The challenge
Melcorp Real Estate is a real estate agency in Melbourne with more than 30 staff members spread across five departments: Sales, Property Management, Leasing, Strata and Reception. Each department has its own phone numbers, but everyone calls the main number. Buyers, tenants, owners, suppliers, everyone calls the same number.
The problem was threefold. First: missed calls. 38% of all incoming calls went unanswered. During viewings, meetings or lunchtime, no one picked up. Second: incorrect transfers. Callers who reached reception were regularly sent to the wrong department. A tenant with a complaint ended up at Sales. A buyer with a question about a listing ended up at Property Management. Third: after office hours there was no availability. Callers got a voicemail that was rarely listened to.
For a real estate agency where every missed call can be a missed deal, this was an expensive problem.
The approach
We built an AI phone receptionist we call "Mel". Mel answers every incoming call to Melcorp's main number, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Intent classification. Mel listens to what the caller wants and classifies the conversation into one of five categories: Sales, Property Management, Leasing, Strata or General. This does not happen based on simple keywords, but based on the context of the conversation. A caller who says "I want to pay my rent" goes to Property Management. A caller who asks about a property at a specific address goes to Sales.
Smart routing. After classification, Mel connects the caller to the right person. Not just the right department, but the right staff member. If that person is unavailable, Mel tries a colleague in the same department. Only when no one is available does Mel switch to voicemail.
Voicemail as branded HTML email. Instead of an audio message that disappears somewhere in a system, Mel delivers voicemails as an HTML-formatted email. With the caller's name, the phone number, a summary of the request and the original audio. The staff member can call back directly from the email.
Booking viewings. For Sales-related calls, Mel can schedule a viewing directly. Mel checks availability, confirms the address and sends a confirmation to both the caller and the responsible agent.
The results
The numbers after the first few months are clear.
2,847 calls have been handled by Mel. That is every incoming call to the main number, without exception. No queue, no transfer to a busy tone, no "all staff are on other calls".
312 viewings were booked directly through Mel. Callers who asked about a property got an appointment straight away, without a staff member needing to sit in between.
Listing conversion has risen by 27%. The reason is not complicated: if you answer every call and offer every interested buyer a viewing right away, you lose fewer leads.
The share of missed calls dropped from 38% to 0%. Every caller gets an answer. Always. Even at 22:00 on a Thursday evening.
What this means
Real estate agencies run on availability. A buyer who calls about a property and gets no answer calls the next agency. That is not theory, that is daily practice.
Melcorp had a team of 30+ people, but no system that guaranteed every caller reached the right person. Now they do. Mel catches everything, routes correctly and books appointments. The team spends their time having good conversations instead of missing calls.