Blog · Answering calls
How to brief an AI receptionist (with a template)
You're not writing a script. You're briefing a new member of staff who happens to remember everything you say.
By the CosVoice team · · 6 minute read
Think of a first morning
Imagine a sharp new hire starting on Monday, and you've got twenty minutes before you leave for a job. You wouldn't hand them a script. You'd say: here's who we are, here's what we charge, here's what to ask people, these are the ones that can't wait, and never promise that. Then you'd go.
That's how to brief an AI receptionist. People search for an "AI receptionist script", but a word-for-word script is the wrong tool, because callers don't follow scripts. What works is a set of standing instructions in plain sentences covering six things: who you are, when you're open, what you charge, what to ask, which calls can't wait, and what must never be said. There's a fill-in template further down.
Who we are, in three sentences
Start with the name callers should hear and what the business does, the way you'd say it at a barbecue. "We're Graham's Plumbing. Two vans, domestic work only, covering the east side of town out as far as the highway." Then add what you don't do. No commercial kitchens. No gas. No jobs over the bridge. The don'ts save more wasted callbacks than the dos.
Give the assistant a name while you're at it. A first name works best. In our examples it's Lloyd.
Hours and prices, including the edges
Hours are easy to get subtly wrong. Write down what happens at the edges. Are you open on public holidays? Is Saturday a half day? Does "open until five" mean the last job starts at five, or finishes at five?
Prices need a decision from you first: may the assistant quote them? If yes, give it the rate card as you'd read it to a customer, with what's included and what changes the price. "Call-out is a fixed fee and covers the first half hour. Parts are extra. Evenings cost more." If no, tell it to say that someone will confirm the price, and to collect whatever's needed to work one out. Either is fine. What isn't fine is leaving it unsaid.
What to ask every caller
This is the intake, and it's where an AI line earns its keep over a message pad. List the questions in the order you'd ask them. Name and number. Address, if it's a job. What's wrong, in their words. How long it's been happening. How urgent it is. When they're free. Then anything specific to your trade: the make of the boiler, the size of the lawn, the year and model of the car.
Keep it to what you'd really use. Ten questions feels like a form, and callers can tell when they're being processed. If a question only matters for one kind of job, say so: "for blocked drains, ask whether it's one fixture or the whole house".
What can't wait, and what never to say
Write your exceptions down. Which situations would you drop everything for and call straight back? Which people should always be treated as known: your biggest customer, your supplier, your spouse? Be specific. "Water that can't be turned off" is usable. "Anything urgent" isn't, because every caller thinks they're urgent.
Then find out what urgent gets you, because products differ. Some can transfer a live call to your phone. Ours doesn't put a caller through, and it doesn't ring your mobile while they hold. It takes the details, tells the caller honestly that you'll call back, and the written summary reaches you as soon as the call ends. So brief it to get the address and the number early.
Then the never list. Never promise a time you haven't confirmed. Never offer a discount. Never give safety advice, take the details and pass them on. Never discuss another customer's job.
Some nevers should be built into the product and not left to your brief. Ours never reads out a card number or agrees to a charge, and it always says it's an AI when asked. Check the equivalent with any provider. There's a longer list in what an AI should never do on a call.
The template
Copy this, fill in the brackets, and delete what doesn't apply. Plain sentences work better than keywords.
- Who we are: You answer the phone for [business name]. We [what you do] for [who] in [area]. We don't do [list].
- Your name and manner: Your name is [name]. Be friendly and brief. If anyone asks, you're an AI assistant.
- Hours: We're open [days and times]. On public holidays we're [open or closed]. Outside hours, tell callers [when they'll hear back].
- Prices: You may quote these: [rate card]. For anything else, say [owner] will confirm the price.
- Always ask: Name, best number, address, what they need, how urgent it is, when they're free, and [trade-specific questions].
- Bookings: Take the request and the caller's preferred times. Say [who] will confirm. Don't confirm a slot yourself.
- Urgent calls: These can't wait: [your written list]. For these, get the address and best number first, take the full details, and tell the caller honestly that [name] will call them back.
- Known callers: [names and numbers of people to treat as known].
- Never: Promise arrival times, offer discounts, give safety or technical advice, or discuss other customers.
- If you don't know: Say so, take the details, and say [owner] will call back by [time].
Test it before customers do
Ring the line as three different callers. One easy: someone asking your hours. One typical: a job inquiry, with a vague description and a bit of rambling. One awkward: someone demanding a price you haven't listed, or angling for a discount, or insisting on speaking to the owner right now.
Read the summaries afterwards. Wherever the assistant guessed, hesitated or asked something odd, there's a gap in the brief. It's not a fault in the caller. Add a sentence and ring again. Two or three rounds is normally enough.
Keep it alive
A brief goes stale the way a website does. Prices change, you stop covering the north side, you take on a second van. Put a reminder in your calendar for the first of the month and read the brief out loud, top to bottom. If you wince anywhere, fix it.
On a CosVoice line these are called standing instructions, and you paste them in as plain text: your prices, hours and rules. The front desk page walks through one set up end to end for a pool contractor. A brief for a single call you want made on your behalf is a different animal, and that's covered in how to write a call brief.
Common questions
How long should an AI receptionist's instructions be?
About as long as a good briefing for a new hire, which is usually a page or so. Cover the six areas and stop. If it runs to several pages you're probably writing a script, and the assistant will sound like it.
Should I write out exact sentences for it to say?
Only for the greeting, and for anything where the exact wording matters, like how a price is described. For the rest, say what you want found out and let the conversation run naturally.
Can an AI receptionist book appointments directly?
It depends on the product. The safe pattern is that it takes the request and preferred times by phone, and your staff confirm in the calendar or tool they already use. That way nothing gets double-booked.
What if a caller asks something that's not in the brief?
A well-instructed assistant says it doesn't have that information, takes the caller's details and passes the question on. Put that instruction in the brief, then test it with a question you know isn't covered.
Read next: Write a brief for a single call · Approved, VIP and blocked callers · What our AI receptionist does
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