A 24/7 AI receptionist that handles engagement-scope intake, retainer questions, and seasonal call surges — without a receptionist salary. Books discovery calls straight into your calendar. Captures the prospects who'd otherwise leave a voicemail and never call back.
Tax season inverts your call volume — three months of the year carry 60–70% of new-prospect inquiries. Hire a receptionist for tax season and they're idle the rest of the year. Outsource to an answering service and they don't know your engagement scopes. Donna handles the surge without seasonal payroll: same flat fee in February as in August, scoped intake on every call, discovery calls booked into the partner with the right specialty.
For consultants and coaches, the missed-call problem is sharper: a prospective client who reaches voicemail picks the next coach on their list. Donna captures the engagement scope ("monthly retainer for content strategy", "one-off business plan review", "year-long executive coaching"), runs the discovery questions, and books the intro call. The transcript becomes your proposal-prep document.
The AI knows the difference between a tax-prep call in March and an audit-services call in June, between a returning client asking about a K-1 and a new prospect needing entity setup, between a "what does it cost?" question and a real engagement inquiry.
Engagement-scope intake (bookkeeping, monthly close, payroll, audit, advisory), entity-type capture (LLC, S-corp, C-corp, sole prop), retainer question handling, discovery-call booking with the partner whose specialty matches.
Tax-season call surge handling (no extra staff needed), filing-type capture (1040, 1120, 1065, K-1, amended), state filing scope, document checklist sent to caller via SMS. Donna handles 5x your normal call volume in March without missing one.
Engagement-shape intake (one-off project, monthly retainer, hourly, package), industry/niche capture, budget range qualifier, discovery-call booking. Transcript becomes your proposal-prep notes — every call ready for follow-up before you pick up the phone.
Each capability is a real tool the AI invokes during a call. Donna captures structured intake, qualifies fit, and books — she never quotes a final price (that's still your call).
Service type, frequency, urgency, entity type, current pain point. Structured fields drop into your CRM with the full transcript attached. You walk into the discovery call already prepared.
Reads your live calendar (and each partner's), offers slots that match the practice area + partner + call duration. Confirms with caller, sends SMS + email confirmation with prep questions or document checklist.
Donna scales infinitely. 200 calls per day in March feel the same as 20 calls per day in August. No seasonal hires, no overtime, no missed calls when your team is heads-down on returns.
Auto-detects the caller's language. Critical for multilingual client bases. Spanish, FR-CA, Mandarin, Russian, Korean — Donna runs the entire intake in the caller's language and delivers the transcript in both.
Caller-ID matches against your client list. Returning clients reach their assigned partner directly via warm transfer. New prospects go through full engagement intake.
Full transcript + intake fields + intent label per call. Every transcript becomes proposal-prep material. The discovery call is half-done before you dial the prospect back.
| Donna | Smith.ai (hybrid) | Tax-season temp receptionist | Voicemail | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Answers 24/7 | Yes | Yes | Business hours only | No |
| Engagement-scope capture | Yes — structured | Manual notes | Inconsistent | No |
| Books straight into your calendar | Yes — real-time | Yes | Often by email | No |
| Tax-season surge handling | Infinite | Limited (human queue) | Bottlenecked at 1 person | Lost calls |
| Speaks 16 languages | Yes | 2 (EN/ES) | 1 typically | N/A |
| Annual cost (yearly) | $300–$2,150 | $1,140+ | $3,000–10,000 (Q1 only) | Free |
| Full transcript per call | Yes — proposal-ready | Summary only | Manual notes | No |
No tax-season surcharge. No per-engagement commission. Solo for solo CPAs, Starter for small practices, Pro for multi-partner firms. 14-day free trial.
Solo CPAs, independent consultants, single-coach practices.
Small practices (1–5 partners). Most popular.
Multi-partner firms. Tax-season ready.
14-day free trial · No credit card · Cancel anytime · 30-day money-back
14-day free trial. No credit card. Set up Donna in 15 minutes.
