A voice agent is an AI-powered assistant that can handle phone conversations for your business.
That can mean answering inbound calls, guiding someone through a process, or helping a team member get what they need.
For example, a well-designed voice agent can:
- Book appointments
- Update your calendar or CRM
- Answer common questions
- Walk an employee through a process
- Make outbound calls for follow up or lead qualification
- Route calls or transfer to a human when needed
In many cases, the voice agent becomes the first point of contact for someone calling your business.
For an idea of what’s possible, listen to this voice agent we created for a medical practice. (This is a test call, not real patient information!)
At Big Fish, planning a voice agent starts with discovery.
What to Expect During the Discovery Process
Discovery is about establishing the call flows the agent will handle and the outcomes for each of those flows.
As an example, if we’re planning an AI receptionist, that means understanding:
- The types of calls your business receives
- What should happen on each type of call
- Which tasks the agent should be able to complete
- When calls should be routed to a human
- What systems are involved
For example:
- Can the agent answer basic questions like hours, location, or pricing?
- Should it help with scheduling or rescheduling appointments?
- Can it create or update records in your CRM?
- Should it assist with support or troubleshooting?
- When should it escalate to a team member, and who should that be?
Discovery gives us clear answers to these questions so the agent can be designed intentionally.
What the Discovery Process Looks Like
Start with a Free Discovery Call
The process begins with a short 30-minute discovery call (you can book one here).
This conversation helps us understand your goals and use case, and decide on next steps.
We learn a little about your business, the types of conversations you want the voice agent to handle, and what you are hoping to improve.
We also answer initial questions and explain what the next steps would look like.
If it makes sense to move forward, we schedule a follow-up conversation to gather the details needed to design your agent.
Deeper Dive Follow-up Call
In this conversation we focus on how different types of calls should be handled. This applies whether the caller is a customer, a patient, or a team member calling for guidance.
If you have SOPs related to call handling, we review those. If not, that’s fine. We can work through the process together based on how your team operates today.
We also identify:
- The knowledge the agent needs in order to answer questions
- The internal and third-party systems the agent will use to complete tasks
The goal is to understand the call flows well enough that they can be mapped clearly.
Who Should Be Involved
Discovery works best when someone with firsthand knowledge of your call handling is involved.
This is often:
-
- The person who handles or oversees incoming calls
- An operations or office manager
- A team lead
The Outcome of Discovery
Discovery typically takes place over two Zoom meetings and will require about two hours of your time.
By the end, there is a shared understanding of what the voice agent is responsible for.
This clarity allows us to move forward with designing your AI voice agent.
What Comes Next: Design
Once discovery is complete, the next step is design.
During design, we map everything out visually using a flowchart. The flowchart shows how the agent will handle each call path, step by step.
It includes:
- Call flows and decision points
- Tasks the agent performs
- Handoffs to humans
- Required knowledge bases, such as business details, services, and pricing
- External systems the agent will use (e.g. email, SMS, appointment management software)
This flowchart becomes the plan for what will be built.
Because design is grounded in discovery, it moves quickly and stays aligned with how your business actually operates.
Getting Started
Building an AI voice agent starts with a free discovery call.
This Zoom meeting or phone call with a project manager on our team helps us understand your goals and outline what building a voice agent would look like for your business.
Book a complimentary discovery call
