What does Heyhannah actually do?

Hannah is an AI receptionist for your business. She answers every call and message 24/7, asks the right questions about the job, and sends you the lead on WhatsApp within seconds, so you never lose an enquiry because you couldn't pick up. If you need a website, we build and run one for you as part of the package.

R1,999 a month with 100 minutes of calls included, or R23,988 a year with 150 minutes a month. Extra minutes are R6 each and Hannah never stops answering. A website is included if you need one, and busier businesses can ask us for a package with more minutes.

How does call forwarding work?

You forward your existing mobile number to your Heyhannah number by dialling a few short codes on your phone. It takes about three minutes and works on all the major South African networks; rain is the one exception, so talk to us first if you're on it. When you're available, turn forwarding off and answer calls yourself. When you're busy, turn it on and Hannah handles everything.

Does it sound like a real person?

She holds a normal conversation rather than reading a script: she answers with your business name, listens, asks follow-up questions about the job, and reads the details back to check she got them right. If she mishears something she asks again instead of guessing.

What happens during load shedding?

Heyhannah runs in the cloud, so it keeps answering calls even when your office has no power. This is one of the biggest advantages: you never miss a call due to load shedding again. WhatsApp summaries are delivered over mobile data.

Can it handle Afrikaans callers?

Ja. Hannah can run entirely in Afrikaans: she greets your callers in Afrikaans and understands them in Afrikaans, not just English with an accent. We set your language when we set your account up, and each Hannah answers in one language, so tell us which one your customers actually phone in.

How is this different from a normal answering service?

An answering service takes a message, usually charged per call and often only during business hours. Hannah answers every hour of the day and actually qualifies leads: she asks what they need, when, and how to reach them, and you get a structured WhatsApp message, not a vague callback note. A full-time receptionist doing the same job averages R7,865 a month for office hours alone (Indeed, September 2026).

What about data privacy?

Heyhannah is fully POPIA compliant. We don't collect ID numbers, bank details, or other sensitive information. Call data is stored securely and you can request deletion at any time.

How does billing work?

Pay monthly or yearly. Monthly has no contract: you're billed when you sign up and then each month, and you can cancel anytime. Yearly is paid once for 12 months and renews each year, with an email reminder well before it does. Hannah can be answering your calls within 24 hours of you finishing setup, and if you're not happy in your first 30 days, tell us and we refund your first payment in full, monthly or yearly.

A Google Business Profile checklist for a trade business

By André Bergan, 2026-10-12

If someone searches "plumber near me" or "electrician in [your town]" right now, Google Business Profile is most likely what they see before they see your website. Most trade businesses set one up once, when a customer or a mate told them to, and never look at it again. That's the problem. A profile with the wrong hours, a name stuffed with keywords, or an address Google can't verify works against you quietly, with no error message telling you so.

Here's what to actually check, based on Google's own guidelines rather than guesswork.

Your business name should be your business name

This sounds obvious until you see how many listings break it. Google's own guidelines for representing your business say your name should match your real-world name, the one on your van, your invoices and your signage, not a version padded with your trade or your town (support.google.com/business/answer/3038177). "Jozi Plumbing Services" is fine if that's genuinely your trading name. "Jozi Plumbing Services, Geyser Repairs, Burst Pipes, Sandton" is not, even though it feels like it should help you show up for more searches. Google's guidelines say plainly that adding unnecessary information to your business name isn't allowed and could get your profile suspended.

If your legal name is long or clunky, that's a separate conversation with an accountant, not something to patch by editing the Google field.

If you work from a bakkie, not a shopfront, say so

A huge share of trade businesses have no public premises. You work from home, or from a yard customers never see, and you drive to the job. Google has a specific setting for this: you can hide your street address and show only the areas you serve, through the "Show business address to customers" toggle under your profile's location settings (support.google.com/business/answer/10514137). You still need a real address behind the scenes for verification, it just isn't shown publicly.

Get this wrong in either direction and it causes problems. Showing your home address when customers never visit it puts your home on the map for no benefit. Leaving your service area blank means customers in the towns you actually work in have less to go on.

One category that's actually true, before you add any others

Pick the primary category that most accurately describes what you do: Electrician, Plumber, Builder, not the broadest one that might catch more searches. You can add a few relevant secondary categories on top, but Google's guidelines ask you to use as few categories as possible to describe your core business (support.google.com/business/answer/3038177). A roofer who also ticks general contractor, painter and landscaper isn't helping anyone find them for roofing.

Hours that are actually true, including the exceptions

Set your regular hours, and then use special hours for the exceptions: a public holiday, a day you're closed for a family event, the week you're away on a job out of town. A profile showing "open" when nobody picks up the phone is worse for you than one that's honestly closed, because the next search a frustrated customer makes is for a competitor.

None of this is a ranking trick, it's the foundation

Google is plain about this: local ranking is based mainly on relevance, distance and popularity, and there's no way to pay or trick your way to a better spot (support.google.com/business/answer/7091). An accurate name, a correct address setting, an honest category and real hours don't jump you up the list on their own. What they do is stop you being quietly excluded from searches you should be winning, and stop a confused customer closing your listing because something on it doesn't add up.

Replying to reviews sits in the same category. On the same page, Google says replying shows you value your customers' feedback, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. It doesn't promise a bump for every reply, but a profile where nobody answers reviews reads as a business nobody is running. If you want to know what's changed with reviews this year, I wrote about Google's 2026 review rules.

The part none of this fixes

A tidy profile gets your number dialled. It doesn't answer the phone for you. If a customer finds you, calls while you're up a ladder or under a sink, and you don't pick up, the checklist above did its job and the call still goes to your competitor. That's the gap Hannah is built for: she answers your calls and WhatsApp messages, asks the questions you'd ask, and sends you the lead before you've even climbed down. If missed calls are costing you more than your Google listing ever will, have a look at what she does.