Skip to main content
The most common thing a small business does on the phone is take a booking. It is also the thing most likely to go wrong: a name misheard, a day assumed, an appointment made with a doctor who does not work Mondays. This guide builds a clinic line that gets it right. The same shape works for a salon, a garage, a dentist or a viewing appointment — change the names and the hours.

​
What you are building

A caller rings, is asked for four things one at a time, and hears the whole booking read back before it is confirmed.
1

Write down what is actually true

Before touching the agent, write your real availability. Not “we’re open weekdays” — the actual person, the actual days, the actual hours.This is the part people skip, and it is the part that decides whether the agent invents things.
2

Put it in the agent's instructions

On the agent’s Behaviour page, replace the instructions with something shaped like this:
Note “Doctor Sharma”, not “Dr. Sharma”. A full stop inside a name ends a sentence early when it is spoken, and the caller hears the agent stop halfway through the name.
3

Check it can take contact details

On the Actions page, confirm lead capture and escalation are on. They are on for a new agent — this is a look, not a task. A booking line needs to take a phone number, and needs a way to hand over when it cannot help.Knowledge search on calls is on too, so the agent answers “do you take my insurance?” from your own documents rather than guessing.
4

Set the greeting

On the Voice page, set First words to how you would answer the phone:
Short, and it names the business. A caller who dialled a clinic wants to know they reached the clinic.
5

Call it and book something

Ring your number and go through a real booking.

​
What a good call sounds like

This is a real transcript from a line set up exactly as above.
Four things went right there, and each one was asked for in the instructions:
  • One question per turn. The caller never had to hold two answers in their head.
  • It only offered real days. Tuesday or Thursday, because that is when the dentist works.
  • It constrained the time to the hours that exist, without being asked again.
  • It read the whole thing back before confirming.

​
Test that it will not make things up

Setting it up is the easy half. Before you put the number anywhere, ring it and try to make it lie.
“Can I book with Doctor Mehta please?”You want a refusal — a name that is not on your list should be met with “we do not have a Doctor Mehta” and an offer of who you do have.The failure to watch for is an agent that says “Sure, which day?” and only mentions the problem afterwards. On a phone the caller has already started answering.
“Do you have a cardiologist?”Same shape. “We do not have a cardiologist” — not a booking.
“Can I see the dentist on Monday morning?”A good answer names the real days: “the dentist is here Tuesday and Thursday, three to seven”.Watch for “Yes, you can see the dentist on Monday morning” followed by a correction. Read on a page you would catch it. Heard on a phone, the caller stopped listening after “yes”.
“How much does a filling cost?” or “Do you take Star Health insurance?”You want “I do not have that” plus an offer to have someone call back. A made-up price is the single most expensive thing a phone agent can do.
“Are you open on Sunday?”Straightforward, and worth checking anyway — it is the question most likely to be answered from general knowledge about clinics rather than from your instructions.
Run each of these on a fresh call, not one after another in the same conversation. An agent that already knows you wanted the dentist will answer differently from one hearing you for the first time, and it is the first time that matters.

​
When it gets one wrong

Almost always the fix is in your instructions, not in the settings. Be specific and be blunt. “Be helpful and accurate” changes nothing. “Never offer a time that is not written above” changes a lot.

​
Before you print the number anywhere

Ring it yourself and try the hardest question you actually get — not the easy one. The awkward one, the one with a condition attached, the one where the honest answer is “it depends”. If it handles that, it will handle the hours question.
Then hand the number to somebody who has never seen the instructions and ask them to book something. They will phrase things you did not think of, which is the entire point.