The short version
- The assistant answers only from what the business has approved. Everything else becomes a ticket for a person.
- Taking a message and booking an appointment are two different modes, with different preparation.
- You accept the set-up after a trial call and a real call, not because the voice sounds pleasant.
The assistant knows only what you tell it
A new member of staff on their first call walks down the corridor and asks the boss when in doubt. An AI receptionist has no corridor. It has what it was given before the first call: facts about the business, a list of questions it may answer, and rules for when to hand over. Having no answer is then not a failure. A good assistant writes the question down and passes it on, instead of inventing a price or a date.
So most of the work before launch is not technology. It is decisions: what the business says, what it does not say, and who picks the matter up. On your side that means supplying the facts, choosing a mode and checking the trial call. The script and the technical number are prepared by sitco.
This article is about preparation. If you are designing what happens after a missed call, read Missed calls: how to design handling that doesn’t stall the team. Testing a finished assistant is covered in how to test an AI phone assistant.
Eight things to write down before the first call
Work through the list with a pen in your hand. Every item you cannot put in one sentence is a place where the assistant will have to guess.
Getting the business ready
0 / 8All done. If it fits on one page, the scope is right for a first version.
The first version does not need to know the whole business. It only has to know one thing well: why people ring most often. The rest it can honestly pass to a person.
Message or booking: two modes, two different lists
“The assistant will book the appointment” sounds simple. In practice it is two separate things: taking a message that a person acts on, and writing a slot into a calendar. They need different preparation and make different promises.
| Callback ticket | Booking | |
|---|---|---|
| What the assistant does | Collects the reason and details and passes the matter to the business. | Checks free slots in the calendar, proposes one and books it once the caller agrees. |
| Scope | Matters on the list the business has approved. | One calendar and one type of appointment. |
| What it needs from you | The details to collect and who receives the tickets. | A connected, tested calendar, an agreed appointment type and working hours. |
| What the caller hears | That the request has been taken and the business will ring back. | A time only after it has been written to the calendar successfully. |
| If the write fails | Not applicable. | The matter reaches the business as a ticket, not as a false confirmation. |
| What it does not do | It does not promise a time or a price. | It does not move or cancel appointments, or handle non-standard services. |
The package covers either callback tickets or bookings for one type of appointment. You choose the mode during set-up. Booking needs a calendar to be connected and checked before launch. For the UK launch, Google Calendar is still being prepared, so confirm the scope and the date of the calendar connection before ordering. Until then, do not treat booking as ready.
If you have several appointment types or several calendars, start with tickets, or pick a single type of appointment. People still handle the rest, and that is fine.
One call, worked through: an appointment and a question it will not answer
The conversation below is an illustration on openly fictional data, not a record of a real call. It assumes the business’s calendar is connected and tested. The caller raises two things at once: the assistant can complete one and cannot complete the other.
- Assistant
Good morning, this is the AI assistant for Example Heating & Plumbing. How can I help?
- Caller
I’d like to book a boiler service. And how much would a new heat exchanger cost?
- Assistant
I can’t give a price for the heat exchanger, because it depends on the model and a diagnosis. I’ll note the question for an engineer. I can book the service: let me check the calendar. Would Thursday at nine suit?
doesn’t invent a price - Caller
That suits. Sarah Test, 07700 900123.
- Assistant
To confirm: boiler service, Thursday at nine, Sarah Test, 07700 900123. Shall I book it?
asks before booking - Caller
Yes, please.
- Assistant
The appointment is booked in the calendar. I’ll pass the heat exchanger question to an engineer, who will ring you back.
confirms after the booking
Result after the call appointment + 1 question
- Caller
- Sarah Test (fictional data)
- Phone
- 07700 900123
- Appointment type
- Boiler service
- Time
- An example Thursday, 9:00
- Calendar entry
- Confirmed only after a successful booking
- For a person
- Question about the price of a new heat exchanger
- Missing
- The engineer’s answer
When the assistant hands over to a person
The boundary has to be set before the call, not during it. The assistant always introduces itself as an AI, and for every request it makes one distinction: does the answer fall within what the business has approved?
Answer, book or hand over?
One question for every request from the caller.
Is it within the approved scope?
- YesAnswers or booksand records it in the ticket
- NoNotes the questiona person comes back with the answer
- UrgentFlags the exceptionthe matter shows as urgent
An honest “I don’t know” beats a confident wrong answer.
Always for a person: a price that needs a site visit, a diagnosis, a complaint, moving or cancelling an appointment, a service outside the list, and a request to speak to a person. In the package, handover means a ticket with a summary of the call, sent by email and shown in the panel. It is not a live transfer of the call.
A good handover contains five things:
- the reason: why the caller rang, in one sentence;
- contact details: a name and a number you can ring back;
- what has been agreed: including what the caller heard from the assistant;
- what is missing: stated openly, so nobody asks the same thing twice;
- who moves next: a named person or role.
How to accept the set-up before customers ring
Acceptance is not an impression from the first call. It is a handful of checks after which you know the matter will reach the person it should.
Acceptance in five steps
Each step has a result you can check.
- Trial callYou ring the assistant and ask the questions from your own list. Seven situations to rehearse are in a separate article.
- Ticket after the callYou compare the ticket with what you said: corrections, gaps, added facts.
- Calendar (booking mode)The time and appointment type appear where they should. A failed booking ends in a ticket, not a confirmation.
- Call forwardingWe check the call route. Customers keep ringing your current number, and the forwarding settings depend on your phone provider.
- A real callWe check a real call and delivery of the ticket. Only from that point does the paid month and the minutes allowance start counting.
No checked forwarding and delivered ticket, no launch.
You can order the AI receptionist online. Going live depends on confirming that it can be done for your business: your phone provider, the call route and the script. The price is public already.
Check it yourself before you order anything
The quickest way to see how the assistant runs a call is to take a call from it. On the sitco demo page you can ask for one call to your UK mobile. The assistant calls once, in English, introduces itself as an AI, shows how a call could work in your business and ends whenever you like. Use fictional details. Audio recording is off, and a transcript is kept with the provider for up to 30 days. When the form is temporarily closed, the page shows other ways to arrange a call.
If the demo looks like what you need, the scope and price are on the pricing page: £79 a month, 1000 call minutes, no setup fee, and no VAT added because SITCO LTD is not VAT-registered. More on how the phone side works is on the AI receptionist page.