AI calling software that gets past the front desk
Most calls to a business are answered by a receptionist, a phone menu or, more and more, another AI. Pitaya is built for that first ten seconds: it asks for the right person by role, waits on hold, and when it can’t get through, it leaves with a name and a direct email.
- Asks for the decision maker by role
- Waits on hold and handles phone menus
- Leaves with a name and direct email
Hold queue: "Please hold while I try and connect your call."
Prospect Northgate Alarm, how may I help you?
Agent (AI) Hello, this is Alex Rivera. I'm an AI assistant calling for Dragonfruit AI. Could I get your name, and ask if you handle new product lines or partnerships there?
Prospect Uh, my name's Mike, and possibly. It depends what we're trying to do.
Agent (AI) Hi Mike. We help alarm dealers add video AI on their customers’ existing cameras, so you can offer intrusion and shoplifting detection as a service. Do you handle partnerships like that?
Prospect Yeah, it's me.
Agent (AI) Great. Are you the right person to send a one-page partner overview to?
Prospect It'd be me.
Agent (AI) What's the best email for you?
From Dragonfruit AI’s own outreach on Pitaya. Names, companies and emails changed; lightly trimmed.
What your prospects hear
A recreated example call in Pitaya’s own agent voice: a quote request, called back and booked. Sound on.
Or have the agent call you
Pick a scenario, enter your mobile, and a Pitaya agent calls in seconds.
Calling you now…
Pick up and play along: ask questions, push back, say you’re busy.
That’s a Pitaya call.
Your own agent sounds like that, calling your prospects about what you sell.
The live demo calls US and Canadian mobiles. Elsewhere, sign up and talk to your agent in your browser: the first 15 minutes are free.
Everything between the ring and the decision maker
Receptionists
Says who it is and why in a sentence, asks who handles it by role, and asks to be put through.
Phone menus
Says “operator” or presses 0, and waits through hold music for a person.
AI receptionists
Talks to virtual receptionists the way it talks to people: the reason for the call in one sentence, then a transfer or the right email.
Voicemail
Waits for the beep and leaves your message, or hangs up when you would rather it didn’t.
“They’re not in”
Asks for the person’s name, direct line or email, and a good time to call back, then calls back.
Every outcome logged
Who it reached, what they said, and the name and email it got, ready to follow up.
From our own calls
In Dragonfruit AI’s own outreach on Pitaya, about one in five answered calls reaches a phone menu or a recording, and many of the rest a front desk.
The decision maker is rarely first
Most good calls end with a name and a direct email from the front desk, not the owner on the line. That is still a warm lead.
Short wins
A one-sentence reason for the call and a question by role get further than a pitch to the receptionist.
What you would set up
Pitaya writes a campaign like this from a sentence about your business. You can change any line in plain English.
- Goal
- Find the person who decides on new product lines and get their direct email for the partner overview.
- Opening line
- “Hi, this is Alex calling for a video security company. Who looks after new product lines or partnerships there?”
- Instructions
- At a front desk, ask by role, then for the name and to be put through.
- If they are out, ask for a direct email and a good time to call back.
- At a phone menu, say “operator”; on hold, wait.
- Pitch in one sentence only to the decision maker.
An example with a made-up company. The agent adds the AI disclosure itself.
Pay as you go, billed per second
Time on hold and with the front desk is billed like any other conversation; calls nobody answers are free.
Add credit, and calls draw it down. Switch on auto top-up and campaigns never pause.
- Talk time, inbound and outbound
- $0.15 a minute, billed per second
- Each answered call
- At least 30 seconds ($0.075)
- Calls that ring out, are busy or fail
- Free
- Local US phone numbers
- $2 a month each
- Monthly fee, seats, contract
- None
New accounts get $1 of credit, and your agent calls your own phone three times free. A card is needed only when you add credit.
- ✓Mobile and do-not-call checks before every dial
- ✓Calling hours in each lead’s time zone
- ✓Voicemail drop, recordings and transcripts
- ✓Meeting booking and live transfer
- ✓CRM webhook (Zapier, Make, n8n)
- ✓Unlimited teammates and brands
On a typical day of our own cold calls, 500 dials came to about $45: most answered calls are short voicemails and front desks.
How Pitaya keeps your calls within the rules
- The agent says it is an AI at the start of every call (in its opening line or its first reply), and that the call is recorded. If anyone asks, it says so again.
- Every number’s line type is checked before the first call: business lines and landlines are called; mobiles only when the contact’s consent is on file.
- “Don’t call me again” goes on your workspace’s do-not-call list at once, for every campaign.
- Calls go out only inside the hours and days you set, in each contact’s own time zone.
- Your part: consent where it is needed, and checking residential numbers against the National Do Not Call Registry. Pitaya is for calling businesses; it is not for calling consumers without consent.
More in our trust and compliance page. This is not legal advice; check the rules that apply to your calls.
Questions
Does it get through to the owner? +
Sometimes on the first call. More often it leaves with the decision maker’s name, a direct email and a time to call back, which is what a good human caller gets too.
What about phone menus? +
It says “operator” or presses 0, waits on hold, and talks to whoever picks up.
What if an AI receptionist answers? +
It gives the reason for the call in a sentence and asks for a transfer or the right contact, as it would with a person.
Related
Hear it get past a front desk
Try the live demo, or set up your own campaign in ten minutes.