Blog · October 22, 2026

Google's AI is calling your office. Answer it.

The next call to your office might not be a person. It might be Google.

Since 2025, Google can phone a local business for a customer. The customer types what they need. Google calls a few shops, asks about the price and when you can come, and sends the customer a summary. If you hang up, your shop is not in that summary.

What is happening

• January 2025. Google tested "Ask for Me". It called nail salons and auto shops for prices. ^[1]
• July 2025. Google opened it to everyone in the US who uses Search. Google's words: "Search can now call businesses to get pricing and availability information on your behalf." ^[2]
• May 2026. Google said home repair is next: "For select categories like home repair, beauty or pet care, you can ask Google to call businesses on your behalf." ^[3]
• Today. Google's help page says people can "research available home services, such as electricians, tree cutting, or exterior cleaning." ^[4]

It is not in every state yet. Google says it is not offered in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana or Nebraska. ^[5]

What the call sounds like

Google says its calls "clearly identify themselves," and the AI asks a few questions. ^[6] If you give a price, "the customer receives an email or SMS text that includes your business's product details or service quote." ^[5] Google also says the calls are recorded. ^[5]

Google's AI has also called businesses for years to check opening hours and other details. Google says the answers you give "will be added to your Business Profile on your behalf." ^[5] By 2020 these calls had made more than 3 million updates to business listings. ^[7]

Why hanging up costs you

Google does not say it lowers your ranking when you hang up. We looked, and Google says no such thing. Here is what Google does say:

1. The customer still gets an answer, just not yours. If Google cannot reach businesses, it sends the customer "recommendations of service providers." ^[8] The shops that picked up are the ones in the summary.
2. Wrong information keeps you out of searches. "If your business info isn't accurate, your Business Profile might not show up for relevant searches." ^[9] Those info calls are one of the ways your listing stays right.

So a hang-up is not a robot you got rid of. It is a customer who asked Google to shop around, and you were not in the result.

Plumbers are already getting these calls

Invoca, a company that sells call software, counted calls from Google's AI to its own customers. ^[10]

• In November 2025, pricing calls from Google's AI went up more than 300%. Calls to plumbers went up more than 650%.
• 1 in 4 of those calls (26%) got no answer.
• Plumbers answered 66%.
• About half of the calls that were answered gave no price. Plumbers and pest control were the most likely to say they do not quote over the phone.

What this does not prove: these were Invoca's customers only, and these calls were still less than 1% of their calls. It is early. That is the point. The shops that learn to handle these calls now are ready when the calls are no longer rare.

Who sends an AI to call for them

People with more money use AI more. In a 2026 survey of 5,067 US adults, 77% of people in homes earning $100,000 or more use AI, against 56% in homes under $50,000, and 41% of people who use AI have tried an AI agent. ^[11] Nobody has yet measured how many homeowners use AI to get quotes. But the people most likely to send an AI to call you are the people most likely to pay for a bigger job.

What to do this week

1. Tell everyone who answers your phone: an AI call from Google is a customer asking for a price. Do not hang up.
2. Have a price range ready. "Most water heater swaps are between X and Y. We can come out Tuesday." A range is still an answer. "We don't quote on the phone" is not one.
3. Check your Google Business Profile. Hours, services and service area must be right. Google uses them when it answers people.
4. Know the setting. In your Business Profile, under Advanced settings, there is "Google automated calls and text messages". Google lets you turn these calls off. ^[12] Turning them off means you are left out when Google calls for customers. Think before you do it.
5. Never miss the call. If nobody can answer during a job, make sure something answers for you.

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