What does an answering service for consulting firms like ours do?
It answers the requests that arrive when nobody is free to pick up: Phase I and Phase II inquiries, mold and asbestos surveys and sampling visits, and for recycling centers and haulers, drop-off questions, container orders and pickup changes. Zanus AI does it on the phone, the website chat, e-mail and web forms, asks the questions you approved, books into the right calendar and hands every judgment to a person, with the conversation attached.
Can the AI tell a caller whether their property is contaminated?
No. It gives no technical or regulatory opinion of any kind: it reads no results and offers no view on limits, permits, reporting duties or the next phase of work. It takes the request, books the visit where your rules allow it and writes the question down for the consultant, who gives the answer.
Can it tell residents what our recycling center accepts?
Yes, from the list you approve. Write down the materials you take, the ones you turn away, the drop-off hours and the gate or bay for each, and Zanus AI works as your recycling center answering service on the phone and in the chat, answering from that list in the caller's language. A material that is not on the list is written down for a person instead of guessed.
Can it book roll-off containers and bulk pickups?
It books into each truck's, crew's or container's own calendar and places a hold on a free container for the dates the customer asks, after your questions: the address, the debris, where the box can sit. A bulk pickup gets its own slot on the route day you set. Reminder calls go out the day before, and a no frees the container for the next order.
What happens when a commercial customer reports a missed pickup?
The request becomes a help desk ticket, whether it came by phone, chat, e-mail or web form, with the address, the container and any photo the customer sent. The ticket goes to the dispatcher you name, the customer hears that it is logged, and the AI promises no time your dispatcher has not set.
Which intake questions can it ask before booking a site visit?
The ones your firm writes, because an answering service for environmental consultants is only as good as its intake. Most firms ask for the property address, its current and past use, the type of assessment or test, who orders and who receives the report, the access arrangements and the deadline, such as a closing date. The AI asks them in your order on every channel and puts each answer on the client record.
How does it handle urgent calls such as a spill, a fire or a strong odor?
Your company writes the instruction such a caller must hear, for example to call emergency services or the agency your area names, and the AI says it in your words. The call is then transferred to your on-call person, who is told who is calling and why. The AI makes no judgment about the hazard itself.
Can it send quotes for assessments, routes and container rentals?
Yes, from your own price list. The AI drafts the quote from what the customer described, whether a Phase I for a lender, a weekly recycling route for an office park or a two-week container rental, and it waits for your yes before it goes out. Follow-ups are sent until the customer replies and stop the moment they do.
Does it replace our lab, routing or scale software?
No. Zanus AI is the front office around those tools: it answers, books, quotes and follows up, and keeps the record of every conversation with the customer. Your sample data, chain-of-custody records, routes, weigh records and final reports stay in the systems your company uses today.
Can we keep the phone number on our trucks and containers?
Yes. Keep the number your customers already have and forward it from your phone provider. There is no porting and nothing to install, and any call your rules send to a person is transferred with a short introduction of the caller and the reason for the call.
How much does an AI answering service cost for a company like ours?
Zanus AI is priced per company, never per seat, so every consultant, dispatcher, scale-house attendant and office person works under one subscription, however many trucks or crews you run. You choose the modules you need, and the plans are listed on the pricing page.
What is the difference between the 7-day free trial and the demo?
The free trial builds a private sandbox from your own company's website for 7 days, with a phone line that answers as your business, and asks for no card. The demo needs nothing at all: it shows the AI front office already set up and arrives by e-mail in about 2 minutes.
