AI Front Office for Consulting Firms. The AI receptionist for consulting firms and consultancies
Zanus AI is an AI receptionist for consulting firms that answers the firm's main line, website chat, inquiry forms and shared inbox, day and night, in the caller's language. It qualifies prospects with your intake questions, books the discovery call with the partner who covers the sector, and leaves advice, scope and fees to your people.
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7 days free · per company, never per seat · nothing to install
Easy setup
Answers & books
Sells
You talk. Lisa sets it up.
You“Prospects book discovery calls; journalists and unhappy clients ring the managing partner first.”
Lisa“Prospects will be offered discovery slots, and journalists and unhappy clients will ring the managing partner before anyone else. Apply?”
Any setting, in any module · applied only on your yes
Start with the one thing you need. Add more anytime by asking Lisa.
The whole Front Office › · All industries ›
Who reaches you
Who the AI answers for Consulting Firms
- Prospects and referred executives asking whether the firm takes on their kind of problem
- Procurement officers sending an RFP, a clarification or a supplier registration form
- Client sponsors chasing a workshop date, a deliverable or an invoice copy
- Law firms, accountants and alliance firms referring a client or proposing to team on a bid
- Event organizers and journalists asking for a partner as speaker or source
- Experienced hires and freelance consultants offering their availability
The firm's front desk
What an AI receptionist for consulting firms answers
One front office answers every call, chat, form and e-mail a prospect or client sends, from the same approved information, so missed calls stop costing the firm its next engagement.
The main line
AI Phone picks up incoming calls on the first ring, asks a prospect the sector, the problem and the timing you set, and books the discovery call or files a message for the right partner.
The website
AI Webchat answers questions about your service lines, sectors and published case studies by text or voice, opening the page that explains your approach while it talks.
Inquiry forms
AI Web Forms replies the moment a request-a-conversation form lands, checks the sender's company e-mail and website, and offers discovery times with the partner of that practice.
The shared inbox
AI E-mail sorts mail to new business, client service or billing and drafts each routine reply; a desk can require a person to approve every answer before it leaves the firm.
Discovery calls booked
AI Booking offers only the free slots of the partner who covers the sector, keeps protected delivery days closed, and leaves the answers to your intake questions on the booking card.
One record per client organization
AI CRM keeps every call, chat, form and mail on the person's record, groups the people of one organization into a company and opens the pursuit by itself.
A day at the firm
The moments a virtual receptionist for consulting firms covers
Workshop day
Both partners are facilitating an all-day client workshop. A referred chief financial officer calls, hears how a diagnostic engagement starts and hangs up with Thursday's discovery call booked.
Travel day
The engagement manager is on a long flight. Her client's call gets a message filed with the number read back, or the caller hears when she will be reachable again.
After the office closes
A chief operating officer in another time zone sends the inquiry form at 8 PM your time. The reply with your intake questions reaches her inbox before she logs off.
Bid season
Three requests for proposal arrive in one week. Each sender gets a receipt at once, and each brief is read into its requirements for the bid owner to judge.
Conference week
After a partner's keynote, call volume jumps and the chat fills with attendees. Each one is answered, asked the same qualifying questions and booked into free partner slots.
Monday's pipeline meeting
The morning briefing lists the weekend's inquiries, messages and requests, each already on its record, so the meeting starts from facts rather than recollection.
The main line
Call answering and call routing for the firm's main line
AI answering for the main line: the AI receptionists of each department answer every call on the first ring, each in an AI voice with its own name, and pass a caller to a person only by your rules.
First ring, day and night
The AI receptionist answers on the first ring with your firm's name, so a referred executive calling during a workshop or a flight never lands in voicemail.
Route calls by reason and language
Call routing reads why someone is calling and in which language, then can route calls to new business, current clients, billing or a named partner, each AI first, person first or AI only.
Your business hours
Business hours here mean the hours a partner or coordinator can be put through; outside them, each department keeps full AI service, takes messages only or sends callers to voicemail.
Routine questions, answered
The AI can answer questions about office locations, parking, invoice copies or how a diagnostic starts, settling routine questions from your approved pages while partners stay with clients.
Real screens
Inside the AI front desk for consulting firms
Real Zanus AI screens with demo data, framed for the new-business desk of a consultancy.
Compared
AI receptionist for consultants or a classic answering service?
Virtual receptionists and other receptionist services take the call; the AI also answers from your approved pages, qualifies the prospect and books the discovery call while the caller is still on the line.
| What a consulting firm needs | A live receptionist | A virtual receptionist service | Zanus AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calls during client workshops | Busy when the receptionist is on another line | A message slip for the morning | Answered on the first ring,: with the discovery call booked |
| Calls after hours and from abroad | Voicemail once the office closes | An operator reading a short script | Answered day and night,: in the caller's own language |
| Questions on service lines | Answered when the receptionist knows | Read from a call sheet | Answered from your approved pages,: never improvised |
| Prospect qualification | Depends on who picks up | Name and number only | Your intake questions asked,: answers on the prospect's record |
| Website chat and inbox | Handled between other tasks | Phone only | Chat, forms and e-mail too,: from the same knowledge |
| A record of the conversation | Notes typed later, if at all | A short message | Transcript and summary,: filed on the client's record |
Guardrails
What stays with your partners and consultants
The AI handles call handling, intake and booking; judgment stays with people, by rules you write once and can read back at any time.
Advice of any kind
Strategy, technical, financial or organizational recommendations are never given. A question that asks for one becomes a discovery call, with the question written on the booking.
Scope and fees
The AI reads only the packages and rates you choose to publish. Custom scope, discounts and terms stay with a partner, and any quote it drafts waits for a yes.
Client names
A rule can keep every client name off the phone, the chat and the inbox unless a published case study carries it, and that rule is tested every night.
Live engagements
A caller asking about the deliverables, findings or status of a live engagement is put through to its lead or leaves a message, and hears nothing on the substance from the AI.
Conflict questions
Your intake can collect the prospect's organization and the parties involved for the partner who runs conflict checks; the AI never clears a conflict or accepts a mandate.
Staff-only knowledge
Rate floors, coverage lists and internal procedures marked staff-only answer your team and never surface to a prospect on any public channel.
Set-up
Set up the AI receptionist for consulting firms in 2 minutes
Lisa reads your site
Your service, sector, insight and team pages become the answers, and Lisa asks which partner covers which practice and when each person can be reached.
Forward the main line
Forward the number on your proposals and website and the AI answers from that moment, with nothing to install and no change of carrier.
Write the intake and the limits
Tell Lisa your intake questions, the client names that may be said and what must never be promised; she shows each change before and after.
Run it for a week
Seven free days on your own line, chat and forms with no credit card, then the report of every inquiry it answered, booked or handed to a partner.
Questions & answers
Frequently asked questions about AI receptionists for consulting firms
What does an AI receptionist for consulting firms do?
It answers the firm's phone line, website chat, inquiry forms and shared inbox the way a trained front desk would. Zanus AI tells a prospect from a client sponsor, a procurement officer or a vendor, answers from your approved service pages, books the discovery call and passes anything that needs professional judgment to the partner you named.
Is a virtual receptionist for consulting firms different from an answering service?
Most answering services take a message and pass it on in the morning. An AI answering service for consultancies answers incoming calls from the firm's approved information, asks your intake questions, books the discovery call into a partner's free slot and writes every call down with its transcript and summary, so no consultant has to type up a phone slip.
Will the AI give strategy or technical advice to a prospect?
No. It answers only from what your firm approved, such as service lines, sectors, engagement models and published case studies. A question like what should we do about our cost base becomes a discovery call with a partner, with the prospect's question written on the booking so the partner walks in prepared.
Does the AI confirm who our clients are?
Only what you choose to publish. A never rule in your knowledge can forbid naming any client absent from a public case study, and that rule holds on the phone, in the chat and in the inbox. A caller asking about a named engagement is passed to its lead and gets nothing on the substance.
Can it handle RFP invitations and procurement questions?
Yes. A request for proposal sent by e-mail opens in AI Proposal Studio with its thread and attachments, the sender receives a receipt at once, and the brief is read page by page into its requirements. Deciding to bid, writing the answer and pressing send stay with people of your firm.
How much does an AI receptionist for a consultancy cost?
It is priced per company, never per seat, so partners, consultants and the coordinator share one subscription and a new analyst adds nothing. You pick the modules the firm needs and add others later; the plans sit on the pricing page, and the seven-day trial asks for no credit card.
Can we keep the number printed on our proposals?
Yes. Forward the phone number clients and prospects already dial and the AI answers from that moment, with no porting and no new phone system to learn. A new local number is also available if the firm wants a separate line for a practice or an office.
What happens when a client executive calls upset about a deliverable?
Your rule decides. The AI can ring the engagement lead on the computer, the phone app or the mobile, in the order the lead chose, and tell her who is calling and why before the call connects. If nobody picks up, the caller hears the line you prepared and the message is filed with the number read back.
Does it work for clients in other time zones and languages?
Yes. The line answers day and night, callers speak their own language, from English and Spanish to that of a client abroad, and hear the answer in it, and the website chat works in 40 languages. A sponsor in Singapore calling at your midnight reaches a front desk that answers, books the call or files the message for the morning.
Which calls still go straight to a partner?
The ones you route there. Each department, such as new business, current clients or media, can be AI first, a person first or AI only, and a named partner can be rung for the callers you list. Everything the AI handles alone is written down for the team to read.
Does the AI replace our coordinator or executive assistant?
No. It takes the first conversation off their desk: the answer at 9 PM, the intake questions, the booking and the written record. The coordinator keeps the judgment calls, such as which request is urgent enough for a partner, with the whole conversation already in front of them.
How fast can a consulting firm set it up?
Two minutes: once your number forwards to it, the AI picks up every call. Then tell Lisa your practices, which partner covers which sector, your intake questions and what may never be said about clients or fees; she shows each change before and after and applies it only on your yes.
What is the best AI receptionist for a consulting firm?
One that sounds composed with senior callers and knows where to stop, as any AI receptionist for professional services firms should. Look for an AI voice in the caller's language, call routing to the right partner, lead qualification with your own intake questions, a written record of each call and a free trial on your own line. Zanus AI covers each of these and is priced per company.
Can AI receptionists replace a live receptionist?
For the first conversation, often; for judgment, no. The AI can answer calls, settle routine questions and book discovery calls without adding staff, while a coordinator or live receptionist, where the firm has one, takes the calls your rules send to a person, with the conversation already written down.
Award-winning AI
Winner at CES 2026, ISE 2026 and TMCnet Enterprise AI Product of the Year.
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