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Assistants
Assistants
Build the receptionist you need. Set what it knows, how it sounds and what it can do.
Open Assistants in the dashboard to see yours. Every business has a default assistant, which answers any number that doesn't name another one. The editor has six tabs: Assistant (prompt, voice, model, speech-to-text), Tools, Analysis, Advanced, Deploy (numbers, widget and API snippets) and Calls (this assistant's recent calls). The Test call button talks to the saved version.
#What an assistant contains
| Part | What it controls | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Instructions | Who the assistant is and how calls should go. | Prompting guide |
| First message | What it says when the call connects, or whether it waits. | First message |
| Business details | Your hours, services, FAQs and policies, added to the prompt for you. | Knowledge |
| Language | One fixed language, or Auto to follow the caller. | Languages |
| Voice, model and speech-to-text | How it sounds, how it thinks and how it hears. | Voices, Models, Speech-to-text |
| Tools | What it can do during the call. | Tools |
| Analysis | The summary, success score and fields extracted after each call. | Call analysis |
| Advanced | Timeouts, interruptions, recording, voicemail and the server URL. | Conversation behaviour |
| Variables | Default values for {{placeholders}}. | Variables |
#Start from a template
A new assistant starts from one of five templates. Each fills in the instructions and first message with your business name, and some switch tools on or off.
| Template | Good for | Differences |
|---|---|---|
| Receptionist | A general front desk. | All built-in tools on. |
| Appointment scheduler | Lines that are mostly bookings. | Transfers and payment links off. |
| Lead qualifier | Sales lines. | Extracts need, timeline, budget and hot_lead from every call. |
| Customer support | Existing customers with questions. | Booking off. |
| Blank | Starting from nothing. | Empty instructions. |
Templates are only a starting point, and everything they set can be changed.
#What BluePenguin adds to every prompt
You don't have to teach an assistant how to talk on the phone. These rules are added before your instructions on every call:
- It is on a live phone call, so replies are one or two short sentences, with one question at a time and no lists, markdown, emojis or links.
- Numbers, times and prices are said the way a person would say them.
- It doesn't open every reply with the same filler word.
- It only states facts from your business details, your instructions or a tool result. When it doesn't know something it says so and offers to take a message, so it never invents prices, availability, policies or staff names.
It also gets the current date and time in your time zone, whether you are open, and the caller's number and name when known.
#Several assistants
Create more assistants when lines behave differently: a sales line and a support line, a line per location, or an after-hours line. Point each number at the assistant that should answer it, and use a handoff tool when one assistant should pass a caller to another during the call.