An AI receptionist for small business answers routed calls, uses your approved business information and follows configured booking, message-taking and transfer rules. Nexwin brings phone answering and website chat together for Australian sole traders and small teams. Business starts at $249/month +GST with 600 call minutes, then $0.49 per additional minute. A 7-day trial includes 100 call minutes; a card is required and the paid plan starts on day 8 unless cancelled.
Seven days and 100 call minutes included. Card required. No charge until the trial ends and your selected plan starts on day 8. Cancel anytime.
Small businesses have a structural problem large ones don't: there is often nobody whose job it is to answer the phone. According to the ASBFEO small business data portal, 97.3% of Australian businesses are small businesses, and 63.6% are non-employing — sole traders with no staff at all. For those businesses, calls can arrive while the owner is already doing billable work.
That's a different problem from a busy front desk. A clinic with a receptionist misses calls at peak times; a sole trader misses them all day, because answering means stopping. And the caller rarely waits — most people ringing a small business don't leave a voicemail, they call the next name on the list.
The traditional fix is to hire someone. Per SEEK's salary guide, a receptionist in Australia earns roughly $60,000 to $70,000 a year before superannuation — and still only covers business hours, five days a week. For most small businesses that maths simply doesn't work, which is why the phone keeps ringing out.
There are four realistic ways a small business can stop missing calls, and they differ mostly in cost and in whether the call ends with a booking or just a message.
| Option | Typical cost | Hours covered | Books appointments? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voicemail | Included with your line | 24/7 message recording; completion depends on caller choice | No |
| Part-time or casual receptionist | Pro-rata on $60k–$70k + super | Only the hours you pay for | Yes, while rostered on |
| Human answering service | Per-call or per-minute fees | Varies by plan | Depends on the service and booking access |
| AI receptionist (Nexwin AI Receptionist) | $249/month +GST for 600 minutes; then $0.49/min | 24/7 including weekends and public holidays | Yes — books, reschedules and cancels |
The distinction that matters most for a small business is the last column. A message means the work is still yours to do tonight; a booking means the job is already in your calendar. If you're choosing between options, ask each provider whether it can see your live availability and confirm a time while the caller is still on the phone.
For a fuller breakdown, see our guides to AI vs human receptionist costs and virtual receptionist options.
Use your own missed-call rate, observed booking rate and average booked-job value, then compare that estimate with the subscription and any overage. Nexwin does not guarantee bookings, revenue, savings or payback.
The honest way to work it out is to multiply, not to guess:
If your jobs are low-value or you rarely miss relevant calls, voicemail or call forwarding may be enough. Use the trial to measure call volume and workflow fit rather than relying on a generic ROI claim.
Use the 7-day free trial to measure it rather than estimate it: run it on your real calls and count what comes in.
A monthly subscription with published usage limits. Business includes 600 call minutes for $249/month +GST; extra minutes are $0.49 each, so the total depends on your call volume.
Small business customers ring in the evening and at weekends, because that's when they're not at work themselves. Nexwin AI Receptionist answers at 8pm on a Sunday exactly as it does at 10am Tuesday.
No new phone hardware is required. You forward your existing business number when you cannot answer. Setup time depends on your knowledge, rules, testing and integrations.
Nexwin AI Receptionist checks your real calendar availability and confirms the appointment during the call, so you're not ringing people back after dinner.
You can configure a consistent business greeting and call flow. Nexwin does not claim callers will mistake Nexwin AI Receptionist for a human receptionist.
Every Nexwin AI Receptionist plan includes Nexwin AI Chatbot free, so enquiries that arrive through your website are answered by the same system.
Nexwin can suit small service businesses whose owners are busy doing the work when enquiries arrive. Start with the documented trade and accommodation workflows, then check your own booking rules, privacy requirements and software. These industry guides describe possible configurations:
For another sector, bring your common enquiries and systems to a workflow demo. Training on your website and documents supplies business knowledge; it does not automatically provide access to a calendar or guarantee compatibility with every platform. Approved custom CRM and software integrations are a Pro-plan inclusion.
Nexwin collects appliance and fault details, checks the configured service area and offers suitable times before creating a calendar booking. The repair team remains responsible for diagnosis and service delivery.
Phone and website support handles guest questions, supported availability checks and approved late-arrival information. Booking actions depend on the property's configured rules and connected systems.
These customer case studies use customer-supplied operating information and permitted screenshots. Figures are approximate and have not been independently audited. Bring your own enquiries, calendar and handoff rules to a demo to check the fit.
Nexwin Business is $249/month +GST with 600 call minutes, eligible calendar bookings and website chat for normal business use under the Fair Use Policy. Extra minutes are $0.49 each. Pro is $499/month +GST with 1,200 minutes, then $0.39/min, and approved custom integrations. Compare usage allowances, booking inclusions, setup and third-party costs. Our provider comparison links to current official supplier sources.
Use your own missed-call rate, observed booking rate and average booked-job value, then compare the estimate with $249/month +GST and any overage. ASBFEO data shows 63.6% of Australian businesses are non-employing, but that does not predict an individual business's call volume or results. Nexwin does not guarantee bookings or payback.
No. You keep your existing business number and there is no on-site hardware to install. You set up call forwarding so calls come to Nexwin AI Receptionist either always or when your phone rings out. Timing depends on your provider, knowledge base, rules, testing and integrations.
Nexwin AI Receptionist uses a natural Australian voice with pronunciation controls and conversational responses, but Nexwin does not claim callers will mistake it for a human. Hear the demonstration and test your own scenarios during the trial. Configure an AI disclosure where your business or applicable rules require one.
You decide what counts as urgent for your business, and Nexwin AI Receptionist warm-transfers those callers straight to your mobile or an on-call number with the context it has already gathered, so the customer doesn't repeat themselves. Anything it can't handle is captured as a structured message with a summary texted to you, rather than left as a voicemail you have to listen to.
Yes. The Business plan handles up to 5 simultaneous calls and the Pro plan up to 10, so a burst of calls after an ad, a storm or a school holiday doesn't produce a busy signal. This is one of the practical advantages over a single receptionist, who can only take one call at a time.
Both can answer calls and take messages. Booking and transfer capabilities depend on the service, plan, system access and configuration. Nexwin can answer approved questions, complete eligible calendar bookings and attempt configured warm transfers; your team still handles exceptions. Compare the work completed and the full usage cost, rather than assuming every human service only takes messages or every AI plan includes bookings.
Try it on your real calls for seven days. If it doesn't earn its keep, cancel — there's no lock-in and no setup fee.
7 days · 100 call minutes included · card required · no charge until the trial ends; paid plan starts on day 8 · cancel anytime. Nexwin AI Receptionist — Business is $249/month +GST with 600 call minutes and unlimited chat messages for normal business use, subject to the Fair Use Policy.
New to this? Start with what an AI receptionist is, compare the market in our best AI receptionist guide, or see full pricing.