What Should Your Receptionist Be Allowed to Quote, and What Should Wait for a Site Visit?

Whoever picks up your phone will be asked "how much?" within the first minute. That might be a part-time admin, a bureau operator or software. If you haven't decided the answer in advance, they will either dodge the question and lose the caller, or guess and leave you with an awkward argument over a figure you never meant to give.

The fix is to decide before you brief anyone. Sort your prices into three groups.

Group one: fixed prices anyone can quote

These are charges that don't change with what's behind the wall. If the price is the same for every caller, a receptionist can state it with little risk.

• Your call-out or attendance charge, including what it covers and whether parts are extra.
• Fixed-price standard jobs you already sell the same way every time.
• Your coverage area, and any postcodes you don't serve.
• Your availability: the days and time slots you actually offer.

Write each one as a plain sentence the receptionist can repeat word for word. "Call-out is X, plus parts if needed" is much safer than a loose "around X".

Group two: ranges and "from" prices

Some jobs sit in the middle. You know the typical shape of the work but not the final bill. Decide whether you're comfortable with a stated range, and if so, write the conditions into it.

A range is only sensible when the receptionist also says what it depends on, and that the engineer confirms the final figure after seeing the job. If you wouldn't say it that way yourself, don't let anyone else say it.

If you'd rather not give ranges at all, that's a legitimate choice. The receptionist can say the job needs assessing, book the visit and give only the call-out charge.

Group three: jobs that wait for a site visit

Anything where the price depends on what you find, or where a wrong guess could cost you, belongs here. Typical examples:

• Roof work, where the condition of what's underneath decides the scope.
• Rewires and larger electrical work.
• Drainage faults, where the cause isn't known until someone looks.
• Alterations to existing structures, or anything involving hidden services.
• Landscaping or maintenance jobs where the size and access are unclear.

For these, the receptionist's job isn't to price. It's to capture enough detail that your visit is well prepared: what the problem is, the postcode, access, photos if the caller can send them, and a good time to ring back or visit. The caller feels looked after, and you get a proper job card instead of a vague voicemail.

Write the "never say" list

Alongside what can be quoted, give your receptionist a short list of things it must not do:

• Promise a fixed price for a job on the site-visit list.
• Promise a finish date for work that depends on parts or access.
• Diagnose a fault or say it's "probably only" something minor.
• Agree discounts or price matching.

Also decide what happens when a caller pushes. A sensible fallback line is: "I can't give you an accurate figure without the engineer seeing it, but I can book the visit now and tell you the call-out charge."

Decide what counts as an emergency

Pricing isn't the only thing to settle. Spell out which situations should go straight to your on-call person and how to reach them. An emergency call shouldn't turn into haggling over quotes. The priority is getting the right person to the caller.

Brief it in writing

Most managed services build the brief from material you already have. For example, an AI receptionist for trades that quotes what you have told it to quote is set up from your website, your Google profile and a conversation about services, prices, coverage area and diary rules. You then test it and sign it off. That makes your published pages part of the brief. If your website says one thing and your price sheet says another, fix that first.

Whatever route you take, the sorted list is your work, not the provider's. Hand it over in writing, and don't assume it will be followed perfectly until you've checked.

Test before going live

Ring your own setup and try these:

1. Ask for the call-out charge. Check the wording matches yours.
2. Ask for a price on a group-three job. Check it declines to guess and offers a visit.
3. Ring from a postcode you don't cover.
4. Pretend it's an emergency.
5. Push hard for a discount.

Sign off only when all five go the way you'd want a good office manager to handle them. If one doesn't, tighten the wording in your brief and test again.

Review it regularly

Your prices will change, and so will the jobs you want to take on. Put a reminder in the diary to reread your quote rules whenever you change your call-out charge or add a service. A receptionist can only be as accurate as the brief behind it, and keeping that current is down to you.