Improving your agent

Your agent gets better the same way a new team member does — by doing the job, then learning from real calls. Here's how to make it sharper, week after week.

Setting your agent up is day one. The real magic happens afterwards: a great agent isn't built in one sitting, it's shaped over time by listening to real calls and making small, steady tweaks. The good news — every improvement here is quick, and you can hear the difference on the very next call.

This guide is the playbook. You don't need to do all of it at once; pick the part that matches what you're hearing on your calls.

The golden rule

Change one thing at a time, then test it. If you rewrite everything at once and the next call goes worse, you won't know which change caused it. Small steps win.

Start by listening to real calls

This is the single most valuable habit, and almost everything else flows from it. Open your call log and listen to a handful of recent calls (or read the transcripts). You're listening for the moments that didn't go perfectly:

A question your agent couldn't answer, or answered wrong.
A point where it rambled or repeated itself.
A caller who should have been put through to a person but wasn't — or was, when they didn't need to be.
A name, product, or place the agent misheard.
Anything that made the call feel clunky rather than natural.

Jot down two or three things to fix. That short list is your to-do for the week — the rest of this guide tells you exactly where to fix each one.

You don't need to listen to every call. A few each week is plenty to spot the patterns that matter.

Fix what it doesn't know

When your agent says "I'm not sure" or gives a wrong fact, that's almost always a knowledge gap — not a broken agent. The fix is simple: add the missing information to your knowledge base.

Feed it the real questions. The questions callers actually ask are gold — add a clear answer for each one you hear.
Keep it current. Prices, opening hours, and offers change. Out-of-date information is worse than none, so update it the moment something changes and remove anything stale.
Be specific. "We're open weekdays" is okay; "Open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, closed bank holidays" lets your agent answer with confidence.

Sharpen its instructions

If the facts are right but the behaviour is off — it's too chatty, forgets to ask for a phone number, gives quotes it shouldn't — that's an instructions problem. Head to your agent's instructions and add a rule.

The fastest fixes are short Always / Never rules aimed at exactly what you heard:

"Always ask for a mobile number before confirming a booking."
"Always read the appointment time back to the caller."
"Never give a price over the phone — take a message and let them know we'll call back."
"If a caller sounds upset, apologise once and offer to put them through to a person."

The moment you notice a pattern across a few calls, write a rule for it. That's how an agent goes from good to genuinely reliable.

Help it hear and speak clearly

Small touches make your agent sound less like software and more like a person:

Names & special words. If it mishears your business name, a product, or a team member, add those words so it recognises them. This is the number-one fix for "it keeps getting my company name wrong."
Voice & greeting. Pick a voice that fits your brand, and keep the greeting short and warm — it sets the tone for the whole call. If you record calls, make sure the greeting mentions it.
Answer style. If your agent invents things or wanders, set its answer style to Precise so it sticks to the facts. If it sounds stiff or robotic, nudge it toward Creative for a more natural, free-flowing feel. Balanced is a good middle ground.
Call length. If calls drift on too long, set a maximum call length and tighten the instructions so it stays on task.

Get the handoffs right

Your agent doesn't have to do everything — it has to know when to bring in a human, and make sure you hear about what matters.

Forwarding. Describe, in plain words, when a call should go to a person — "if someone asks for Emily," or "for anything about a complaint." Too many transfers? Tighten the conditions. Missing urgent calls? Loosen them.
Alerts. Set up an email or text so you're notified the instant something needs you — a booking, a complaint, a VIP caller.
Calendar. Connect your diary so appointments land automatically, with no copying across by hand.

You'll find all of these on the actions and integrations step.

Test every change before it goes live

Every time you tweak something, close the loop:

Save your change.
Test it — a quick test call or chat.
Listen — did it fix the thing you set out to fix?
Deploy when you're happy.

It takes a minute, and it means your live callers only ever hear your agent at its best.

A quick troubleshooting guide

If your agent…	Try this
Says "I'm not sure" or gives wrong facts	Add or correct the information in your knowledge base
Mishears names or products	Add them to Names & special words
Talks too much or goes off-topic	Tighten your instructions, set answer style to Precise, add a call limit
Sounds robotic or cold	Try a warmer voice, nudge answer style toward Creative, rewrite the greeting
Makes things up	Set answer style to Precise and add a "never guess — take a message" rule
Doesn't pass urgent calls to a person	Add or refine a call-forwarding rule
Doesn't get bookings into your diary	Connect a calendar
Leaves you out of the loop on key calls	Set up email or text alerts

Keep a steady rhythm

The businesses that get the most from their agent treat improvement as a small, regular habit rather than a big project. A rhythm that works well:

Each week, listen to a few calls → fix one or two things → test → deploy.

Do that, and within a few weeks your agent will be noticeably sharper — answering more confidently, sounding more natural, and handing off at exactly the right moments.

Little and often

A handful of small tweaks every week beats one giant rewrite every few months. Your agent — and your callers — will feel the difference quickly.

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