To set up an AI phone assistant, approve its service information, prices, hours, policies, prohibited topics and human handover process before your business starts using it. Then test realistic enquiries and assign someone to review the early conversations. Vallamo Calls are live. This checklist concerns preparing your own phone workflow, not waiting for a product launch or assuming that a quick setup removes the need for careful approval.
Have you approved services and price wording?
Write the service names your customers use and the approved information reception may share. Distinguish similar services so an answer does not combine their fees or conditions. If a question needs someone to clarify which service is being requested, prepare that boundary rather than giving the assistant permission to guess.
Approve prices with their context. State what is included, which qualifications must be preserved and which questions need a person. A starting price is not a fixed quote. A consultation fee is not a total treatment cost. Remove old versions so the approved information does not contain two competing answers.
Use the Vallamo product overview to frame the wider process, but make your business's approval concrete. Someone should be able to read the information and say exactly which answer a caller ought to receive. Assign an owner for changes before the first price update arrives. The assistant can only work within the information the business has prepared and approved.
Are hours, closures and policies unambiguous?
Record ordinary opening hours, the relevant location and how holiday closures will be maintained. Separate opening hours from a promise that a particular person is available to answer. If the team responds during staffed reception periods, make that expectation accurate for the days you actually operate.
For cancellation, deposits and late arrivals, approve the explanation reception can give. Do not leave staff and the assistant to reconstruct policy from several old messages. State which exceptions require a person and who can authorise them. A caller asking what the policy says is different from someone asking for the business to make an exception.
Test awkward combinations: an enquiry before a holiday, a cancellation request outside staffed hours or a question about a fee after a price change. Check whether the approved answer still makes sense. This preparation does not claim that Calls collect deposits, change appointments or complete any other action. It establishes what the assistant may explain and what must move to your team through the agreed human process.
Have you written the limits and handover rules?
Vallamo Calls identify the assistant as AI at the start, answer from approved information and take booking requests or caller details. A handover to a person includes a summary and the conversation attached. Approve the greeting and the reasons to hand over together, so the introduction matches what the assistant can actually do.
Write prohibited topics explicitly. The assistant never gives medical or clinical advice. It should not decide personal treatment suitability, diagnose a problem or make a policy exception. Add the business-specific questions that need professional judgement or an authorised member of staff.
Illustrative example, not a real customer call.
A caller asks for a fee that is missing from the approved information and then requests a guaranteed appointment tomorrow. The approved response should acknowledge the missing fee, take an appropriate request and pass the unresolved questions to a person. It should not invent the fee or describe tomorrow as booked. Use examples like this to test limits, not just a smooth enquiry where every answer is already available.
Can your team use this approval checklist?
Copy the checklist into your own working document and give each item an owner. Mark an item complete only when the wording or process exists and somebody has checked it.
- Approve the AI greeting and how callers ask for a person.
- Approve current service names, descriptions and price conditions.
- Check opening hours, location details and holiday update ownership.
- Approve policy explanations and identify who decides exceptions.
- List prohibited topics, including all medical and clinical advice.
- Decide what details are necessary for a booking request or message.
- Name the person receiving each type of human handover.
- Agree realistic caller expectations when staff are unavailable.
- Test unknown answers, complaints and unconfirmed booking requests.
- Assign an owner to review conversations and maintain approved knowledge.
This is preparation for a working service, not a guarantee of a particular setup time. If you are comparing options, our AI receptionist cost guide addresses a separate budgeting question. Keep the approval list tied to the work your team must own rather than treating it as paperwork that can be completed without checking the answers.
How will you review the first fortnight?
Before starting, decide who will review routine answers, requests and handovers during the first fortnight. Choose times that fit the team's working pattern and leave space to act on what you find. Review is useful only when someone can correct the information or the process afterwards.
Look for specific issues: missing fee conditions, unclear service names, a request that sounded confirmed or a handover nobody owned. Check the attached conversation for context instead of assuming the summary tells the whole story. If wording changes, test the relevant question again and check related answers for conflicting information.
Vallamo Calls are live and share approved knowledge with the chat channels. Maintain that knowledge as one business responsibility while checking the actual phone workflow separately. Do not infer a new Calls capability from a chat feature. The first fortnight should help establish a repeatable review habit, not serve as a deadline after which accuracy no longer needs attention. Continue reviewing when services, staff responsibilities or policies change.Frequently asked questions
How long does setup take?
This article does not promise a Calls setup time. Preparation depends on the information, decisions and staff responsibilities your business needs to approve. Check the actual requirements for your workflow rather than assuming it can be ready before those decisions have been made.
What if my prices change?
Give someone ownership of updating approved information, removing old wording and checking the revised answer. Preserve any conditions around the fee. Review related service descriptions as well so a price change does not leave contradictory information elsewhere in the knowledge.
Can I preview it before my business starts using it?
Arrange a review of your proposed phone workflow and test realistic questions before relying on it. This article does not promise a particular Calls preview feature. The separate chat demo can help you explore chat, but it does not verify a phone setup.
Does approval mean it will never need a human?
No. Approval defines what the assistant may answer and when a person needs to take over. Sensitive questions, exceptions, unknown information and clinical matters still need an appropriate human route. Keep a named owner for those handovers and for ongoing review.
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