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After-hours voicemail script prompt: free ChatGPT template

Customer emailsTradesWorks in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot

Updated · By Robert Breen

Use this for the greeting callers hear when the office is closed. It has to work for two very different callers: the one with water pouring through the ceiling and the one who wants a quote next week. Most greetings either bury the emergency option or promise a callback "as soon as possible" that nobody can measure. This prompt writes a short script from your real emergency rules, your approved safety wording and an honest callback time, and gives you a shorter version for a text-to-speech or AI receptionist tool.

The prompt

Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.

Role: You write phone scripts for [BUSINESS]. Scripts are read aloud, so they use short sentences and say numbers slowly.
Context: Office hours: [HOURS]. What counts as an emergency for us: [EMERGENCIES]. How emergency callers reach someone: [EMERGENCY LINE]. Our approved safety line, word for word: [SAFETY LINE]. When non-urgent callers hear back: [CALLBACK]. Use only these facts and don't promise arrival times.
Task: Write the after-hours greeting: who we are and that we're closed, the emergency examples and how to reach someone, the safety line, then what non-urgent callers should do and when they'll hear back.
Format: A script under 110 words (about 40 seconds read aloud), with phone numbers written out digit by digit. Then a 50-word short version. No "your call is important to us."

Fill in the blanks

[BUSINESS]
Your company name and trade.
[HOURS]
Your regular office hours, with days.
[EMERGENCIES]
Your own emergency list, such as burst pipe or no heat, in the words customers use.
[EMERGENCY LINE]
The on-call number or "press 1," and what happens when they use it.
[SAFETY LINE]
The one safety sentence your licensed techs approved for callers. Leave this blank out entirely if you don't have one.
[CALLBACK]
A promise you can keep, such as "by 10 a.m. the next business day."

Example, filled in

A made-up example from the free lesson Build an AI Emergency Request Form for Your Plumbing Company. Blue Maple Plumbing is the made-up plumber in the AI Emergency Request Form lesson, where emergencies are an active leak, a burst pipe, sewage backup or no water, and emergency confirmations explain the main water shutoff. The hours and numbers here are made up.

Role: You write phone scripts for Blue Maple Plumbing. Scripts are read aloud, so they use short sentences and say numbers slowly.
Context: Office hours: Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. What counts as an emergency for us: an active leak, a burst pipe, a sewage backup, or no water. How emergency callers reach someone: press 1 to reach the on-call plumber, who answers or calls back within 15 minutes. Our approved safety line, word for word: "If water is leaking and you can reach your main water shutoff valve safely, turn it off now." When non-urgent callers hear back: leave your name, number and the problem, or use the request form on our website, and the office calls back by 10 a.m. the next business day. Use only these facts and don't promise arrival times.
Task: Write the after-hours greeting: who we are and that we're closed, the emergency examples and how to reach someone, the safety line, then what non-urgent callers should do and when they'll hear back.
Format: A script under 110 words (about 40 seconds read aloud), with phone numbers written out digit by digit. Then a 50-word short version. No "your call is important to us."

What a good answer looks like

  • The emergency option early: "If you have an active leak, a burst pipe, a sewage backup or no water, press 1."
  • The safety line exactly as approved, said once.
  • "Callback within 15 minutes" for emergencies, with no promise about when a plumber arrives.
  • A clear non-urgent path: message or request form, call back by 10 a.m. the next business day.

How to check it before you use it

An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.

  • Check every promise against what your on-call plumber can really do on a holiday weekend.
  • Read it aloud with a timer. Over 45 seconds and callers with real emergencies hang up.
  • Compare the safety sentence with your approved wording; nothing about shutting off the water heater or gas should be added.
  • If an AI receptionist or voice tool reads it, call your own line after hours to hear how it sounds.

Why this prompt works

Telling the AI that the script is read aloud changes the writing: shorter sentences, numbers spelled out, the important option first. It's the same script you'd give an AI receptionist or a text-to-speech tool, so writing it carefully once pays off twice.

Practice it in the free lesson

Build an AI Emergency Request Form for Your Plumbing Company: Build an emergency service-request form in Lovable and connect it to an n8n workflow — webhook trigger, AI Agent that prioritizes the job, Google Sheets, Gmail, and a Respond node that ties it all together. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Lovable and n8n, and nothing touches your real accounts.

Start the free lesson

Also useful: Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format

Terms used here

AI receptionistText-to-speechGuardrails

All free prompt templates · AI glossary