AI Receptionist Setup Checklist for New Users

A great AI receptionist is only as good as what you feed it during setup — so here's the complete onboarding checklist we'd hand any new user. Gather these details, confirm these settings, and run these test calls, and your receptionist goes live knowing your business cold instead of guessing. Work through it top to bottom; most of it takes an afternoon to compile and we handle the technical build from there.

Before you start: the mindset

The AI answers accurately because it's configured accurately. Every question a customer asks that you can't answer in this checklist is a question the AI will have to escalate or fumble. So the goal here is simple: write down everything your best front-desk person would know. The more complete your answers, the sharper the receptionist. Good news — you fill this in once, and we do the wiring.

Part 1 — Business basics

Gather these first. They're the foundation of every answer the AI gives.

• ☐ Legal + spoken business name (how it should answer the phone)
• ☐ Business hours — regular, plus any seasonal or holiday variations
• ☐ Service area — cities, ZIP codes, or radius you cover (and where you don't)
• ☐ Main services — the full list, in plain customer language
• ☐ What you don't do — services you should decline or refer out
• ☐ Pricing rules — flat rates, "starts at" figures, or "we quote on-site" (whatever the AI is allowed to say)
• ☐ Emergency / urgent policy — do you take after-hours emergencies, and how should they be handled?

Part 2 — Call handling rules

This is how the receptionist behaves once it's talking. Decide these deliberately.

• ☐ Greeting script — exact opening line
• ☐ Qualifying questions — what must every caller be asked? (name, phone, address, job type, urgency)
• ☐ Booking rules — appointment lengths, buffer times, which service types book which slots
• ☐ Escalation rules — which calls transfer to you live, which take a message, which the AI fully handles
• ☐ After-hours behavior — full booking, message-only, or emergency-triage
• ☐ Spam / sales-call handling — how to end unwanted calls quickly

The escalation rules matter most. A well-built receptionist handles the routine 80% solo and cleanly hands you the 20% that needs judgment — never guesses. That balance is set here. More on the philosophy in what an AI receptionist is.

Part 3 — Integrations and connections

This is where bookings and leads land. Confirm the plumbing.

• ☐ Calendar — which calendar bookings write to (so slots are real and conflict-free)
• ☐ CRM — where lead details flow (GHL, HubSpot, Jobber, Housecall, etc.) — see does it work with my CRM
• ☐ Missed-call text-back — the number and message for calls that slip through
• ☐ Where call summaries go — email, text, or dashboard
• ☐ Transfer destination — the number live-escalated calls ring to

We handle the technical connection of all of these during the 7-to-14-day onboarding — your job is just to tell us which tools you use.

Part 4 — The number and forwarding

The last-mile step that makes it live. You keep your existing number.

• ☐ Confirm your existing number stays (no porting — it's forwarding) — details here
• ☐ Choose forwarding type — always-forward (full coverage) or conditional (only missed calls)
• ☐ Have the forwarding code ready for your carrier — carrier-by-carrier codes
• ☐ Know your cancel code so you can reverse forwarding anytime

Part 5 — Test before you trust

Never go live without proving it. Run these calls yourself:

1. Standard booking during hours → confirm it lands in your calendar.
2. After-hours call at night/weekend → confirm 24/7 pickup.
3. Your five most common questions → confirm accurate answers.
4. An out-of-scope question → confirm clean escalation, not a wrong guess.
5. Two simultaneous calls → confirm both are handled.
6. An abandoned call → confirm missed-call text-back fires.
7. Read every summary → confirm names, numbers, and job details are captured.

The full version of this evaluation is the week-one testing checklist. Don't skip it — this is where you catch anything the build missed.

The quick-reference summary

Stage	You provide	We handle
Business basics	Hours, services, area, pricing rules	Loading it into the AI
Call handling	Scripts, qualifying, escalation rules	Building the logic
Integrations	Which calendar/CRM you use	The technical connection
Number	Existing number + carrier	Guiding the forwarding
Testing	Placing test calls	Tuning based on results

What "done" looks like

You're live when: the AI answers in your name 24/7, books real appointments into your calendar, answers your common questions accurately, escalates the right calls to you, texts back anything missed, and logs clean summaries. At that point your phone stops leaking jobs — no small thing when 62% of small-business calls go unanswered.

Ready to start the checklist? Book a walkthrough and we'll fill it in with you, see how we structure pricing, or hear one first at see it work. Prefer to just talk it through? Call (888) 412-9101.