A caller whose air conditioner quit in July, or whose crown came loose, doesn’t care how clever your phone system is. They want to know whether you can help, and when. A voice AI can tell them at any hour. But first, you decide what it says, what it asks and when a person takes over. Those decisions make up your AI receptionist script. Here’s each part, with two samples to adapt.
What an AI Receptionist Script Actually Contains
A voice AI holds a real conversation, so your AI receptionist script is a playbook, not a speech. It has three parts:
- The call flow: greeting, safety check, qualifying questions, next step and wrap-up.
- The knowledge base: hours, towns served, services you do and don’t offer, published fees and policies.
- The rules: what it must never say, when it hands off and what it sends your team.
Write the knowledge base as caller questions with short spoken answers: “Do you service boilers?” “Yes, we repair and replace gas boilers.” Callers can’t rewind, so keep each answer to one or two sentences and offer two choices at most.
Above all, tell the AI to answer only from that material and to offer a callback when it doesn’t know. Weighing AI against voicemail or a live service? See our comparison of answering options.
The Greeting: Where Your AI Receptionist Introduces Itself
The greeting confirms the business name, says plainly that it’s an AI assistant and hands the conversation back. For instance:
“Thanks for calling [Business]. I’m the office’s AI assistant. I can book a visit, answer questions or connect you with the team. How can I help?”
Skip the made-up human name, because a caller who feels tricked doubts everything that follows.
If your system records calls or keeps transcripts, add a recording notice too. Recording consent rules differ by state, so have a lawyer approve your wording. This is general information, not legal advice.
Emergencies Come First
List your trade’s emergency phrases, what the AI says for each and who gets alerted. For heating and plumbing companies, gas tops the list. PSE&G’s gas leak instructions tell anyone who smells gas to leave and move at least 350 feet away before calling. In fact, the utility’s list of things to avoid includes using a phone. So the AI gives one instruction, then alerts your on-call tech:
“Please hang up and leave the building now. Once you’re a safe distance away, call [gas utility] or 911.”
Use the caller’s own gas utility and its safety wording, since PSE&G isn’t the only one in New Jersey. For a carbon monoxide alarm, the script follows PSE&G’s carbon monoxide guidance:
“Please get everyone, including pets, outside now, then call 911.”
Three to Five Qualifying Questions
Next, the AI asks the questions your best front desk person would, one at a time. More than five feels like an interrogation. Fewer than three, and your team calls back for basics. Good questions follow three rules:
- Each answer changes what happens next, such as booking, routing or urgency.
- The service area check comes early, before an out-of-range caller explains everything.
- The AI skips anything the caller already said, like the town in “no heat in Bridgewater.”
For starter questions by trade, see how an AI receptionist screens and sorts callers.
Booking Rules for Your AI Receptionist
Booking is where a loose setup does real damage, so pin down three things:
- Each appointment type and length, plus same-day slots held for emergencies.
- Which jobs need a callback first, and when that call happens.
- How it offers times: “I have Tuesday from 8 to 10 or Wednesday from 1 to 3. Which works better?”
Then sync it with your team’s calendar, or expect double bookings.
Pricing Questions: What the AI May and May Not Say
Callers ask about price early, and dodging sounds evasive. But an improvised quote is a promise you may have to honor. So set clear limits:
| Caller asks | The AI may say | The AI must not |
|---|---|---|
| “What’s your service call fee?” | Your published fee, word for word | A discount or a waived fee |
| “How much is a new AC?” | A technician quotes after seeing the system | A range it made up |
| “Do you take my insurance?” | The plans you accept, which staff will verify | “Yes, you’re covered” |
Why so strict? A Canadian tribunal once made an airline pay for its chatbot’s wrong answer, as our post on common AI chatbot mistakes explains. It doesn’t bind US courts, but it’s a clear warning.
When a Caller Asks for a Person
Anyone who asks for a human should reach one or get a firm callback time. Beyond that, set softer triggers: a repeated question, an upset caller or a billing dispute. Then name who takes transfers, plus a backup. The AI passes along the caller’s details, so nobody starts over. Script both outcomes:
- Transfer: “Of course, I’m connecting you with [Name] now.”
- No answer: “[Name] can’t pick up right now, but you’ll get a call back by [time].”
After-Hours Rules
At 11 p.m., the same call needs a different path. A simple setup uses three lanes:
- Emergencies: a transfer to the on-call phone, plus a text summary.
- Routine requests: the next open slot, or a morning callback.
- Everything else: a message with an honest reply time.
“Someone will call you by 9 tomorrow morning” beats “We’ll be in touch,” because the caller can plan around it. Still, only promise times your team can keep.
The Call Summary Your Team Receives
After each call, the AI texts or emails your team a summary with:
- Caller name, callback number and town, as confirmed.
- Why they called, plus any safety or urgency flag.
- Anything the AI booked or promised, quoted exactly.
- Whether the caller agreed to texts.
- The next step and who owns it.
Route every summary into a CRM set up around your sales stages, so follow-ups don’t get lost.
Two Sample Scripts You Can Adapt
AI receptionist script for an HVAC company
Picture a Somerset County HVAC company using AI for overflow and after-hours calls:
- Greeting: “Thanks for calling [Company]. I’m the company’s AI assistant, and this call is recorded. How can I help?”
- Safety check: “First, do you smell gas, or is a carbon monoxide alarm sounding?” A yes triggers the emergency lines above.
- Questions: What town? Heating or cooling? Is it running at all? Is anyone at home at risk from heat or cold?
- Details: Name, number and service address, each read back.
- Booking: No heat in winter with someone vulnerable at home goes to the on-call tech. Everyone else hears two open windows.
- Price: “Our diagnostic visit is [published fee], and the technician quotes any repair before starting.”
- Close: It repeats the arrival window and asks, “Is it okay if we text the details to this number?”
AI receptionist script for a dental office
Now picture a family dental practice in Montclair, with a gentler tone and stricter privacy rules:
- Greeting: “Thank you for calling [Practice]. You’ve reached the office’s AI assistant, and this call is recorded. How can I help?”
- Questions: New or current patient? A checkup or a problem? Any pain, swelling or a broken tooth?
- Urgent cases: Anything on the dentist’s medical emergency list gets “Please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.” Other urgent problems get a held slot or a transfer, never clinical advice.
- Details: Name and callback number, read back.
- Insurance: It notes the carrier and says the team will verify benefits.
- Close: It confirms the time and asks before texting the new patient forms.
One caution: under HIPAA, a vendor handling patient information for a practice is generally a business associate. So sign a business associate agreement before launch, and collect only what booking needs. Again, this isn’t legal advice, so have a healthcare attorney review it.
Test Your AI Receptionist Script Before Launch
An AI can mishear or answer wrongly, so give the script a test week, with staff playing difficult callers. Check that:
- “Am I talking to a real person?” gets an honest answer.
- A price question outside the knowledge base gets a callback offer, not a guess.
- Emergency phrases trigger the right alerts, even in a caller’s own words.
- “Let me talk to someone” reaches a person or a firm callback time.
- Bookings and summaries land in the right place and match the call.
After launch, read sample transcripts weekly for a month and fix whatever trips callers up.
Get Help Building Your Call Flow
A good AI receptionist script comes down to three decisions: what the AI may say, when it steps aside and what your team sees afterward. Samaroo Solutions, based in northern New Jersey, helps businesses across the state make them. Our AI Concierge service answers phone calls and website chats by rules like these. For help with your own script, send us the questions your front desk answers most.
