Auto-attendant greeting scripts for a small business

Say the business name, then the choices

A useful auto-attendant greeting identifies the business and tells callers which key reaches the help they need. Start with a short menu: a couple of genuinely different destinations, plus a sensible path for someone who presses nothing. Write down where those choices go before recording the words.

An auto attendant is a recorded phone menu, not someone having a conversation. In Rinzo, callers press a key to reach a user, ring group, or voicemail box; you can record or upload the greeting. The call-routing guide [1] explains those building blocks.

The scripts below are original examples for a fictional business, Cedar Workshop. Replace the name, choices, and hours with your own. They are writing templates and proposed call paths, not ready-made configurations or claims that your number has been tested.

A two-choice menu for a small team

Thanks for calling Cedar Workshop. For a new project or estimate, press 1. For an existing job, press 2. Or stay on the line for the front desk.

This example separates callers by what they need rather than making them guess your internal department names. It only makes sense if those routes lead to people who can handle the request. If every key rings the same person and has the same fallback, consider a greeting followed by ringing that person instead of a menu.

Keep a routing note beside the script:

• 1: the estimates team; unanswered calls go to its business mailbox.
• 2: the existing-jobs team; unanswered calls go to its business mailbox.
• No key: the front desk, then its business mailbox if nobody answers.
• Repeated invalid keys: the same front-desk route.

These are proposed choices for this example. In Rinzo's auto-attendant recipe [2], no_key runs at the first silence, while otherwise runs after the allowed greeting plays are exhausted; wrong keys use up those plays. Set both deliberately. Saying 'stay on the line' does not create that route.

A menu when there is no front desk

Thanks for calling Cedar Workshop. For a new project, press 1. About an existing job, press 2. To leave a general message, stay on the line.

Use this version when nobody is assigned to receive general calls live. Send silence to a general business mailbox and decide who checks it. Do not promise an operator, reception team, or immediate answer just because a menu can offer one.

A team can share responsibility without sharing every message with everyone. Name the mailbox owner and a backup, and have the intended person retrieve a test message using their own access. Our business-versus-personal voicemail guide covers message ownership and keeping cell-carrier voicemail out of the fallback.

A closed-hours greeting with a useful destination

You have reached Cedar Workshop outside our opening hours. We are open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time. For a new project, press 1 to leave a message. About an existing job, press 2 to leave a message for that team. Or stay on the line for our general mailbox.

Only keep those separate choices if messages need different owners. Otherwise, a closed-hours greeting followed by one mailbox is easier to maintain. Use hours that match your actual schedule, including lunch if it affects answering. Avoid 'we will call right back' when nobody is on duty.

Give holidays a separate message when the normal opening-hours statement would mislead callers. For a one-day closure, an example is: 'We are closed today. Please leave your name, callback number, and what you need help with.' Add a reopening date only when someone will keep it current. The business-hours planning guide has a schedule worksheet and boundary checks.

An information option that returns somewhere useful

If callers often need your hours, you could add this sentence to an otherwise short menu:

For our opening hours, press 4.

The recording for that choice might say:

Cedar Workshop is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time. Please check our website for holiday closures.

Decide what follows the recording. Rinzo's recipe supports playing an information greeting after a key press and then restarting the route, including its time check and menu.[2] That can let someone hear the hours and then choose a team. Do not announce 'press 4 to repeat' unless that behavior is actually configured. A caller who presses nothing should reach a useful destination rather than circle through a greeting forever.

Leave out information you cannot maintain. An outdated address or closure date is worse than a short greeting that directs callers to a current source.

Read the script aloud before assigning it

Put the purpose before the key: 'For an existing job, press 2.' Read the whole menu at a comfortable pace and leave enough space between choices to hear them. Cut a long welcome paragraph if it delays the reason someone called. These are editorial recommendations, not claims about a measured ideal greeting length.

Rinzo also supports generated speech for saved greetings and callflow prompts, as well as WAV or MP3 uploads.[3] Listen to the final audio for the business name, numbers, abbreviations, and pauses. A generated recording reads your text; it does not understand questions or book appointments.

Keep the approved script with its destination list. If an administrator changes key 2, update the recording at the same time. If an agent configures it, a short business brief is enough: 'Give our workshop a menu for estimates and existing jobs; unanswered calls and callers who press nothing should reach the general business mailbox.' Work should follow your existing instructions and delegation; ask for another approval only when your instructions require it or authority is missing.

Test the choices you did not read aloud

First inspect the configuration, including the no-key timeout, allowed greeting plays, and invalid-key destination. Rinzo's CLI can simulate chosen times and key sequences without dialing; its recipe documents those controls.[2] A simulation does not prove that callers hear the right recording or that a phone answers.

Then call the real business number from an outside phone:

1. Listen through the entire greeting. Check that every spoken choice exists and reaches the named destination.
2. Press nothing. Confirm the promised front desk or mailbox is where you land.
3. Press an unused key, and repeat invalid input until the retry allowance ends. Check the final destination rather than only the first replay.
4. Choose each team and let its phones go unanswered. Leave a labeled message and retrieve it as the responsible person.
5. Try the information option, if present, and confirm the next menu or destination.
6. Check closed hours and a planned holiday path under a controlled test plan.

Keep expected and observed results. These are acceptance steps for your setup, not tests performed by this article. Never dial an emergency number for testing; 911 and emergency calling are not supported during early access.

Use the routing guide to configure the menu in the Control panel, or the agent setup guide to delegate it. Menus created through the CLI live in Advanced Callflows; do not recreate the same main-number route in SmartPBX.[1] Save the script and route list together so the next edit changes what callers hear and what the phone system does.