It's hard. I get it.
I've spent almost twenty years running small businesses. A failing tax franchise I built from one location to 19. Seven Club Pilates studios. A marketing agency that supports 1,400 locations across 24 brands.
I know the math at the front desk. I know what happens when a lead comes in at 8pm and nobody calls back until morning. By then they've already booked with the competitor.
The front desk is where small business revenue is created or lost.
When I looked at where AI was going, something bothered me. The tech sector is pouring billion-dollar investments into enterprise, while small businesses are getting watered-down tools from people that don't understand how a real service business operates. We built AI Front Desk to fix that.
This is the biggest bet of my career. I stepped down as CEO of Franchise Ramp to do it.
The American Dream should be easier to build. That's what drives me and my team every day. Our mission is simple: put AI in the hands of 100,000 small businesses in the next decade, so you never miss another lead or leave revenue on the table.
So far, we've been heads-down, working side by side with platforms and operators to deploy agents in real locations, learning what's actually needed versus what looks good in a demo.
Now we want to share what we're seeing. Every two weeks, one simple email written for you in plain English — no tech gibberish. One practical thing you can do with AI right now, and a few of the best links we've found. My goal is for this to be the most useful, profitable, and enjoyable five minutes you spend reading. So let's get into it…
The latest updates to our agents.
What shipped since last time.
We've improved how the AI detects when a conversation needs to be escalated. It now provides helpful, personalized responses instead of relying on generic templates.
The AI keeps track of the facts and context throughout your entire chat, making the whole experience feel much more natural.
New workflows for leads who re-engage or go cold after being contacted.
Agent can now share proximity info and directions to your business location.
Agent now engages leads already sitting in the CRM workflow, not just new ones.
Applied AI is our free biweekly webinar for operators, owners, and team leads who want AI working for them — no AI experience required. Every episode is 25 minutes: one real AI capability applied to a real job, demonstrated live, with the exact prompt or workflow handed to you, ready to copy. You leave with something you can use before your next meeting.
Save Your SeatA filtered look at where applied AI is headed.
There is more AI news than any operator has time for. So we read it so you do not have to. Below are the few stories, tools, and guides we think matter most right now, each with our honest take on what it means for businesses like yours.
This is not a someday trend. McKinsey found 85% of surveyed luxury consumers already use AI assistants for shopping decisions, more than half of them frequently. The same behavior is moving into "find me a pilates studio with evening classes." The studio that shows up first and on-brand is the one that wins the member.
The tool was sold on a 99% accuracy number, but that number was measured in clean, controlled conditions — not a backroom mid-rush. When it missed, staff had to re-count by hand, so the AI did not replace the task. It added a second one on top of it.
Our take: Treat AI like a craft, not a magic button. Learn how a tool was tested and where its edges are, then aim it at the work it does best. The boring, repetitive tasks are the hardest to automate — which is exactly why getting them right is a real edge.
If you've ever opened ChatGPT, typed out your whole situation, gotten a great answer, then come back the next day and had to explain everything all over again — this one is for you.
Every major AI platform lets you save your context once and reuse it forever. Set it up a single time and the AI already knows your business, your tone, and your SOPs before you type a word. It is the difference between using AI like a search bar and using it like a teammate who remembers you. Five minutes of setup, and you stop paying the same explaining tax every single day.
Want to build your first one this week?
We made a guide for you.
The Cost of a Slow Front Desk
Leads contacted in under 5 minutes convert about 40% better. The ones left waiting over 30 minutes convert at half the rate. Most multi-location operators have no idea how many members that adds up to. Our free Response Time Impact Analyzer does the math. Plug in your monthly leads and how fast your team actually responds, and it shows your real conversion gap in members per month.
Run Your Numbers
That's it for today. See you soon.
Brian, Murphy, John, Beth, and Jake — some of the humans behind AI Front Desk.