How to improve an AI phone operator over time: a 30-minute weekly review
Sado AI team · · 4 min read
In short
An AI operator isn’t finished on launch day: real calls make it better. Set aside half an hour a week: collect the questions it couldn’t answer and add them to its facts, simplify phrases callers didn’t understand, check the transfer rules and listen to a few recordings in full. Track one or two numbers: how many calls ended in a booking or order, and how many needed a manager’s callback. Change one or two things at a time and compare the next week.
Why the operator isn’t ready on day one
Before launch you guess what customers will ask. Real calls bring other questions: “Is there parking?”, “Can I pay by card?”, “Do you deliver to Chilonzor?”. If you don’t add the facts, the operator still can’t answer tomorrow. That’s why the first weeks matter most: each new question improves the next hundred calls.
The 30-minute weekly review
- Unanswered questions (10 minutes): go through calls that ended with “a manager will call you back” and the tasks opened, and write the questions down.
- Fill in the facts: one exact line for every question that came up twice.
- Listen to five calls in full: the longest, one cut short, one transferred to staff, one that ended in an order and one at random.
- Check the transfer rules: any needless transfers, and any calls that should have been transferred but weren’t?
- Write down and make one or two changes. Change many things at once and you won’t know which one helped.
Signs in the calls and what to change
| Sign | Possible cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The same question keeps going to a manager | No answer in the facts | Add a line to the facts |
| Callers ask the same question twice | The answer is long or vague | Cut the answer to one sentence |
| Callers hang up after the greeting | The greeting is too long | Company name first, shorter |
| Many say “put me through to a person” | A key question goes unanswered | Listen to those calls and find the reason |
| Bookings made, few people come | Date and time weren’t confirmed clearly | Confirm with the weekday, remind the day before |
| A name is pronounced wrong | No pronunciation set | Add it to the Pronunciation line |
Which numbers to track
- Share of calls with an outcome: bookings, orders or requests ÷ all calls.
- Share of calls that need a manager’s callback: it should fall as the facts fill in.
- Share of calls transferred to staff, and why.
- Average call length: shorter isn’t always better; the caller may have hung up without an answer.
For example: 400 calls in a week, 60 of them needed a manager’s callback: 60 ÷ 400 = 15%. Once the facts are filled in, expect that share to drop over the next weeks. These numbers are only an example.
How to do this in Sado
In Sado every call is in the portal: recording, full transcript, collected answers, a short summary, the next step and the cost. When the operator doesn’t know an answer it doesn’t invent one: it says a manager will call back and opens a task, and that task list is your weekly job. Download the results to Excel to work out the numbers. You can also ask Yordamchi, the portal assistant, “Which questions couldn’t it answer this week?”: it answers questions about your calls.
Sado’s team helps put in the facts and rules; no developer is needed. How to write the instructions: AI phone operator instructions. Results in the CRM: calls and the CRM. More: AI operator for inbound calls and questions about Sado. Try it live or call 78 778 01 23.
Questions
How long should I keep checking the operator like this?
Every week at first, then once a month when new questions become rare. And always on the day prices, services or hours change.
If I don’t update the facts, will the operator answer a new question?
No: Sado answers only from your facts. For a new question it says a manager will call back and opens a task, and those tasks show you what to add.
Who should do the review?
One person who knows the calls well: the administrator, the head of sales or the owner. With one person responsible, changes don’t get lost.