A Pre-Demo Notes Sheet: What to Write Down Before You Hear Your Firm Answer

A demo call is easy to waste. If your only question is "do you do boilers?", you will get a polite yes and learn very little. A single sheet of paper, filled in beforehand, turns the call into a proper test of whether an AI receptionist would cope with the calls that really reach your phone.

The sheet below has five boxes. Fill them in before you dial. The longer reasoning is in what to prepare before you hear your own business answer a demo call, and this version is the quick, print-and-scribble format.

Box 1: What you sell

Split your work into three short lists:

• Want more of: the jobs you would happily fill a week with.
• Reluctant yes: work you do, but only if nothing better is available.
• Never: trades or job types you don't cover.

An AI receptionist can only work from what it has been told about your services. So if you struggle to fill this box, that is useful to know before you go any further. During the demo, ask about one job from each list. You are checking that it accepts the right work and turns down the wrong work politely.

Box 2: Where you work

Most one-person firms don't have a tidy boundary. Write down your core patch, the fringe you will travel to for the right job, and the places you refuse.

Then choose three postcodes to try on the call:

1. One clearly inside your area.
2. One clearly outside it.
3. One on the border.

A good receptionist should ask for the postcode and check cover rather than agree with everyone. The borderline postcode is the most revealing. If the answer isn't what you would have said, you need to write a clearer rule.

Box 3: What it may say about money

Decide in advance whether callers should hear your call-out charge. If yes, write the figure in the box so you can compare it with what you hear. If you prefer not to quote over the phone, write what you want said instead, for example taking details and promising a call back.

When you test it, check two things. Anything you told it to quote should come back correctly, and anything you didn't should not be invented.

Box 4: What counts as an emergency

This is the box owners most often leave vague, so be specific. List the situations that should reach your on-call person immediately, and the ones that can wait until morning. A burst pipe, a household with no heating and a quote request for a new bathroom are very different calls and deserve different handling.

Then play two callers on the demo:

• Someone with a genuine emergency.
• Someone with a routine problem who describes it dramatically.

You want to see whether the receptionist sorts them the way you would.

Box 5: When calls should divert

Your number stays the same. Calls your team can't answer divert after a few rings, and you choose the rule that applies. Tick one before the demo:

• Only when you are engaged on a job.
• Only out of hours.
• As overflow, when you are already on another call.

Knowing which you want stops you being talked into a setup that doesn't suit how you work.

Keep a score column

Down the right-hand side of the page, leave a narrow column. During the call, mark each test as right, wrong or unclear. Don't rely on memory afterwards, because a smooth voice can make a weak answer feel better than it was.

Afterwards, look at the "wrong" and "unclear" marks. Some will point to gaps in the demo. Others will point to gaps in your own rules, such as a border postcode you had never really decided about. Both are worth fixing, and the second kind improves how your business handles calls whatever you decide about the demo.

One page, five boxes and a score column is enough. Walk in with it and you will hear your own business answered back to you, rather than a generic sales pitch.