AI Phone Agent Readiness Assessment

1. Volume & Value Test

• You receive at least 50 inbound calls per month
• More than 10 percent of calls go unanswered
• A meaningful share of calls arrive outside business hours
• Average job value justifies recovering even a few extra leads
• Calls are largely repetitive in structure

2. Call Type Mapping

List your last 50 calls and sort them.

• New customer inquiries
• Existing customer questions
• Scheduling and rescheduling
• Emergencies requiring immediate human help
• Vendors, spam, and recruiters
• Percentage that an AI could fully handle identified

3. Knowledge You Must Supply

• Written list of services with plain descriptions
• Pricing rules or ranges, including what you will not quote by phone
• Service area boundaries
• Business hours and emergency policy
• Booking rules: durations, lead time, buffer, technician skills
• Answers to your 20 most common questions
• What the agent must never say or promise

4. Escalation & Safety

• Clear rules for when the agent transfers to a human
• A human is actually reachable during transfer windows
• Emergency keywords trigger immediate escalation
• Voicemail fallback that reaches someone who checks it
• Caller can always request a human and get one

5. Integration

• CRM or lead inbox the agent writes to
• Calendar the agent can read and book into
• Text follow-up sent to the caller after every AI conversation
• Call transcripts stored and reviewable
• Notifications routed to the right person immediately

6. Measurement & Tuning

• Baseline recorded before launch: answer rate, booked jobs, speed to contact
• First 50 transcripts reviewed manually
• Weekly tuning for the first month
• Containment rate and escalation rate tracked
• Customer complaints about the agent logged and acted on