Prepare your AI receptionist
Gather the right business information, agree the call rules and check the handover before customers rely on it.
What you will have at the end
A reviewed setup brief and a record of the test calls needed before switching your customer route.
Before you begin
- Your current services, opening hours, contact details and coverage areas.
- Five common caller questions, plus examples your team should handle personally.
- The person responsible for checking captured enquiries and failed handovers.
1. Start with what callers need
List the reasons people actually telephone your business. Separate new enquiries, existing customer questions, booking requests and complaints. For each one, write the minimum information your team needs to respond. A chef may need an event date and guest count; a service business may need a job type and location. Keep the first conversation short enough to be useful.
2. Prepare approved business facts
Put current information in one maintained source. Include what you offer, what you do not offer, when the team is available and who may approve changes. Mark unknown information as unknown. If pricing or availability needs a person to check, the receptionist should capture the request rather than invent a confident answer. Review outdated documents before they become part of the setup.
3. Choose the next action for each call
Decide whether the outcome should be a captured enquiry, callback request or a transfer to a person. A confirmed booking requires the necessary connected booking system, rules and successful testing. Record what should happen if the destination is unavailable. Give each callback queue an owner and an achievable response expectation; do not promise a response time the team has not agreed.
4. Check your number and forwarding route
If you want customers to keep calling an existing number, confirm the forwarding options and charges with the current provider. Test the intended destination before changing the normal customer route. Record how to return to the previous arrangement if a problem appears. The exact setup depends on the phone service and the configuration available to the business.
5. Test the whole journey
Make a normal enquiry, a request outside your services and a request for a person. Before each call, write the expected outcome. Afterwards, check the recorded details and where the next action arrived. Correct anything inaccurate, then repeat the affected test. Keep a dated record of the result. A working greeting alone is not the finish line.
Check the result
- The business information has a named owner and has been reviewed.
- A booking request is never presented as a confirmed appointment without verification.
- A person receives the right context when a handover is needed.
- Each failed test has a correction owner, and corrected routes have been retested.
- The customer route changes only after the agreed checks pass.
A prompt to adapt
Use approved or anonymised information. Review the draft against your real process before anyone relies on it.
Help me prepare an AI receptionist setup brief. Use only the business facts I provide. Organise the output into: approved information, common call types, required enquiry fields, next owner, handover rules, unknowns and test scenarios. Do not invent prices, opening hours, availability, integrations or response times. Ask me for missing facts before treating the brief as complete.