The AI receptionist training checklist: 25 facts to teach it before it answers

Here is the short version of this AI receptionist training checklist: a receptionist that guesses has not been told enough, and one that helps has been told the specific things your callers ask. The voice, the software and the price matter less than whether it knows that you charge a trip fee, that you do not go past the river, and that a burst pipe at midnight goes to your cell.

“Training” sounds technical. In practice it means writing down what your best front-desk person already knows. This checklist is that list, in the order we suggest filling it in.

Start with your website, then fill the gaps

Most AI receptionists, Vocenya included, build a first draft by reading your website. Vocenya reads up to 15 pages at signup and picks out services, prices, hours, service area and common questions. It can also suggest details from your Google Business Profile, like hours and address, and you choose which to use. The full walkthrough is in our help article on teaching it your business.

A website draft gets you about as far as your website does. Websites are written to sell, not to answer the phone, so the draft usually has three kinds of gaps:

• Things you never publish. Your minimum job size, which brands you will not touch, whether you take cash.
• Things that are vague on purpose. “Competitive pricing.” “Serving the greater area.”
• Things that changed. Last year’s hours, a service you stopped offering, a technician who left.

So read the draft as if you were a new hire on day one. Every time you think “well, actually”, that is a gap to fill. On Vocenya you edit each part on the Receptionist page, and changes apply from the next call. If your website changes later, Refresh from my website adds new details without overwriting what you edited.

If you are still at the setup stage, our step-by-step setup guide covers forwarding and going live; this post is only about what it knows.

The AI receptionist training checklist: 25 facts

Work through these in order. Tick each one when the answer is specific enough that a stranger could repeat it to a caller.

Who you are (1 to 5)

1. Business name as callers say it. “Harbor Plumbing”, not “Harbor Plumbing & Mechanical Services LLC”.
2. What you do in one sentence. “Residential plumbing repairs and water heater installs.”
3. What you do not do. “We don’t do commercial jobs or new construction.” This saves you more wasted callbacks than any other line.
4. Address and parking, if customers come to you.
5. The greeting. Short, in your tone, and saying it is a virtual assistant if you choose upfront disclosure.

When and where (6 to 10)

6. Opening hours, per day.
7. Holiday closures for the next few months.
8. Service area by town or ZIP code, not “the region”.
9. Travel limits or extra charges for the edge of your area.
10. How soon you can usually come or book, as a range you are comfortable promising, or a rule that it never promises a time.

Services and money (11 to 16)

11. Your main services, in the words customers use (“clogged drain”, not “drain line remediation”).
12. Prices you are happy to quote, marked as such.
13. Ranges for jobs that vary, with what moves the price.
14. Fees: trip, diagnostic, after-hours, cancellation.
15. Payment methods and whether you need a deposit.
16. Insurance, financing or warranties, if callers ask about them.

Policies (17 to 20)

17. Booking rules: how far ahead, how long a visit takes, what to have ready.
18. Cancellation and rescheduling.
19. Estimates: free or paid, on site or by photo.
20. Anything callers argue about, written as a calm one-line answer.

People and handoffs (21 to 25)

21. What counts as urgent for your business.
22. Where urgent calls go, and at what hours.
23. Who handles what: billing questions to the office, job questions to the crew lead.
24. What details to take on every call (name, number, address, what is wrong).
25. What happens when nobody can pick up: a message and a promised callback, with a realistic time.

Here is what “specific enough” looks like next to the vague version most drafts start with:

Fact	Vague (it will guess or stall)	Specific (it can answer)
Service area	“We serve Monmouth County and surrounding areas”	“Freehold, Marlboro, Manalapan, Howell and Colts Neck. Other towns: take details, the owner calls back.”
Trip fee	“Fees may apply”	“$89 service call, waived if you go ahead with the repair the same day.” (example figure)
Emergencies	“We handle emergencies”	“Active leaks, no water, sewage backup: transfer to on-call, any hour.”
Estimates	“Contact us for a quote”	“Free estimates for water heater installs. Repairs are quoted on site after diagnosis.”
Not offered	(missing)	“No commercial work, no well pumps.”

Prices: ranges, minimums and “it depends”

Prices are the fact owners leave out most, and the question callers ask first. You do not have to publish a price list to answer honestly. You need one of three answers for each service: a fixed price, a range with what moves it, or a clear “we need to see it” with the fee for looking.

On Vocenya, prices are only said on calls when you mark them as OK to quote. Anything not marked stays off the call, and the receptionist says the team will follow up instead. That is a safe default, but a receptionist that never talks about money sends price shoppers to whoever does. So decide, service by service:

• Fixed: “Drain cleaning for one fixture is $150.” (example figure)
• Range: “Water heater replacement usually runs $1,400 to $2,200 depending on size and fuel type. We confirm on site.” (example figures)
• See it first: “We’d need to look at it. The diagnostic visit is $89 and goes toward the repair.” (example figure)
• Minimums: “Our minimum charge is one hour.”

Whichever you pick, give the receptionist the reason behind the number too. “The range depends on tank size and whether it’s gas or electric” sounds honest; a bare number with no explanation sounds like a quote you will be held to.

Emergencies and transfers

Write down what “urgent” means for you, because the receptionist cannot read your mind at 2 AM. A plumber’s urgent is water on the floor. A dentist’s is swelling or a knocked-out tooth. A property manager’s is no heat in January.

For each urgent situation, write three things:

1. The trigger, in the caller’s words: “water coming through the ceiling”, “can’t get in”, “tooth knocked out”.
2. The action: transfer now, take details and alert, or book the first slot.
3. The hours: always, or only outside business hours.

On Vocenya you set this in Call rules, including where urgent calls go. When a caller needs a person, it tries a GH Live agent if you have that add-on, then your team list, then your transfer number. If nobody answers, it comes back to the caller and takes a message. It only offers a transfer when someone can actually be rung, so set up at least one person before you promise callers they can reach someone. Warm transfers are on the Growth and Pro plans. Separately, if a caller describes a life-threatening emergency, it tells them to hang up and call 911.

The “never say” list

This is the shortest section of your setup and one of the most useful. A never-say list stops the receptionist from making promises your business cannot keep. Vocenya has a Never say card for exactly this, and its receptionist already will not agree to refunds, discounts or arrival times you have not given it. Your list covers the things specific to you.

Start with these and keep the ones that apply:

• No arrival times. “Never promise a time window. Say the dispatcher confirms it.”
• No diagnosis. “Never say what is causing a problem or whether it is covered.”
• No legal, medical or tax advice. Especially for law firms, practices and accountants.
• No competitor talk. “Never compare us with other companies.”
• No staff details. “Never give out staff mobile numbers or say who is on vacation.”
• No guarantees beyond your written warranty.
• No pricing for services marked “see it first”.

Write each one as a rule plus what to say instead. “Never promise a time” leaves it stuck; “never promise a time, say the office confirms by 10 AM the next business day” gives it a way out.

Testing what it learned

A checklist on paper is a guess until you hear it on a call. Before real calls reach it, phone it and play five customers:

1. The easy one. “What are your hours on Saturday?”
2. The price shopper. “How much to fix a leaking faucet?”
3. The out-of-area caller. Name a town you do not serve.
4. The emergency. Describe your most common urgent call in your customers’ words.
5. The trick question. Ask for something on your never-say list, like a discount or an exact arrival time.

On Vocenya you can do this during signup: it calls your mobile and your receptionist answers as your business. Test calls are free and never count toward your minutes. Our help article explains how test calls work. For a fuller plan across the trial, with what to check each day, see our free trial test plan.

After go-live, keep the list alive. Read call summaries for a week and look for “the team will follow up” on questions you could have answered. Each one is a missing fact. Vocenya also lets the owner tap Fix this answer on a call transcript and keeps a list of questions it could not answer, so the gaps come to you. Update hours before holidays, prices when they change, and the never-say list whenever a call makes you wince.

When this is not enough

Some businesses need answers that change by the hour: live inventory, job status, today’s wait time. A receptionist can only say what it has been given or can look up through a connected tool, so if your callers mostly ask “is my order ready?”, check what it can actually look up before you rely on it.

Try it with your own facts

The fastest way to find your gaps is to hear a draft built from your website. See how it works, then enter your site on the live demo and Vocenya will build a receptionist and call you. Plans and minutes are on the pricing page.