How to read these examples
Each sector has a different reason for missing calls: the dentist's hands are busy, the restaurant gets all its bookings during the hour it is serving tables, the estate agent is out on a viewing, the garage has only one person at the counter. The AI voice agent must be designed around that reason, not around the technology.
For each sector you will find three things: the tasks worth giving the voice agent, a typical flow with the steps of the call, and the limits to respect. The examples assume a virtual PBX with an AI voice agent, time conditions and transfers, such as the virtual PBX of our partner robottino.ai; numbers and lines are supplied by an operator such as Vohippo. If you need the basics first, start with the guide to the AI virtual PBX and how it works.
| Sector | Voice agent's main task | When it hands over to a person |
|---|---|---|
| Medical or dental practice | Taking appointment requests | Severe pain, clinical questions |
| Restaurant | Bookings and information | Large groups, events, complaints |
| Estate agency | Qualifying people calling about a listing | Owners who want to sell |
| Garage | Phone check-in and job status | Breakdown assistance, disputes |
| Hotels and B&Bs | Availability and practical questions | Booking changes, problems at the property |
| E-commerce | Order status, returns, routing | Payments, complaints, complex cases |
Medical and dental practices
In a practice, reception is often a single person who welcomes patients in the waiting room, prepares the records and answers the phone. Calls bunch up early in the morning and when the practice reopens in the afternoon, exactly when it is busiest.
What the voice agent can do: give hours, address and practical information (what to bring to a first visit, how to get there), take appointment requests with name, phone, type of visit and preferred time of day, and handle cancellations by recording the name and the date of the appointment to be freed.
Typical flow, during opening hours:
- A short message with the name of the practice and the data protection notice.
- The voice agent asks the reason for the call.
- For a new appointment it collects the details and confirms that reception will call back.
- For a cancellation it records name and date and confirms.
- If the patient describes severe pain or a problem after a procedure, the call goes straight to reception or to the mobile of the doctor on duty.
What it must not do: give clinical opinions, interpret symptoms, recommend medicines. The instructions must say that in an emergency the patient should be told to call 112. In the EU, health data is a special category of data under Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR): the voice agent must ask only for the bare minimum, and choices about recording and retention should be made with the practice's privacy adviser.
Restaurants
The restaurant phone rings while service is on: between 12:30 and 2 pm and from 7:30 pm onwards. Answering means leaving a table; not answering means losing a booking.
What the voice agent can do: give closing days, kitchen hours, address and parking, answer about gluten-free or vegetarian options if they are written in the instructions, and take booking requests with name, number of people, day, time and phone.
Typical flow, at dinner time:
- The voice agent greets the caller and asks whether it is a booking or a request for information.
- For a booking it collects the details one at a time and repeats them back.
- If the restaurant uses a connected online booking diary, the voice agent can check availability; otherwise it says that confirmation will follow by message.
- For groups of more than eight, events or special requests, it records contact details and the owner calls back after service.
What it must not do: guarantee anything about allergens or traces unless it has reliable information. The instructions must be clear on this: for serious allergies, the customer speaks to the staff. It is also wise to stop it confirming bookings without a check, if the restaurant does not use a shared diary.
Estate agencies
The agent is often out of the office, on a viewing or a valuation visit. Calls come in waves after a listing is published, and a good share concern properties already sold or ask for information that is already in the listing.
What the voice agent can do: ask which listing the person is calling about (reference, area, asking price), answer basic questions if the information is in the instructions, qualify the contact by asking whether they want to buy or rent, whether they already have a mortgage approved or a property to sell, and collect their availability for a viewing.
Typical flow:
- The voice agent asks for the listing reference or the area of the property.
- If the property is no longer available, it says so and asks whether the customer would like to be contacted about similar properties.
- If it is available, it collects name, phone, type of search and availability for a viewing.
- Anyone calling because they want to sell or let their own property goes straight to the agent, or to their mobile with a transfer: this is the most valuable contact.
- Out of hours the request is recorded for a callback the next day.
This is where a scheduled callback is useful: with the callback requests in robottino.ai's PBX, people calling out of hours leave their number and the callback starts when the agency reopens.
What it must not do: negotiate on price, give property valuations, make promises about mortgage terms.
Garages and car repair shops
In a garage the service desk is often staffed by a single person, who at the same time welcomes customers, talks to the mechanics and orders parts. Many calls ask the same thing: "is my car ready?".
What the voice agent can do: take appointment requests for services, MOTs and tyre changes by collecting number plate, model, mileage and type of work, answer questions about hours and services, and record job-status requests with the number plate, so that the service desk calls back only when it has the answer.
Typical flow:
- The voice agent asks whether it is about a new job, the status of a car already in the garage or a breakdown.
- For a new job it collects number plate and type of work and the preferred time of day.
- For job status it records the number plate and confirms that the service desk will call back.
- For a car broken down on the road it puts the call straight through to the desk or to the owner's mobile.
What it must not do: give quotes or diagnoses at a distance. For more specific examples, such as handling several lines and parts suppliers, read the guide on VoIP for car repair shops.
Hotels and B&Bs
Small properties often have a reception that is not always staffed: the owner of a B&B welcomes guests, prepares breakfast, makes up the rooms. Calls also come in late in the evening, from guests on their way or from customers in other time zones.
What the voice agent can do: answer questions on check-in and check-out times, parking, breakfast, pets allowed, distance from the station; take availability requests with dates, number of guests and contact details; speak in the caller's language, a real advantage with foreign guests.
Typical flow:
- The voice agent greets the caller in the name of the property and asks whether they already have a booking.
- For a new request it collects dates, number of people and contact details; the owner confirms availability by email or message.
- For a guest arriving late it records the expected time and alerts the owner.
- For a problem at the property (a key that does not work, a fault in the room) it puts the call through to the owner's mobile, even at night.
What it must not do: confirm bookings or prices if it is not connected to the booking system, or change or cancel existing bookings. For these requests it must always hand over to a person.
E-commerce and customer service
An online shop gets very different types of call: order status, returns, product questions before purchase, payment problems. During sales or promotions, calls rise suddenly.
What the voice agent can do: ask for the order number and the reason for the call, explain the returns procedure, answer the most common questions on shipping and the indicative timescales written in the instructions, and route the call to the right queue (sales, support, accounts) with the summary ready for the agent.
Typical flow:
- The voice agent asks the reason for the call and, if it concerns an order, the order number.
- General questions (shipping times, returns procedure) are answered and the call ends.
- For a problem with an order, the call goes to the support queue.
- If the wait exceeds the planned time, the customer can leave their number and be called back.
Queues are the heart of this flow: in the call queues of robottino.ai's PBX you choose how calls are distributed among agents and what to do when the wait is too long. For the rest of an online shop's telephony, including numbers and lines, see the page on VoIP for e-commerce and customer service.
What it must not do: take payment card details over the phone, grant refunds or exceptions to the terms of sale.
What all sectors have in common
Beyond the differences, the flows that work share a few rules:
- a short opening that says whom the caller is talking to and invites them to explain what they need
- few details collected, four or five at most, confirmed with the customer
- an emergency defined in concrete terms, with a dedicated route to a person
- an out-of-hours route different from the opening-hours one
- a clear notice if the call is recorded or transcribed
The voice agent's instructions are the part that changes most from one sector to another. The guide on how to write instructions for an AI voice agent contains three complete examples to adapt. For the rules on recording, see the guide on call recording and the law.
If you do not need a full PBX
Many small businesses, such as a practice with a single professional or a B&B with three rooms, have no need for queues or menus. For them the Vohippo AI secretary may be enough: it answers, collects name, contact details, reason and urgency, and sends you a card with the summary. You choose whether to accept the call, which is then put through to you, or to reject it. It speaks in the caller's language and sends you the summary in Italian.
Either way, you need a number: you can search among the virtual numbers in 232 Italian cities, with inbound calls included in the monthly fee.
Frequently asked questions
Can an AI voice agent take bookings for a restaurant?
Yes, if the instructions are clear and, ideally, if the voice agent is connected to a diary or a booking system. Without that connection it is better for it to take the request and for a person to confirm it, to avoid double-booked tables.
Is it lawful to use an AI voice agent in a medical practice?
In general yes, in the EU, with care over health data, which Regulation (EU) 2016/679 treats as a special category. The voice agent must ask only for the data that is strictly necessary, the patient must be informed, and choices about transcription and retention should be assessed with your privacy adviser.
Does the AI voice agent talk to foreign customers?
Current AI voice agents recognise many languages and can answer in the caller's language. This is an advantage for hotels, B&Bs and e-commerce businesses with customers abroad; it is still worth testing it with test calls in the languages you receive most often.
Which sector benefits most?
Those where the person answering the phone is doing another job at the same time: practices with a single receptionist, garages, restaurants, small accommodation businesses. The benefit is smaller where calls are few and nearly always personal.
Can I use the same voice agent for several sites?
Yes, but it should know which site the call is coming from, for example with a different number for each site. Each number can have its own hours and routes in the PBX. For organising lines across several sites, see the page on VoIP for multiple sites and remote work.