Write the call script and rules for an AI receptionist or answering service: greeting, intake questions, what it may answer, and when it must hand off to a person: AI agent prompt
Before you switch on any AI receptionist or after-hours answering service, you need a script it follows: how it greets callers, which details it collects, which questions it may answer from your facts, and the situations where it must stop and get a person. This prompt writes that script for your business type, with versions for HVAC and trades, law offices and medical or dental offices.
Customer SupportPhone & receptionbeginnerThe prompt
Write the call script and rules for an AI receptionist for my business. Business: [name, type: e.g. HVAC / plumbing / law office / dental or medical office / salon / other], service area: [area], hours: [hours]. Facts it may use (and nothing else): [services, prices or price ranges you're happy to quote, booking rules, payment options, parking, languages]. Calendar/booking tool: [name or 'take a message']. Write: 1) a greeting under 15 words that says it's an automated assistant and gives the business name; 2) the intake questions in order (name, callback number, reason for calling, address or matter type, urgency), asked one at a time; 3) answers to the 10 questions callers ask most for this type of business, using only my facts; 4) hand-off rules: when to transfer or promise a call back, with an exact sentence for each. Always hand off for: emergencies (gas smell, flooding, no heat in freezing weather; for medical offices chest pain, trouble breathing or any emergency: tell them to call 911 or local emergency services), anyone upset, cancellations, prices not listed, and for law offices anything that asks for legal advice; 5) things it must never do: give legal or medical advice, promise arrival times or outcomes, take card numbers by voice, or ask for more personal or health details than needed to book; 6) the closing line and the summary it should text or email me after each call. Add a short version of the script for after-hours calls.
How to use it
- Copy the prompt above.
- Replace every [bracket] with your own details (or fill in the blanks on AgentPlaybook Real Estate, which remembers your answers for the next prompt).
- Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and review the answer before you use it.
Works with: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, your AI receptionist or answering-service app
Featured in: Free AI agent prompts for small business (beginner-friendly) · AI receptionist and missed-call text-back: free scripts for small businesses
Before you use it: what to check
Check yourself
- Check every figure, price and total against your own records before anything is sent, posted or booked. A person approves refunds, discounts, payments and price changes.
- Anything legal, tax or compliance-related is a first draft for a qualified person to check. It is not professional advice, and clause references and deadlines must be checked against the source.
- Remove names, contact details, account numbers and other personal data the task doesn't need before you paste, and check your AI tool's data and training settings.
- Check names, dates, numbers and any claim against your own source material before you use the answer. AI can misread or invent details.
Using an AI agent? Download this prompt as a SKILL.md agent skill with these checks built in, or get the .zip for Claude.ai. How to install skills.
Want to make this prompt even better? Grade it with the free prompt grader or build your own with the AI prompt generator.
32 copy-paste agent prompts (PDF) plus 5 new prompts every week.
Get it freeMore Customer Support prompts
See all Customer Support prompts →