---
title: "How to Set Up an AI Receptionist for Your Business | AI-Voice-Agent.ca"
description: "How to set up an AI receptionist: what to prepare, writing the call script, emergency rules, call forwarding, testing and tuning. Checklist for business owners."
url: https://ai-voice-agent.ca/answers/how-to-set-up-an-ai-receptionist/
last_updated: 2026-11-05
---

# How do I set up an AI receptionist for my business?

Write down your services, service area, hours and the prices you allow on the phone. Decide which calls are emergencies and who gets them. Turn this into a call script, connect your calendar, test the agent with your own calls, then forward missed or after-hours calls to it. Review real calls in the first weeks and fix the answers you do not like.

## Setup checklist

- Collect your business facts: Services you do and do not offer, service area, hours, price ranges, booking rules.
- Write the emergency rules: Which calls must reach a person right away, and whose phone they go to at each hour.
- Write the call script: Greeting, questions to ask, what the agent may promise and what it must never promise.
- Connect your calendar: Or decide the agent takes requests that you confirm.
- Test it yourself: Call it, try to confuse it, and fix every answer before customers hear it.
- Forward your calls: Keep your number. Forward missed calls, after-hours calls or all calls.
- Tune it for a few weeks: Read call summaries, add the questions customers really ask.

## Do it yourself or have it done for you?

Self-serve apps let you do all of this yourself. It takes time, and the script is where most of the quality comes from. We do the setup for you: in Toronto and the GTA at your business, elsewhere by video call. It takes about an hour of your time plus approving the script. See [how it works](https://ai-voice-agent.ca/how-it-works/).

## Related questions

**What do I have to do to set it up?**

About an hour of your time for the first session, then reading and approving the call script and making a few test calls. We do the rest.

**Can it book into my calendar?**

Yes, if you use an online calendar or booking tool. If you do not, the agent takes the request and texts it to you to confirm.

**What happens with an emergency call?**

You set the rules with us, for example no heat in winter, water coming through the ceiling or a death at home. Those calls go straight to your cell or the on-call person, and you still get the written summary.

## Related

- [How it works: we set it up with you and tune it until it works](https://ai-voice-agent.ca/how-it-works/)
- [What is an AI receptionist, and how does it work?](https://ai-voice-agent.ca/answers/what-is-an-ai-receptionist/)
- [AI receptionist for Toronto and GTA businesses, set up in person](https://ai-voice-agent.ca/ai-receptionist-toronto/)

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Claim a free setup: https://ai-voice-agent.ca/get-started/ · Email: info@ai-voice-agent.ca