How AI Voice Agent is helping The Grout Guy scale smarter
For almost 20 years, The Grout Guy has been a trusted name in grout and tile repair across Australia. With over 100 technicians on the road nationwide, and a small team based at their Perth HQ, the company manages between 5,000 and 10,000 calls each week. Managing this volume with a lean team is no small task, but The Grout Guy isn’t your average trade services business. “We’re not a super technical business,” explains Anthony Messina, Salesforce Platform Manager. But when it comes to adopting technology to better-serve their customers, “we’re very tech-positive - we’re almost like a little tech company, despite being tradies.”
The Grout Guy faced rapid growth and all the operational hurdles that came with it. By adopting Aircall's AI Voice Agent - an AI-powered colleague that autonomously handles routine questions, captures customer insights, and ensures seamless escalation - they turned these challenges into an opportunity to deliver smarter solutions and legendary service.
Scaling pains: Too many calls, too few hands
Scaling fast came with new headaches for The Grout Guy. Their national head office had to manage an increasing number of inbound calls from customers looking to book appointments, reschedule, or ask questions. Fluctuating call volumes became a significant stress point for the team.
"The team was swamped. We were really struggling to handle fluctuations in calls. For example, the start of the week is obviously busier because it’s a Monday - people want to book things in, or you’re catching up on calls from the weekend. How do we provide a consistent customer experience that’s satisfying?"
- Anthony Messina, Salesforce Platform Manager, The Grout Guy
Planning for fluctuating call volumes during peak times and holidays proved difficult, leading to inconsistent service where customers sometimes waited for up to 10 minutes on the phone.
That challenge led The Grout Guy to search for smarter ways to manage their operations without adding headcount.
How AI Voice Agent became part of the team
Partnering with Aircall, The Grout Guy approached the implementation of AI Voice Agent step-by-step. Their tech team of two began small, testing Aircall’s solution with a single phone line to see how AI Voice Agent could handle routine tasks like frequently asked questions, requesting the rescheduling of appointments, or capturing basic customer details.
"Aircall is a very nicely-designed piece of software. The actual design of AI Voice Agent is very simple and very, very easy. You don't need to be technical at all - that’s part of the beauty of it."
They started by gradually introducing Taylor, their AI Voice Agent, and refining its role in the call flow. Initially, customers were redirected to Taylor after waiting on hold for one minute, but feedback showed that people preferred waiting longer for a human. So, they adjusted their call flow.
"It became even better when we gave people the option. We said, ‘Hey, you’ve been on hold, we’re conscious that your time’s important. Would you rather stay on hold to talk to someone, or do you want to speak to Taylor, where you can leave a message or ask questions?’ Giving callers this choice proved to be a game-changer."
The Grout Guy extended the use of AI Voice Agent to their sales team. Now, even when individual sales reps are unavailable, callers can rely on these agents to answer their queries, and keep the conversation moving. Each AI Voice Agent is personalised with a unique name, but the team has plans to take this further - envisioning agents with distinct personalities, tailored mannerisms, and background details that reflect the individuality of each sales rep. It’s all part of their mission to keep interactions human-centred, even as they embrace cutting-edge technology.
Turning AI Voice Agents into brand ambassadors
For The Grout Guy, branding extends to every customer touchpoint, and AI Voice Agent was no exception. Anthony explains how the company used AI Voice Agent to stay true to their practical, down-to-earth image.
"It was just nice to have Australian accents right out of the box - the American accent just doesn't work here. Especially with us at The Grout Guy, we’re a pretty Aussie business and we like to portray ourselves as such."
Combined with local phone numbers per region, this attention to local detail helped create a familiar and approachable experience for customers.
And for their human agents, Taylor became a natural extension of the team. By giving Taylor a name and personality, The Grout Guy created a solution that balanced efficiency with authenticity.
"In regards to it fitting with our brand, we think it does, and the reason is because we’ve put the personality into our agent when configuring it. We’re transparent - we’re not trying to hide that it’s an AI agent. They’ve got a bit of wit to them in terms of some of the language that they use, and so we think it fits nicely with us."
Anthony is also eager to explore the newly-launched 'transfer to human agent' feature, which is next on his list to implement. “That’s how we get customer delight, right? That’s how we move them along their customer journey. So, very, very good stuff. We would use that for our main phone line for sure,” he says.
Operational wins and team benefits
AI Voice Agent has been a game-changer for operations at The Grout Guy.
“It greatly helped our missed call rate when we first implemented it. Every ‘missed’ call would direct to AI Voice Agent,” Anthony says.
Today, routine calls are easily managed by Taylor, including capturing structured responses like customer information, appointment details, or frequently asked questions.
With Aircall's Salesforce integration, structured notes from the caller's interaction with AI Voice Agent are automatically logged, giving the team immediate context when they return the customer’s call.
"We already know what the customer’s concern is. Our team has so much more information when picking up the phone to a customer other than just, ‘Hey, we missed your call.’"
Importantly, Anthony highlights how AI Voice Agent improved team dynamics by enabling staff to focus on more complex, high-value work. “The feedback from the team has been very, very positive,” he says. While acknowledging that concerns about AI replacing jobs were natural, The Grout Guy’s leadership was transparent about its purpose as a tool to enable.
"We’re not trying to replace people - we’re trying to enable our team to do more with less, letting AI handle routine issues and freeing capacity to handle the trickier stuff."
The Grout Guy’s vision for AI-powered growth
The Grout Guy is excited about the possibilities that AI Voice Agent opens up for their business. “The dream is a seamless customer experience where human involvement isn’t required for every step,” Anthony says.
"The goal is to facilitate a really good customer journey. It doesn't matter if it’s after hours, a weekend, or if half the team is on leave - you've got 24/7 support. Customers can be served at any time."
Anthony’s advice to any business considering AI is simple. “Don’t be afraid to experiment. Try new things, especially with AI - a lot of these tools are best when they’re worked on iteratively. Look at them, get the feedback, improve them, carry on,” he says.
For The Grout Guy, innovation is about empowerment - giving their team better tools, their customers better experiences, and their business a smarter way to grow. All that, powered by a little extra support from Kayla.
Ready to scale up your support? Take a tour of AI Voice Agent today.