CentriWebAn AI receptionist script is a set of written instructions that tells a voice agent how to greet callers, which questions to ask, when to hand a call to a person and what it must never say. A good one is short, specific to your business and tested with real calls. This article gives you a structure and sample wording you can adapt.
The script for an AI is not quite the script for a human. A person improvises around gaps. An AI follows what you wrote, so a gap becomes a guess, and the writing needs to cover the awkward moments as well as the easy ones.
Writing an AI receptionist script that works on the phone
Write for the ear. Callers cannot skim, so use short sentences, one question at a time and plain words. Read every line aloud before you keep it. If you stumble on it, so will the voice.
A workable script has seven parts:
- The greeting.
- The five questions.
- What the agent can answer.
- What it must pass to a person.
- What it must never say or do.
- The closing.
- The fallback lines for when things go wrong.
The greeting
The greeting does three jobs: names the business, says who is answering, and gets the caller talking. Many businesses choose to state that the caller is speaking with an automated assistant. Rules about disclosure and recording differ by country and state, so check what applies to you.
“Thanks for calling Northside Dental. You’ve reached the practice’s automated assistant. How can I help you today?”
Keep it under ten seconds. A long greeting makes callers talk over it, and the agent then has to deal with an interruption in its first sentence.
The five questions
For most small businesses the agent needs five things from a caller. Ask them one at a time, in an order that feels natural, and let the caller volunteer answers out of order.
- What do you need? “What can we help you with?” This sets the type of enquiry.
- Who is calling? “Can I take your name?” Then confirm how it is spelled if it is unusual.
- What is the best number? “What’s the best mobile number to reach you on?” Read it back.
- Where? The suburb or address, for a business that travels or serves an area. For a clinic, it may be “Have you been to us before?” instead.
- When? “When would suit you?” or “How urgent is it?”
Your list may differ. A law firm might swap “where” for “which type of matter”. A trade might add “can you describe the problem?” The test is simple: could a team member act on the call notes without ringing back to ask the basics?
What the agent can answer
List the facts the agent is allowed to give, and keep the list short at first: opening hours, address and parking, services offered, service area, how booking works and what to bring. These come from information you supply, so write it as plain facts without marketing copy.
“We’re open Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. We’re at 22 High Street, with parking behind the building.”
Next, give it a line for anything not on the list:
“I don’t have that information in front of me, so I don’t want to guess. I can take your details and have someone get back to you today. Is that okay?”
This one line prevents more trouble than any other. It stops the agent inventing prices, availability or advice. Our guide to how an AI voice agent works explains why an AI will guess if you do not tell it not to.
Handover rules: when a person takes over
Write these as clear conditions, not as a feeling.
- Emergency or safety. Words such as gas smell, burst pipe, chest pain or someone in danger. The agent gives the caller the right instruction for your business (for example, to ring 000 in Australia, or your on-call number) and alerts your team at once.
- The caller asks for a person. Always. No argument, no “let me try to help first”.
- A complaint or a distressed caller. Acknowledge briefly, then pass on.
- The same detail misheard twice. Offer a text link or a person.
- Anything about money owed, legal matters or clinical advice, if your business handles those.
Say what the handover looks like in each case. In business hours: a transfer to a named phone. After hours: take a message, send a summary to a named person by text or email, and tell the caller when to expect a call.
“I’m going to put you through to someone now. If they don’t pick up, I’ll make sure they ring you back within the hour.”
Only promise a time the team will actually keep.
What it must never say or do
This list is short and firm. Adjust it to your trade or profession.
- Never quote a price unless the price is in the approved information.
- Never promise a result, a timeframe or a guarantee.
- Never give medical, legal, tax or financial advice.
- Never confirm or discuss another person’s details or appointment.
- Never claim to be human. If asked “Are you a real person?”, say it is an automated assistant and offer a person.
- Never argue with a caller or pressure them.
- Never make up an answer to look helpful.
For a clinic, add that it must not comment on symptoms. For a builder or tradie, add that it must not agree to a start date. Our article on AI receptionists for medical practices goes further on that industry.
A full sample, start to finish
This is the shape of a call for a small plumbing business. Adapt it, do not copy it.
Agent: Thanks for calling Coastline Plumbing. You’ve reached the automated assistant. How can I help?
Caller: I’ve got a leaking tap in the laundry.
Agent: Happy to help with that. Can I take your name?
Caller: Priya Nair.
Agent: Thanks, Priya. What’s the best mobile number?
Caller: 0412 345 678.
Agent: Zero four one two, three four five, six seven eight. Is that right?
Caller: Yes.
Agent: Which suburb are you in?
Caller: Brunswick.
Agent: Is the water running now, or is it a slow drip?
Caller: Slow drip.
Agent: Thanks. We can visit Thursday morning or Friday afternoon. Which suits you?
Notice what it does: one question at a time, reads the number back, checks urgency before offering times, and offers a choice of two. The booking side is covered in our guide to the AI appointment setter.
The instruction block behind the lines
The sample lines are what the caller hears. The agent also needs a short block of instructions that sets its behaviour. Keep it to plain statements, for example:
You answer calls for Coastline Plumbing in Melbourne. Speak using short sentences, one question at a time. Use only the information provided below. If you do not know, say so and offer a call back. Never quote prices. Always confirm phone numbers and addresses by reading them back. If the caller asks for a person, or mentions gas, flooding or a safety risk, transfer the call at once.
Short, firm instructions are followed more reliably than long, hedged ones. If you find yourself writing a page of exceptions, you are probably describing two different jobs, and it may be better to split them.
Testing and revising your script
No script is right the first time. Test it with calls, then change it.
- Ring the test line and follow the script as written.
- Ring again and misbehave: interrupt, ramble, ask something off-list, ask for a person, ask if it is a robot.
- Have someone who does not know the script ring as a customer would.
- Read the transcripts. Look for the places the agent was wordy, wrong or stuck.
- Change one thing at a time and ring again.
After launch, read a sample of real calls each week for the first month, then monthly. Scripts go stale when your hours, services or prices change, so make updating them part of the same routine as updating your website.
If you would rather have the script written, tested and maintained for you, CentriWeb builds and looks after AI phone receptionists for clinics, trades and other small businesses.