is short: someone has to see the stair. Polish or replacement is after the look.
“How much for this island if I send a photo?”, “do you have Thassos in stock?”, and “will Volakas stain in a kitchen?” are still price and stone questions. The assistant names the topic so the callback is useful, and refuses the figure and the guarantee.
Do not put a stone price list in the notes. It will read the list out.
Name-days, a block of stairs, and everyone at once
Friday before a name-day is plaques. By nine, people have started ringing about a cut for Saturday. You are already on the saw. The pad is already a list of names.
A block week is stairs. Three flights, one manager, everyone expecting a number from the same landing photo.
A fitter’s afternoon is islands. The cabinets are in. They want the template tomorrow.
The assistant has to treat that burst as several conversations, not as a queue behind your saw. A stair look in that hour is a morning in the book. A plaque is a yard job with a date on it. If the assistant parks the person who wants an island behind the tenth plaque, that person rings the next yard.
Shorten the ring-time before forwarding on those mornings. Before a name-day the third caller should not hear a busy tone. A Tuesday in August is people asking for holiday-house sills, and one person left at the yard.
A price nobody can give from a photo of a slab
When someone describes an island on the phone — white, they think Dionysos, two metres, they sent a picture of a slab at another yard — the tempting answer is a number. The assistant does not give one.
Which stone, which slab in the rack, the template, the sink cut, the overhang, the edge profile, which floor the piece has to come up — all of those change the work. A number quoted before anyone has put paper on the cabinets is a number you then spend the visit taking back.
Greek yards hold what they hold. Dionysos is not Thassos. Volakas is not “white marble”. The assistant does not say a stone is in stock unless you typed that line in for this week. Last year’s island for the neighbour is not this kitchen.
It can repeat a published look fee you typed in and marked as speakable. Unseen islands, a full stair, a vanity — those do not get a number on this call. The assistant takes the request and books the look.
If they press — “just a round figure, I have the other yard on the other line” — the assistant still refuses. Book them as soon as a morning is free. Flag it if the plaque has Saturday on it.
Standing on a worn stair
Some of these callers are on a landing in a block, with the manager waiting, with a tenant who slipped. They want to know whether you can come now, whether polish will do, whether the building should replace the treads.
The assistant is not on that landing. It cannot see the nosing. It cannot decide polish or replacement.
What it can take: the address, which flight, whether anyone is hurt, and whether the stair is still in use. What it can repeat, if you typed the line in: someone from the yard will call back as soon as they can see the van. Come-now or this-afternoon is yours, after you know where the crew is.
It does not tell them the stair is safe. It does not tell them to close the flight. It does not tell them what the building should claim.
If someone is hurt, that is a transfer. You give the assistant a short list: someone fell, stair, they are still there. It collects a name and a number while it is connecting.
A caller who is already home, with a photo of a stair on their phone, is a look request and, if a morning is free, a time.
Plaques, sills, and “can you fit it Thursday?”
Cemetery plaque. Name, dates, cemetery, often a Saturday. The assistant takes those and books a yard visit or a collection if that is a type you marked. It does not promise the cut. It does not pick the lettering. If you do not letter, it says so on the first call.
Window sills. Crumbling, stained, they want new ones in the same stone as the stair. A sill measure is not an island template. Mark it, or you will spend an hour in a kitchen with someone who only needed three lengths.
Vanity. Bathroom top in Thassos, or they think it is Thassos. The assistant takes the room and books a look. It does not say Thassos will not stain. It does not say the slab on the rack is the one they saw online.
Fit Thursday. They have already had a quote, or they think they have. The assistant does not put a fit in the book because someone is in a hurry. If a signed quote exists, that is a different visit type, from a list you control. If it does not, this is still a look. If the old worktop is still in, the assistant does not keep Thursday just to sound fast.
August needs its own dates. Do not let the assistant book a template into a week when the yard is dark.
How CITT handles it
- Your number stays on the gate and on the van. A forwarding rule sends what you do not answer. Calls you pick up never leave, and are never charged.
- Every line is answered at once. A Friday of plaques is several conversations, not a stack of busy tones.
- It knows the yard you described. What you cut, whether you letter plaques, whether you do stairs, who is out on Monday.
- It asks stair, island, plaque or polish first, then the address or the yard visit, and only then looks at the book.
- It takes polish-or-replacement as a look, never as a choice said out loud.
- It checks the real book before it offers a morning, and writes the visit into the same calendar the yard already uses.
- It confirms by SMS, in the language of the call — 70+ languages — and can remind them to leave the stair or the island clear.
- It escalates a plaque with Saturday on it, a price question, and a stair where someone fell as a tagged note or a transfer.
- You get the transcript, the summary, the address, and the piece the caller named.
What it will not do
It will not invent a price from a photo of a slab, a stair, or last year’s neighbour. It will not pick polish or replacement. It will not say a stone is in stock unless you wrote that this week. It will not promise Thursday’s fit before the template. It will not say Thassos will not stain, or that a stair is safe. It will not treat an island, a plaque and a stair look as the same morning. It will not letter a plaque if you do not letter.
What these calls sound like
The order is the split, then the piece, then the address or the yard, then a morning the book can honour, then the refusal said out loud. There is no “polish will do” over a stair nobody has stood on. There is no round figure over an island nobody has templated. There is no “ready Saturday” to a plaque the saw has not seen.
If the assistant is friendly and still picks the job, you own that sentence. Put the person who rang about the stair at 11:10 on a look, not on the next yard’s pad.
What you set up first
Put the assistant on the number on the gate with a forward-on-no-answer rule, so a free pair of hands at the yard still takes the call. Then the four-way split, the piece question, and the sentence that forbids polish-versus-replacement from a photo.
Write down what you actually cut and whether you letter plaques this month. Give it the fields you want on every note: address or yard, which piece, stair or island or plaque, whether they sent a photo, whether a date is on the plaque. Mark two kinds of visit: a look that needs you on the stair or at the island, and a short plaque or sample collection at the yard.
Give it the same-day phone list: plaque for Saturday, someone fell on the stair, they are standing on the landing. Do not give it a stone tariff it would read out. Write one line that forbids photo-prices, polish-or-replacement guesses, and stain guarantees. Add opening hours, who is out on Monday, August dates, where the van may wait.
Rates live on the pricing section of the home page. They are not repeated here.
AI receptionist, in-house staff, or a call centre
| CITT | In-house | Call centre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers while a slab is on the saw | Always | Only if they can step off the saw | Yes |
| Several callers before a name-day | Every line at once | One, then a busy tone | Depends who was rostered |
| Asks stair, island or plaque first | Yes — before it looks at the book | Yes, if they heard the start | Often jumps to what morning |
| Picks polish or replacement from a photo | Never — books the look | Can refuse until they have seen the stair | Often guesses polish |
| Invents an island price from a photo | Never | Quotes after the template | Often reads a range |
| Speaks the caller's language | 70+ languages | One or two | Whoever is on that shift |
| What it will not do | Price unseen stone, or pick polish over replacement | Can look at the stair | Reads whatever is on the sheet |
What one unanswered Friday morning costs a two-person stone yard
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- Two people, a Friday in May. One of you is on the saw with a Dionysos slab. The other is templating an island in a kitchen in Kalamaria.
- About 14 inbound calls that morning. Five arrive while both pairs of hands are on stone.
- Of those five, 2 are new kitchen islands. 1 is a worn stair. 1 is a cemetery plaque. 1 is a polish that may be a replacement.
- A kitchen island that becomes an order is worth about €2,400 of work here — put your own average ticket in first. This is the number to change.
- This example assumes 1 of the 2 island callers does not leave a message and rings the next yard on the listing.
- 2 new island requests reach nobody on a normal Friday morning.
- 1 of them does not call back.
- 1 × €2,400 = €2,400 of work that morning that never reached the book.
- A morning like that once a week, 40 weeks — 40 × €2,400.
About €96,000 a year on those assumptions. Change the ticket, the conversion, and how often a morning like that happens.
What it costs
CITT is pay as you go: no packages, no minimum, no contract. The current rates — the monthly fee per number and the per-minute rate — are on the pricing section of the home page, which is the only place they are published.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to change the number on the gate?
No. The number on the gate, the van, the cards, and the Google listing stays yours. You add one forwarding rule — every call, or only the ones still ringing after the seconds you choose. If you pick up, the call never leaves and is never charged.
Can it say whether a stair should be polished or replaced?
It must not. A photo does not show remaining thickness, how far the nosing has worn, or whether the tread will take another grind. It takes the address and the stair they named, and books a look if that morning is free. You pick polish or replacement after you have been on the step. If a starting figure must not be said until you have seen the stone, do not give the assistant that figure.
Can it price a kitchen island from a photo of a slab?
No. A photo of a slab at the yard, or of someone else's island, does not show the template, the sink cut, the overhang, or which stone they actually want — Dionysos, Thassos, Volakas, or something you do not hold. It books a look at the kitchen, or a yard visit if they want to pick the slab first. The quote is yours, after the template.
We cut stone. We do not letter cemetery plaques. What then?
Say so in the notes. A caller who wants a name cut for Saturday gets a clear no, and, if you want, a yard you actually send people to. Do not let it book a lettering job onto a saw that only cuts islands and sills. The same if you do not do stairs.
Someone wants a plaque for a funeral on Saturday. Can it promise the cut?
It can take the name, the cemetery, and the day, and put the call in front of a human who can see the saw. It will not invent “it will be ready Saturday”. A plaque with a date on it is a flagged note or a transfer, not a guessed finish. You decide whether the saw can take it.
What do we actually see afterwards?
A transcript, a short summary, whether this was a stair, an island, a plaque, a polish or a move, the address or the yard visit they named, and whatever was booked or left for you. Confirmations go out by SMS in the language of the call.
