AI Receptionist Setup Checklist

An AI receptionist is only as good as what you tell it. It answers from the facts you give it, so a vague profile produces vague answers, and a missing rule produces a call nobody planned for. The work is mostly decisions: what do you do, when are you open, who gets the emergency call, what should a caller hear when they ask something you would rather answer yourself. This checklist covers what to prepare and decide before you turn it on. If you are still deciding whether it fits your company, read how an AI receptionist works for landscaping companies first.

The cost, so there are no surprises

• The AI Receptionist is a paid add-on at $39 a month, with 30 conversations included each month
• Extra conversations beyond the 30 are $0.75 each, if you turn overage on
• It is available on every plan
• It needs an active paid subscription, so it cannot be switched on during the free trial
• Decide now whether you want overage on or off. With it off, the receptionist keeps answering after the 30 but the extra conversations are not counted or billed
• Decide on a backup line: the number that rings for a missed call once you have hit your monthly limit with overage off

You can see the full plan prices on the pricing page.

Your business profile facts

The receptionist answers callers from your business profile, your services list and any documents you upload. If a fact is not written down in one of those, it does not know it.

• Your business name, as you want it said on the phone
• A plain description of what you do
• Your service area, by town or neighborhood
• Anything callers commonly ask, written as a fact: “We mow Monday through Friday,” “We service homes and small commercial lots”
• If your website already says these things, you can import facts from it rather than retyping, then read what came in

Your services list

• Every service you actually sell, named the way customers ask for it
• The services you do not offer, so the receptionist does not guess
• Any service-specific notes a caller should hear, without prices

Hours and after-hours rules

• Your business hours for each day of the week
• What should happen after hours: the receptionist takes a message
• Which routes, if any, should still be allowed to transfer after hours. Usually only the emergency line
• Who handles the messages first thing in the morning

Transfer routes and their conditions

You can set up to 8 routes. Each one is a label, a phone number, and a condition in plain language describing when it should be used.

• An emergency route: a fallen tree, a flooded property, a plow contract customer with a blocked lot
• An existing customer route, if you want regulars to reach a person
• A phone number for each route that someone will actually answer
• Write each condition the way you would explain it to a new hire: “If the caller says it is an emergency,” “If the caller is an existing customer”
• Decide for each route whether it can ring after hours. The setting is off by default
• Anything you want transferred live goes in a route. Anything else is filed as a request for you to handle

The greeting

• A short greeting in your own words that sounds like your company
• The required disclosure stays in: it must say it is an AI assistant and that the call may be recorded and shared with service providers. You can reword around it but not remove it
• An agent name you are comfortable hearing, and a voice you have previewed
• A notification email for new leads and requests, one that gets read
• The label for who follows up, so callers know who to expect to hear back from

Questions callers ask, and the answers you want given

Sit down with a pen and think about the last twenty calls you took.

• “Do you service my area?” Decide the answer. The receptionist never turns a caller away for being outside your area, so decide what you want said to someone just outside it
• “Can I get a price?” It will not quote one. Decide what you want said instead, and how quickly you plan to call back
• “Can someone come Tuesday?” It will not book or promise a time. It records the preferred day and time as a request, and your team schedules the visit
• “Can I change my appointment?” It files a reschedule request
• “Is this a person?” It tells the caller it is an AI assistant

Documents to upload

The Knowledge tab takes files you already have, plus pasted text.

• Accepted types: PDF, TXT, DOCX, HTML and EPUB, up to 20 MB each and 15 documents total
• A service description sheet or FAQ
• Your service policies: cancellation, weather delays, payment methods
• Anything detailed that does not fit the profile or services list

What it will not do, so you plan for it

Read this list twice. Each item is a decision the receptionist deliberately leaves to a person.

• It never books, promises or commits to an appointment time. Someone on your team schedules every visit
• It never quotes a price. Plan the callback that does
• It never gives chemical, fertilizer or treatment advice. Plan who answers those questions
• It is voice only. It does not send or answer text messages, so follow-up is a phone call or your normal email
• It keeps transcripts, not recordings
• There is no calendar or booking integration. Say “our team schedules the visit,” not “it books you in”

The test-call plan

• Forward your business line to the dedicated number and confirm the forwarding step
• Place a test call yourself before going live
• Call as a new customer with a lawn question, a quote request and a request for a specific day
• Call as an existing customer who wants to reschedule
• Call and say “emergency” to confirm the route rings the right phone
• Call outside your set hours to hear the after-hours behavior
• Ask it a price question and a chemical question and confirm it declines both
• Read each call’s transcript in the inbox and fix any wrong answer at the source, in the profile or documents

Who checks the inbox, and how fast

Calls land in the Receptionist Inbox, with emergencies listed first. A new lead is also created in your CRM, tagged with the source AI Receptionist.

• One named person owns the inbox each day, plus a backup for days off
• A target response time, such as the same day for ordinary requests and immediately for emergencies
• A plan for turning a lead into a quote through the CRM

The inbox guide covers working requests, and the setup guide walks through each tab.

A weekly review habit

• Fifteen minutes, same time each week
• Read a handful of transcripts, including at least one that did not become a lead
• Note any question it could not answer, then add the answer to the profile or a document
• Check how many of your 30 included conversations you have used
• Confirm routes and hours still match your real week, especially at the start of snow season

How to use this checklist

Print it or paste it into a shared note and do it in order: cost and decisions first, then the profile, routes and greeting, then the test calls. Do not turn on call forwarding until the test-call section is clear. Once live, the weekly review is what keeps it accurate as your services and seasons change. When you are ready, the AI Receptionist page shows what it does and does not do.