You can start onboarding anytime by expanding the AI Receptionist Flow menu and selecting AI Receptionist Onboarding.
Step 1: Teach Abby About Your Company
Give your AI Receptionist everything it needs to represent your business accurately.
You’ll set up your:
Greeting
Time zone
Website, address, and directions
Hours of operation
Company description
You can find this page under AI Receptionist Flow → AI Receptionist Onboarding, or directly under Account → Company.
Greeting
Your greeting begins with:
“Thank you for calling [company name]. This is Abby, how may I assist you?”
You can customize everything before “This is Abby…” to make it sound like you.
Example:
“It's a great day at Willow Law Firm. This is Abby, how may I assist you?”
(The second sentence stays the same to ensure consistency across all calls.)
Address & Directions
You decide whether Abby shares your physical address with callers.
Unchecked: Abby will not provide your location.
Checked: You can add directions like “We’re in the Plaza Center near the blue and white sign.”
Company Description
Use “we” language to make it sound conversational. Keep it simple—no pricing or marketing copy.
Example:
“We’re a law firm specializing in family, criminal, and elder law.”
Hours of Operation
Choose 24/7 or set custom hours.
Abby answers around the clock, but your hours help her tell callers whether your business is open.
Recurring Contact Statuses
Each contact will automatically mirror your business hours.
Available during open hours
Unavailable outside them
When unavailable, Abby won’t transfer calls — she’ll take a message instead.
To edit, go to Account → Contacts and click a contact’s schedule.
You can mark holidays as open, closed, or set special hours. By default, all holidays are set to closed.
Step 2: Add Common Questions (FAQs)
FAQs help Abby answer callers instantly — saving your team time and ensuring consistency.
You can access this under AI Receptionist Flow → Onboarding → FAQs or Account → FAQs.
Suggested FAQs
You’ll see examples for pricing, services, and service areas. Edit these with responses tailored to your business.
Creating Your Own FAQs
You can add an unlimited number of FAQs. If there are multiple ways a caller might ask the same question, you can combine them into a single FAQ. For example:
“What is your address? Where are you located?”
“How much is a consultation? Do you offer free consultations?”
The AI Receptionist is good at understanding context, so you don’t need to create every possible variation—just cover the main ways callers might ask.
Formatting FAQ Answers
Keep answers friendly, natural, and spoken aloud in your head. Use “we” and avoid shorthand symbols.
Instead of “Yes.”
✅ Say:
“Yes, we offer free consultations and would be happy to schedule one for you.”
Instead of “$1500”
✅ Say:
“Fifteen hundred dollars.”
Step 3: Set Up Your Contacts
Contacts are your team members — the people Abby transfers to or messages.
You can find this under AI Receptionist Flow → Onboarding → Contacts or Account → Contacts.
Adding a New Contact
Click Add New Contact and fill in:
Salutation and pronouns (so Abby addresses them correctly)
Title and name
Email and phone number
Use:
Ok to give out email: Let Abby share it with callers if you wish.
Mask name: Have Abby refer to them by title, e.g., “Service Technician” instead of “John Smith.”
Call Handling Settings
For each contact, you’ll define:
Transfer type:
Supervised (warm) — Abby introduces the caller before connecting.
Blind — connects directly without introduction.
Notification preferences: Email, text, or both
When to transfer: Only if available, or always take a message
Message Notifications
Add emails or numbers where call summaries and voicemails should go.
Schedules and Statuses
Contacts inherit business hours by default.
If someone has a unique schedule, you can customize their Recurring Status to match.
⚠️ Avoiding Call Loops
Never list your company’s main number (the one forwarded to Abby) as a transfer number.
✅ Use a separate number, such as a cell or direct line.
Once your contacts are set up, your AI now has all the knowledge to hold effective conversations with your callers. The next step is to fine-tune your call handling, which controls how calls are routed between the AI Receptionist and your team based on the type of caller (like new clients, existing clients, solicitors, and more).