AI receptionist script prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when you are about to build an AI receptionist or after-hours voice agent and need a first draft of its instructions. It writes the greeting, the short list of questions, the rules for what it must never say, and the hand-off to a person.
A script is a draft. Test it with made-up calls, read the transcripts and tighten it, and have the right professional review anything about advice, safety or legal matters before it takes a real call.
Have a professional review it. This prompt helps you draft, not decide. AI can get the law wrong and doesn’t know your jurisdiction or your facts, so have a licensed attorney review anything legal before you send or sign it.
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 are an operations consultant at [BUSINESS], writing instructions for an AI receptionist that answers calls after hours. Context: Our business is [BUSINESS DESCRIPTION]. Callers usually want [COMMON REQUESTS]. The receptionist must say it is an AI at the start. It must never [NEVER DO]. Urgent situations are [URGENT CASES], and a human handles them through [HANDOFF]. Our hours are [HOURS]. Task: Write the system prompt for the receptionist: a one-sentence greeting that says it is an AI, the few questions to ask in order, how to handle each common request, a list of things it must never do or promise, what counts as urgent, and exactly what to say when handing off to a person. Format: Use short labeled sections (Greeting, Questions, Common requests, Never, Urgent, Hand-off). Each rule is one plain sentence. Under [WORD LIMIT] words. Where something is missing from my facts, write "ASK THE OWNER" instead of guessing.
Fill in the blanks
[BUSINESS]- Your business name.
[BUSINESS DESCRIPTION]- What you do and who calls you, in one or two sentences.
[COMMON REQUESTS]- The three to five things callers most often ask for.
[NEVER DO]- What it must never say or do, such as give legal advice, quote a price or promise an outcome.
[URGENT CASES]- The situations that need a person right away. Be concrete, not "serious issues".
[HANDOFF]- How a person is reached, such as a text to the on-call attorney.
[HOURS]- When the office is open, so the agent can tell callers when someone will call back.
[WORD LIMIT]- 400 works for a first version.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Build an After-Hours Intake Voice Agent for a Law Firm (ElevenLabs). Lindenwood Injury Law is the made-up personal injury firm in the after-hours intake lesson. The managing attorney wants a first draft of the instructions for Morgan, the AI intake agent, before building it.
Role: You are an operations consultant at Lindenwood Injury Law, writing instructions for an AI receptionist that answers calls after hours. Context: Our business is a small personal injury law firm; callers are usually people who were just in an accident. Callers usually want to tell us about the accident, ask whether they have a case, and ask when someone will call back. The receptionist must say it is an AI at the start. It must never give legal advice, say whether someone has a case, or promise an outcome. Urgent situations are anyone in danger and any call where an insurer is already involved, and a human handles them through a text to the on-call attorney. Our hours are 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday. Task: Write the system prompt for the receptionist: a one-sentence greeting that says it is an AI, the few questions to ask in order, how to handle each common request, a list of things it must never do or promise, what counts as urgent, and exactly what to say when handing off to a person. Format: Use short labeled sections (Greeting, Questions, Common requests, Never, Urgent, Hand-off). Each rule is one plain sentence. Under 400 words. Where something is missing from my facts, write "ASK THE OWNER" instead of guessing.
What a good answer looks like
- The greeting names the firm and says it is an AI assistant and not a lawyer.
- The "Never" list includes giving legal advice, judging a case and promising an outcome, in plain sentences.
- Gaps show up as "ASK THE OWNER" instead of an invented phone number or policy.
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.
- Have an attorney review the greeting and the "Never" list against your jurisdiction's rules before real calls.
- Check that anyone in danger is sent to 911 first, and that the urgent list matches your real process.
- Test it with made-up calls, including an awkward one, and read the call summaries and transcripts.
- Confirm a person actually receives the hand-off text or alert. A script that routes nowhere is a gap.
Why this prompt works
The "ASK THE OWNER" rule matters most. A receptionist script full of confident, invented details is worse than a short one with honest gaps, because callers act on what it says.
Practice it in the free lesson
Build an After-Hours Intake Voice Agent for a Law Firm (ElevenLabs): Build an after-hours intake agent for a small personal injury firm in ElevenLabs: it says it's AI and not a lawyer, takes the details for a callback and the conflict check, and never gives legal advice. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ElevenLabs Agents, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Your First Voice Agent in ElevenLabs: An After-Hours Receptionist
Terms used here
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Frequently asked questions
- How do I write instructions for an AI receptionist?
- List the few questions it asks, the requests it can handle, what it must never say, what is urgent and how a person is reached. Test with made-up calls and tighten the rules from the transcripts.
- Can ChatGPT write an AI receptionist script?
- It can draft one from your facts. You still need to test it, and have a professional review anything about advice, safety or legal matters.