At Google I/O in May 2026, a demo stopped a lot of local business owners in their tracks. Instead of a customer ringing round three hairdressers to compare prices, they ask Google to do it for them. A synthetic voice calls the salon, announces itself as an automated system calling on behalf of a real customer, asks a few questions about price and availability, then reports back within minutes. The feature, called agentic booking, began rolling out across the United States this summer for home repair, beauty and pet care, three categories that map almost exactly onto the plumbers, hairdressers and dog groomers on any UK high street. It isn't live in Britain yet. But it is coming, and it changes what answering the phone actually means.
1. What Google actually switched on
For home repair trades such as HVAC, plumbing, electrical and roofing, alongside beauty and pet care, US users can now ask Google's AI assistant to call local businesses on their behalf to check pricing and availability, rather than doing the ringing round themselves. The assistant identifies itself upfront as an automated system calling for a real customer, asks a handful of structured questions, then reports the answers back directly in the search results. Calls are monitored and recorded for quality assurance, and the rollout currently excludes a handful of US states. It is the natural next step after AI Overviews and chat answers: not just telling a customer where to look, but doing the legwork on their behalf.
2. Why an unanswered call is about to get more expensive
The average UK SME already misses 27% of inbound calls, a figure that climbs past 60% for sole traders and trades businesses outside peak hours. Eighty five percent of those missed calls are never called back, and 80% of callers who reach voicemail hang up without leaving a message. Two thirds ring a competitor within half an hour. Across the UK, missed calls are estimated to cost businesses more than £30 billion a year.
A human caller who can't get through eventually gives up, tries again later, or asks a friend for a recommendation instead. An AI agent doesn't hesitate, doesn't feel awkward leaving a voicemail, and doesn't get tired. If a business doesn't answer, or gives inconsistent information, the agent simply reports that back, and the customer's next question is who else it can try. The missed call era was already costly. A missed call that a real customer never had to place themselves may be even easier to walk away from.
| The cost of not answering | Figure |
|---|---|
| Average UK SME's missed inbound calls | 27% |
| Missed calls among trades and sole traders outside business hours | 60%+ |
| Missed calls that never get called back | 85% |
| Callers who try a competitor within 30 minutes | 67% |
| Estimated UK-wide annual cost of missed calls | £30 billion |
3. How the AI decides who to even call
Before an agent ever picks up the phone, it has to decide who is worth calling. That decision leans on the same fundamentals that already determine local search visibility: a complete and accurate Google Business Profile, consistent name, address and phone details, structured data marking up opening hours, pricing and aggregate review scores, and a healthy, current review profile. Businesses whose availability or pricing data is slow to update, or missing altogether, risk being skipped over before the phone ever rings. The businesses that show up well in an AI Overview today are the same ones likely to get the call tomorrow.
4. Getting ready for a call that isn't from a person
None of this requires the feature to be live in the UK yet. The habits it rewards are worth building now:
- ● Keep your Google Business Profile complete and current: hours, services and price ranges, all accurate and in one place.
- ● Make sure calls actually get answered, or divert reliably to someone who can quote a price on the spot, agentic or not.
- ● Brief staff that some calls may now open with "I'm an automated system calling on behalf of a customer". It isn't a scam, it's a booking enquiry.
- ● Keep review volume and recency healthy. A stale review profile is as much a red flag to an algorithm as it is to a person.
- ● Publish clear, consistent pricing wherever you can. Vague answers translate badly when the customer on the other end of the line is software.
Conclusion
The phone ringing used to mean a person was on the other end, weighing you against whoever else they had called. Increasingly, it will mean an algorithm is, working through a shortlist it built without you ever knowing you were on it. Businesses that answer quickly, consistently and with the right information already win more of today's calls. Soon, they may be the only ones left on the list.