An AI receptionist is only as good as what you tell it. Load eight kinds of information, add the extras for your industry, leave out the things you would not tell a stranger on the phone, and write each entry so it can be quoted back word for word. This checklist covers all four, with a template you can fill in this afternoon.
How the knowledge base is used on a call
When a caller asks a question, the agent looks for the entry that answers it and replies in its own words from that entry. If nothing matches, it falls back to the rule you set: take a message, offer a callback, or transfer. The knowledge base is what stands between a caller getting a straight answer and a caller getting a message slip. It is also the only thing stopping the agent from guessing, because an agent with no entry on pricing has nothing to quote.
The core eight
1. Services and prices
List every service you want the agent to talk about, with a price or a price range, and mark which ones are quote-only. Include callout fees, after-hours rates, and minimum charges. Just as important, list what you do not do, so the agent can say so instead of booking a job you will have to cancel.
2. Hours, including the exceptions
Standard hours by day, public holiday hours, and your Christmas closedown dates. If you offer emergency work outside hours, say exactly what counts as an emergency and what the caller should expect. Our guide to handling calls over the Christmas closedown covers the seasonal part.
3. Where you work
Suburbs or regions you cover, travel fees for anywhere outside them, and, if customers come to you, the address, parking and public transport. Callers ask "do you come out to Kume奴?" more often than you would think.
4. Booking and cancellation rules
How far ahead people can book, how long each appointment type takes, deposit requirements, the cancellation window, and what happens on a no-show. If the agent books directly into your calendar, these rules decide what it offers.
5. Payment
Accepted methods, deposit rules, when payment is due, and whether your prices include GST. State the GST position once and clearly. It is the single most common follow-up question after any price.
6. Qualifications, guarantees and insurance
Licences, registrations, memberships, workmanship guarantees and insurance cover, stated exactly as you would state them yourself. Callers comparing three tradies ask about these, and an agent that cannot answer sounds evasive.
7. People and routing
Who does what, who handles which kind of job, and who must not be interrupted. This is what lets the agent say "that is Dan's area, I will have him call you" instead of "someone will be in touch".
8. The questions you get every week
Write down the questions from your last 20 calls. Most businesses find a dozen that repeat. Answer each one in two or three sentences. This section does more work than any other, because it is built from real calls rather than from what you think people ask.
Industry add-ons
- Tradies: what counts as urgent, response times for emergencies, whether you charge for quotes, and how you handle materials. See the templates on our plumber and electrician pages.
- Salons and clinics: staff specialties, patch-test rules, products you stock, gift vouchers, and what a new client should bring or know. See our salon page.
- Medical and allied health: the new-patient process, what to bring to the first appointment, funding you do or do not accept, and a clear instruction for urgent callers to hang up and ring 111.
- Restaurants and cafes: menu highlights and prices, dietary and allergen information, reservation policy, maximum group size, private dining, and whether you are BYO. See our restaurant page.
What to leave out
- Personal mobile numbers of staff. Route calls instead of handing out numbers.
- Prices you would rather quote after seeing the job. Mark them quote-only rather than giving a number the agent will repeat.
- Anything you would not tell a stranger who rang: margins, supplier terms, who is on leave and why.
- Other customers' details. The knowledge base is for facts about your business, not your clients.
- Promises you cannot keep. "We will be there within the hour" becomes a complaint when you are not.
How to write entries the agent can use
- One fact per line. "Blocked drains: from $150 plus GST. After-hours callout adds $120." Not a paragraph.
- Question and answer form for anything callers ask directly. Write the question the way a caller says it, then the answer.
- Make exceptions explicit. "Open Saturday 8am to 12pm. Closed Sundays and public holidays."
- Use real dates, not "the holidays". Callers plan around dates.
- Say what to do when unsure. "If asked about anything not listed here, take the caller's name and number and say Dan will ring back within the hour during business hours."
- Read it aloud. If a sentence sounds odd spoken, the agent will sound odd saying it.
A copy-and-fill template
Business: name, what you do in one sentence, where you are based.
Hours: Monday to Friday, Saturday, Sunday, public holidays, closedown dates.
Emergencies: what counts, what happens, what it costs.
Services and prices: service, price or range, plus GST or including GST, quote-only yes or no.
We do not do: list.
Areas: suburbs or regions, travel fee beyond them.
Bookings: lead time, duration by appointment type, deposit, cancellation window, no-show rule.
Payment: methods, when due, GST position.
Credentials: licences, guarantees, insurance.
Team: name, role, what they handle, when to interrupt.
Top questions: question, answer, repeated 10 to 20 times.
When unsure: exactly what the agent should say and do.
Loading it into KiwiAgent
You can upload PDFs or Word documents, paste text, import FAQs, or connect your website so the agent reads it directly. Details are on our knowledge base page. The Starter plan holds 15 documents; Pro and above are unlimited. If you are starting a free pilot, send us the filled-in template and we load it for you as part of setup, then you check the agent's answers by ringing it.
Keeping it current
Put ten minutes in the calendar once a month. Update prices, add the next public holiday, remove staff who have left, and read the transcripts for questions the agent could not answer. Each of those is a new entry. A knowledge base that grows from real calls gets better every month; one that was written once in a hurry gets quietly wrong.
Next step
Fill in the template, then send it to us and we will build your agent around it as part of a free pilot. If you want to hear what a well-stocked agent sounds like first, talk to the demo agent on our homepage and ask it about prices, hours and areas.