How Do You Onboard a Client onto a White-Label AI Agent?

Short answer: run a short discovery call, collect the client's information and number access, build the agent in the client's own workspace on your domain, test it with a written script, and go live in stages, usually evenings and weekends first. Then review every transcript for the first two weeks and fix what the agent got wrong. Most of a client's first impression comes from that first fortnight, not from the build.

Why onboarding decides whether a client stays

An agent that gives one wrong price in its first week makes the owner doubt every call after it. An agent that goes live quietly on evenings, gets tuned and then takes daytime overflow builds trust call by call. Onboarding is where you set that pace and the client's expectations.

What should you ask in the discovery call?

• What are the ten most common reasons people call, and which can the agent finish on its own?
• What are the opening hours, and what should happen out of hours?
• Which calls must reach a person, who is that person, and how do they want to be told?
• What does a good outcome look like: a booking, a callback, a lead with name and need?
• Which languages do callers use?
• Are there things the agent must never say, such as prices that change by quote, or advice the business is not allowed to give by phone?
• Will the agent ever call people, or only answer? Outbound brings consent rules.

What should you collect before building?

How do you set it up, step by step?

1. Create the client's workspace under your white-label brand and invite the client. They sign in on your domain and see your name.
2. Import the number. Connect the client's Twilio, Telnyx or Plivo account and pick the number; the provider-side setup is done for you. In India you can also rent an Indian number. If the client's number is with another phone company, they will need to add or move a number with one of these providers first.
3. Load the knowledge base. Crawl the website, import the sitemap, upload the price list and paste anything that lives only in the owner's head.
4. Write the instructions and greeting. Say who is answering, keep answers short, and list what the agent must hand over. If the agent will call people, write who is calling into the greeting.
5. Pick a voice. Search the voice library by language, accent, gender and age, and let the client choose from two or three you shortlist.
6. Connect tools. Calendar for bookings, CRM for leads, and signed webhooks if the client wants call outcomes in their own system.
7. Set handover. Escalations land in the shared inbox, where staff take over and the agent goes quiet. Transfer to a person works on Plivo, Telnyx and Indian rented numbers, not on imported Twilio numbers, where the agent takes details instead.

What should the test script cover?

1. A simple price question that is in the knowledge base.
2. A booking from start to finish, checked in the calendar afterwards.
3. A question that is not in the knowledge base. The agent should say it does not know and take details, not guess.
4. A caller who asks for a person.
5. An urgent or upset caller.
6. A caller who speaks the client's second language, if they have one.
7. A wrong number or a sales call to the business.

Have the client's own staff make some of these calls. They know the awkward questions customers really ask.

How should the client go live?

• Stage one: evenings and weekends, when calls would otherwise go to voicemail.
• Stage two: daytime overflow, when staff are busy or the line is engaged.
• Stage three: all calls, with staff watching the shared inbox.
• WhatsApp and chat: add them once the phone agent is settled; the same agent answers there, with one memory of each customer.

What happens in the first month?

• Days 1 to 14: read every transcript. Every call has a transcript and an outcome. Fix wrong answers in the knowledge base the same day.
• Day 14: a short call with the owner. Show five good calls and the fixes you made.
• Day 30: the first monthly report: calls answered, outcomes, bookings and handovers, from the call log export.
• Billing: make sure the client's plan and automatic top-up are set on your own payment account, and that your own balance has a buffer.

Your next step

See how client workspaces, branding and payments work on the agencies page, and read how importing a business number works before your first discovery call.