New! Have All Your Calls Answered by Spanish-Speaking Bilingual Receptionists

Many U.S.-based businesses offer services to English- and Spanish-speaking customers, which is why we have a team of bilingual receptionists on staff. Now, with our new dedicated Spanish line, you can opt to have incoming call answered by one of our Spanish-speaking receptionists!

When you sign up for a dedicated Spanish line, calls that comes in on this line will be automatically routed to an available bilingual receptionist who is fluent in Spanish. And since the majority of our bilingual receptionists speak Spanish with a native accent, your new leads and current clients will be put at ease, and will very likely think they're talking to an in-house employee. That's exactly the high-quality impression we want to give your callers!

For businesses located in areas with a large Latino population or for law firms that focus on immigration matters, Spanish-speaking receptionists are essential to converting leads and maintaining trust with clients. But, with 20% of the United States population fluent in Spanish, and about a third of them saying they prefer to communicate in Spanish over English, bilingual answering can help a wide array of businesses to bring in more leads and deliver exceptional, thoughtful customer service.

How the dedicated Spanish line works

When you sign up to have all your calls answered by a bilingual receptionist, we will give you an entirely new line for your virtual receptionist account. If you don’t have a Smith.ai virtual receptionists account yet, we can get you set up and provide you with a dedicated Spanish line for you to forward calls to immediately.

We'll automatically route anyone who calls the phone number for your Spanish line to a bilingual receptionist. Whether your caller prefers English or Spanish, our receptionist will handle the call in the way you've instructed — taking messages, making transfers, asking qualifying questions, scheduling consultations etc. In the rare instance a bilingual receptionist is unavailable, calls will be still routed to one of our English speaking receptionists who will answer and transfer over to a bilingual receptionist, that way no calls are missed.

After the call, the receptionist will take notes in English and you will receive them by email and SMS — the same as any other call. We’ll make a note of the language the caller preferred, so you have the right information to handle the relationship properly going forward.

Example: Immigration Law Firm

Let’s say, for example, you run an immigration law firm and work with many Spanish-speaking clients. Most leads who call your business have urgent questions and need to know if you can help them. With a high volume of new leads calling your firm after finding you online, it’s essential to screen and book qualified leads on the first call.

When you have our virtual receptionist service set up with a dedicated Spanish line, our bilingual receptionists will answer the calls. Once they hear a caller speaking in Spanish, they quickly switch languages to continue the conversation. Then they will follow your instructions to answer the caller's questions. They can also transfer callers to you or anyone in your office, screen and intake those callers who are qualified new leads, book consultations, take payments, or anything else you need to have us take care of for you on the first call. If, by chance, a bilingual receptionist isn't available at the moment, we will make sure your call is still answered by an English speaking receptionist who will then transfer over to a bilingual receptionist.  

Knowing you are the right immigration firm to offer assistance from the very beginning, your qualified leads will gladly take the next step towards converting to clients. Speaking with someone in their native language puts them at ease, makes them comfortable, and aligns well with the experience you'll deliver when you work with them as a client. And of course, current clients who call in will know they can always call and reach someone who they can speak with comfortably. With your calls handled properly, you’ll have more time to focus on winning cases for your clients.

How to set up a phone menu to exclusively direct Spanish speakers to your dedicated Spanish line

Want a “Press one for English, press two for Spanish”-style menu for your callers? This isn’t strictly necessary, since our bilingual receptionists are, well, bilingual — they speak English and Spanish fluently. But if you are looking to more easily track the number of Spanish-speaking callers, or record calls in just one language, you can set up a menu that splits callers by language.

Using a VoIP phone system like RingCentral, Phone.com, or Nextiva (to name a few) or a call-tracking system like CallRail, you can set up a menu that prompts your callers to “Press one for English” and “Press two for Spanish.”

Send callers who choose option one to your original receptionist line and callers who choose option two to your new Spanish line. It's as simple as setting up call forwarding to each number. And that's it! We'll answer all calls, and you'll know callers who prefer to speak, or only speak, Spanish are being routed properly.

How much does the Spanish line cost?

A dedicated Spanish line is an add-on feature and will incur an added cost of $1 per call. This per-call price is added to your current plan at a monthly rate, based on your plan's call volume. Here’s a breakdown by plan:

• Starter plan (30 calls): add $30/month
• Basic plan (90 calls): $90/month
• Pro plan (300 calls): $300/month
  

Any overage calls will incur an additional $1 per call. Learn more about Smith.ai plans and add-ons.

Questions? We've got answers to the most common ones.

Can I keep my current Smith.ai number in addition to my new bilingual number?

Yes! You can keep both numbers on the same account. This will help you avoid having to set up new forwarding from your old line.

What happens if someone who only speaks English calls this line?

Not to worry. Our bilingual agents are fully fluent in English, so they can handle calls in English and Spanish.

What happens if someone who only speaks Spanish calls my other line and doesn't get a bilingual receptionist?

Easy. We will transfer the caller to your Spanish line at no extra cost to you.

How will I know that the person who called preferred Spanish over English?

We’ll make a note if your caller preferred speaking in Spanish in your call summary. All call summaries will still be in English.

Is my dedicated Spanish line available 24/7?

Yes. Our bilingual agents are online 24/7 and regularly taking calls. In the rare instance that there is not a bilingual agent available, the call will still be answered live by one of our receptionists.

Get started with a dedicated Spanish line today

For new clients:

Ready to get started with bilingual virtual receptionists for your business? Our receptionists can qualify and intake new leads, schedule appointments, send follow-up emails and texts to your clients, run conflict checks, take payments for consultations, offer warm transfers, and more — in English and Spanish. ‍

Schedule a free 30-minute consultation, or sign up at smith.ai/pricing and request a dedicated Spanish line.  

For existing clients:

‍Are you already using our virtual receptionist services? Simply email support@smith.ai and request that we add a dedicated Spanish line to your account.