Build the Business Facts Sheet Your AI Agent Uses

A business facts sheet is the written list of everything your AI phone agent is allowed to tell callers: hours, location, services, prices, policies and answers to common questions. The agent should answer only from this sheet and defer anything else to your team. A complete, current, voice-friendly facts sheet is the single biggest factor in whether an AI receptionist gives correct answers.

Why the facts sheet matters more than the AI model

Language models are good at conversation but know nothing about your business. Ask one about your Saturday hours without facts and it may produce a plausible guess. The fix is to give it facts and a rule: "only state facts from the sheet; if it isn't covered, say the team will follow up."

That rule only works if the sheet covers what callers actually ask. Missing facts are the most common reason AI agents disappoint.

What to include

The basics

• Business name, pronounced the way you say it
• Hours for each day, plus holidays and seasonal changes
• Address, landmarks, parking, entrance details
• Service area (cities, ZIP codes, or a radius)
• Website and email address (for the agent to text or email, not read aloud)

What you do and don't do

• Each service in plain words
• Brands, models or situations you handle
• What you don't do, and where to refer callers if you have a preference

"We don't" facts prevent a surprising number of wrong answers. If you don't do commercial work, say so.

Prices

Pick one approach per service:

Approach	Example fact
Fixed price	"Standard drain cleaning is $149 for one drain."
Range with conditions	"Water heater installation is usually $1,200 to $2,000 depending on size and venting; we confirm after a visit."
Fee to start	"Diagnostic visits are $89, credited toward the repair if you proceed."
No phone quotes	"We quote after seeing the job. The estimate visit is free."

Never leave prices out silently. If the agent doesn't know how to respond to "how much?", it may hedge awkwardly or guess.

Policies

• Booking, deposits and cancellation terms
• Payment methods accepted
• Warranties and guarantees, worded exactly as you offer them
• Emergency or after-hours fees
• Return or refund policy, if relevant

Be precise. Overstating a guarantee on the phone can create obligations you didn't intend, and consumer-protection rules generally hold businesses to the claims they make.

Top questions

Write the 10 to 20 questions callers ask most, each with a one- or two-sentence answer. Pull them from voicemails, texts, emails and staff memory.

Writing facts for voice

Text that reads well can sound strange spoken:

Instead of	Write
"M–F 8–5, Sa 9–12"	"Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to noon."
"Svc area: 45402, 45403, 45405"	"We serve Dayton, Kettering and Oakwood."
"See www.example.com/book"	"I can text you the booking link."
"Approx. $1.2k–$2k"	"Usually between twelve hundred and two thousand dollars."

Short sentences, full words, no abbreviations or symbols.

Fill-in template

Copy this into your agent's facts field and fill it in:

BUSINESS: [Name], [one-line description of what you do].
HOURS: [Days and times]. Closed [holidays].
LOCATION: [Address]. [Parking or entrance notes].
SERVICE AREA: [Cities or areas]. We do not serve [exclusions].
SERVICES: [Service 1]; [Service 2]; [Service 3].
NOT OFFERED: [Things you don't do].
PRICING: [Fixed prices, ranges with conditions, or "quoted after visit"].
BOOKING: [How booking works; who confirms; lead time].
PAYMENT: [Methods accepted]. Deposits: [terms].
CANCELLATIONS: [Policy].
EMERGENCIES: [What counts; what happens after hours; any fees].
FAQ:
- [Question]? [Answer].
- [Question]? [Answer].

Keeping facts accurate

• Assign an owner. One person updates the sheet when anything changes.
• Review monthly. Check hours, prices and staff names.
• Learn from calls. Every time a call review shows a "the team will follow up" on a question you could have answered, add it.
• Keep shared facts identical. If you run several agents, hours and address must match across all of them.

See review AI agent conversations.

What not to put in the facts

• Internal notes ("Bob is slow on Fridays")
• Anything you wouldn't want read to a caller
• Customer-specific information
• Passwords, account numbers or access codes
• Long marketing copy; it bloats the sheet without answering questions

Facts sheet and honesty rules

Keep claims verifiable. If your facts say "licensed and insured," make sure it's true in every area you serve. If they mention a guarantee, include its conditions. An AI repeats your claims to every caller, so mistakes scale. And keep the agent honest about what it is: California's bot disclosure statute targets bots that mislead people about being artificial in sales contexts.

A worked example: building facts from a week of calls

Suppose a small HVAC company reviews one week of voicemails and texts before writing its sheet. The messages include:

• "Do you work on heat pumps?"
• "How much is a tune-up?"
• "Are you open on Saturday?"
• "Do you come out to Miamisburg?"
• "My furnace is making a banging noise, can someone come today?"
• "Do you offer payment plans?"

Each becomes a fact or a rule:

Caller question	Becomes
Heat pumps?	Services: "We install and repair heat pumps, furnaces and central air."
Tune-up price?	Pricing: "A seasonal tune-up is eighty-nine dollars."
Saturday?	Hours: "Saturday 8 a.m. to noon for service calls."
Miamisburg?	Service area list includes or excludes it explicitly
Same-day?	Instruction (not a fact): "If the caller asks for same-day service, collect details and mark urgent; never promise a time."
Payment plans?	Fact if you offer them; if not, "We don't offer payment plans; we accept cards and checks."

Notice that "same-day service" became an instruction, not a fact. Availability changes hour by hour, so the agent should never state it; it should route the request to a person.

Facts for multiple locations or teams

If you have more than one location, give each its own block with hours, address and services, and add a rule to the instructions: "Ask which location the caller means if it isn't clear." For different teams (sales, service, billing), list which team handles what so the agent can route messages correctly. Avoid putting staff cell numbers in the facts; transfers should go through your phone system, not a number the agent reads aloud.

Using business facts in Callata

Callata's agent editor has a "Business facts the agent can share" field, with the note that the agent never states facts that aren't there. Callata's agent rules reinforce it: only state facts from that section, and if something isn't covered, say the team will follow up. Agents can also look up a caller in your contacts to greet them by name and see notes and past call summaries, so customer-specific context stays in contacts, not in the facts sheet.

Write facts once per agent, test, and go live. AI minutes are $0.25 per minute of talk time on top of the $99 monthly Callata Office plan, which includes five users. Create an agent in Callata.