Your AI Receptionist Is Here: Stop Losing Bookings to Voicemail

The phone always rings at the worst moment. You are mid-color, mid-fade or mid-consultation, and the person on the other end wants one simple thing: a time that works. If nobody picks up, they do not leave a voicemail. They call the next salon on the list.

Percy, the AI receptionist built into Perceny, makes sure that call ends in a booking with you. It picks up your phone, answers your texts, web chat and email, and books the appointment on your real calendar, with your prices and your rules. It works while you are with a client, after you close and on your days off, and it knows when to bring a person in.

Watch a real call to a real salon: a client finds the shop on Google Maps, calls, books with Percy, and the booking details arrive by text.

Every call gets answered, even when your hands are fullCopy a link to this section

You should not have to choose between the client in your chair and the one on the phone. Percy answers both.

• Calls, texts, web chat and email all get the same assistant, with the same knowledge of your business.
• It picks up with your greeting, in your salon's tone. A caller ringing back after a dropped call hears that they were cut off. A client with a visit later today is asked if they are calling about it.
• It sounds like a good receptionist, not a phone menu. It stops talking when the caller talks over it, and it says "let me check Saturday" while it looks instead of leaving dead air.
• Your team still gets first shot. Have the shop ring your team for 10, 15 or 20 seconds first. Percy only picks up if nobody does, and the ringing is free.
• You choose when. Around the clock, only when you are closed, or on hours of its own, with each channel set its own way if you like.

Your calendar fills while you workCopy a link to this section

Percy does not take a message and leave the booking to you. It finishes the job.

• It books real appointments from your live availability, so it never offers a time that is already taken.
• It books the right person for the job. Each stylist is offered only the services they actually perform, and a client asking for the wrong one is pointed to who does.
• It moves, cancels and confirms appointments too, even to another stylist, so the "can we do Friday instead?" calls stop interrupting your day.
• It handles the complicated visits. A cut with one barber and a beard with another, back to back, or a parent and child booked together and moved together.
• It plays by your rules. If you approve bookings before they are final, Percy books them as requests and never tells the client they are confirmed.
• It gets names right. "York" becomes Joc, "Chris" becomes Kris, and it learns the names your callers actually use.

Deposits that protect your chairCopy a link to this section

A no-show on a three-hour color is a lost afternoon. Percy collects the deposit before it happens.

• It quotes the price and the deposit up front, holds the time and texts the payment link during the call. You choose how long the time stays held while they pay (30 minutes unless you change it).
• Clients pay with what they already have: a gift card, membership, store credit, rewards or a promo code.
• It sells gift cards and memberships by texting a secure purchase link, and checks balances once the client is verified with a texted code.
• Your clients' money stays safe. Percy never takes card numbers over the phone and never issues refunds. Payments go through secure hosted pages, and refund requests are passed to your team.

Your regulars feel like regularsCopy a link to this section

The best front desks remember people. So does Percy.

• "Same as last time?" Percy keeps a few short notes per client, so a regular can book their usual without explaining it again.
• It never keeps card details, PINs, addresses or health information, and you can read or clear any client's notes.
• It speaks their language. On the phone it speaks English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and Polish, with a voice you pick for each, and by text it replies in whatever language the client writes in.

Your team only gets what needs a humanCopy a link to this section

Percy handles the routine so your team can handle the people.

• It transfers live calls to your shop phones and to team members in the browser or the Perceny app, all at once, and whoever picks up hears why the client is calling. If nobody can answer, it promises a call back by text.
• Jump in any time. Reply on any thread and Percy keeps helping alongside you, and it holds its own reply while you are typing, so you never talk over each other.
• You decide what needs a person. Name the topics Percy should never handle alone and who gets them, with alerts by SMS, email or push.
• It covers the in-between requests: waitlist sign-ups, walk-in wait times, running-late messages and booking links sent mid-call.
• It can call clients for you, at the time they ask for, plus confirmation calls, waitlist offers and a call or text back after a missed call, each one your choice.

You stay in charge of every conversationCopy a link to this section

Nothing happens behind your back, and you can steer it as it happens.

• Messaging → AI Bookings lists every appointment Percy booked, held or is waiting on you to approve.
• Every call is on the client's thread, with its transcript and, if you record calls, the recording.
• Every Monday at 8 AM, owners and managers get a digest: calls answered, bookings made, the value booked, deposits paid and the top issue of the week.
• Coach it live. Guide AI sends Percy a private note mid-conversation, on a text or a live call ("offer her the 3 PM instead"). The client never sees it, and Teach It turns good coaching into a standing rule you approve.
• It gets better from your own calls. Suggested From Your Calls drafts better instructions from real conversations, for you to accept, edit or dismiss.

What it costs, and what it earnsCopy a link to this section

• Elite: Percy and Two-Way Messaging are included.
• Business and Spotlight: add Two-Way Messaging for $50/month, which also adds 15 messaging credits every month.

Usage is paid from your messaging credits (1 credit = $1), and your plan's free monthly credits are spent first. A typical minute on the phone with Percy costs about 27 cents all in on the Premium voices it starts with, or about 24 cents on standard voices, and a text reply starts at 3 cents. The ringing before Percy picks up is free.

Put that next to what a missed call costs you. A two-minute call that books a $60 cut costs about 55 cents. If Percy books two appointments a month that would have gone to voicemail, the add-on has likely paid for itself.

Turn it on in five stepsCopy a link to this section

1. Get Two-Way Messaging. On Elite it is already included. On Business or Spotlight, the owner opens Business Settings → Billing → Add-Ons and presses Add to Subscription on Two-Way Messaging.
2. Get your phone number. Open Messaging → Phone Number → Get a Number, pick a local area code and press Provision. Your first number is free. Then give clients the number, forward your shop line to it, or use Transfer a Number to bring your current one over.
3. Open the AI Assistant. From the menu, go to Automation & AI → AI Assistant. In the Perceny app, tap More, then Automation & AI → AI Assistant.
4. Switch it on and finish the checklist. Turn on Answer Messages Automatically, which also turns on phone calls. Then work through the Setup Checklist and press Fix This on anything marked Missing.
5. Make it yours and try it. Give it a name, a tone, a greeting and a voice, choose who gets transferred calls and when it answers, then press Try It and talk to it like a client. Nothing is sent and no credits are spent.

The full setup guide walks through every setting.

Every call you miss is a booking someone else gets. See how Percy works, or book a demo and we will set it up with you.