Assistant Setup Guide
A detailed breakdown of each field in your Assistant Setup form. Use this guide to ensure your AI Receptionist is perfectly tuned to your business operations and customer service standards.
1. Business Information
These fields give your assistant the factual "grounding" it needs to represent your company accurately.
Business Name
The official name of your company. If your company name is hard for the AI to pronounce or the AI is getting it wrong, you may need to adjust the spelling.
Tip: HeritageAi was being pronounced "Heritage I", so I adjusted it to "Heritage A.I." and the AI started pronouncing it correctly.
Business Description
A brief summary of what you do. The assistant uses this to explain your business to new callers. Be as descriptive as you like—this is what the AI will tell callers about your business.
Example: "A family-owned plumbing team serving Metro Atlanta since 1998"
Business Hours
Your standard operating hours. The assistant uses this to know when to book appointments versus taking messages.
Example: "Monday-Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm"
Example: "Monday-Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm, Saturday: 9:00am - 12:00pm"
Preferred Area Code
When provided, we will attempt to set up your assistant's phone number with this area code.
Timezone
Your local timezone to ensure calendar bookings are synchronized with your local time (e.g., "America/New_York").
2. AI Behavior & Personality
This section defines how your assistant speaks and interacts with your customers.
Assistant Name
The name the AI will use to identify itself to callers.
Voice Preference
Choose between a male or female voice to best fit your brand's personality. We currently do not support custom voices. However, this may be a future enhancement.
Forward Urgent Calls to Staff
Enable this to allow the AI to transfer calls based on urgency keywords.
Special Responses Outside Hours
Enable this to activate the "After Hours Greeting" feature.
Default Greeting
The very first thing the AI says when it answers a phone call.
Example: "Hi! Thank you for calling Joe's Plumbing. How can I help you today?"
After-Hours Greeting
How the assistant answers after your business has closed for the day.
Example: "Thank you for calling Joe's Plumbing. We are closed for the day, but I am your AI assistant and I am here to help you. How can I help you today?"
Your "After-Hours" Greeting is played whenever a call comes in outside the "Business Hours" you set in the Business Profile.
Custom AI Instructions
This field is where you give your assistant its "personality" and specific rules. Think of this as the "Employee Handbook" for your AI assistant.
You can tell it how to handle specific situations, what to focus on, or even give it a specific "voice" (e.g., "friendly and conversational" or "short and professional").
Example: "Be very friendly and empathetic to customers who have plumbing emergencies."
Example: "Always mention that we have been in business for over 20 years."
Example: "If someone asks for Joe, tell them he's out on a job but you can help them."
Tip: The more detail you provide here, the better your assistant will perform. Don't be afraid to be very specific!
Tip: You can use this field to tell the AI how to handle things like referrals, specific service areas, or even common objections from customers.
4. Service Information
This section is where you tell the AI exactly what your business does and what it costs.
Service Name
The name of the trade or task (e.g., "Deck Design", "New HVAC Installation", "Siding Replacement").
Price
A specific price or a range to help the assistant set expectations with callers.
Example: "$99"
Example: "$100 - $500"
Description
A detailed description of what the service includes. The assistant uses this to answer questions like "What exactly do you do?". The assistant will only include prices if the customer requests them.
Tip: The AI will only include prices if the customer requests them. You can change when the AI mentions pricing by updating the "Custom AI Instructions" field.
5. Payment Options
These are the types of payment you accept for your products and services. It lets customers know how they can pay you. The available choices are:
Invoice Terms
This defines when a customer must pay their bill, for example "Net 30" or "Due upon completion". When you fill in this field, your assistant uses this information to answer customer questions about when they need to pay and ensures your customers aren't surprised by a bill, maintaining the trust and transparency core to your brand.
6. Scheduling Logic
This section connects your assistant to your calendar to manage your fieldwork without your intervention. The appointment types tell the AI the duration of time to block out on your connected calendar for the different types of appointments.
Appointment Types
The specific categories of meetings you allow (e.g., "Estimate", "Repair", "Installation").
Buffer Time
How much "cleanup" or travel time you need between jobs.
Example: "30 minutes"
Example: "1 hour"
Lunch Break
A daily blocked-out period where the assistant will never schedule an appointment. This is also considered after hours, so the AI will not forward calls or send text messages during this time.
Example: "12:00pm - 1:00pm"
Cancellation Policy
When filled in, the AI will include this policy when an appointment is scheduled.
7. Urgency & Routing
Define which calls are too important for an AI to handle and must be transferred immediately.
Urgency Keywords
Specific words that trigger an immediate transfer to a human team member. Add a new line for each keyword—do not include multiple on one line.
Example: "is broken", "not working", "leak", "emergency"
Action
What the assistant should do when an urgent keyword is detected.
Example: "Transfer to founder"
8. Key Contacts
The authorized people within your business that the assistant can notify or transfer calls to. If you are the only one in your business, you should enter your information here. The assistant will not use the information from the Business Profile for this purpose.
Name & Role
The person's name and their title (e.g., "Joe Smith, Founder").
Phone & Email
The contact information used for internal transfers and instant message notifications.
Action Buttons
Save & Deploy Assistant
This will save your configuration to our system and set up your assistant to start receiving calls.
Test Assistant
This button is only available after your assistant has been deployed. It allows you to act like a caller to your assistant and test your setup. When using this feature, please be aware that the assistant will not be able to transfer your "call" to a real person's phone.
Tip: It is highly recommended that you test your assistant, especially if you included a lot of instructions in the "Custom AI Instructions" field.
Tip: When you test your assistant, you will be able to see the conversation in the "Call Log" section of the dashboard.
Tip: Make sure the assistant is pronouncing your business name correctly, greetings are working as expected, and that the assistant is able to answer questions about your business.