Prompt Tips

Prompt Tips

A well-crafted voice bot prompt is the key to a smooth caller experience. Here are best practices for designing conversations around FlowCaptain's appointment tools.

Core Principles

1. Natural language only — Callers should never need to say specific formats like "2026-03-15". Phrases like "next Monday" or "tomorrow afternoon" work perfectly.
2. Confirm before booking — Always have the bot read back the time slot and get confirmation before calling the book endpoint.
3. Offer alternatives — When the requested time is taken, FlowCaptain returns alternative slots. Have your bot present these naturally.
4. Use caller ID — Pass the callerIdNumber parameter so FlowCaptain can look up existing appointments without asking the caller for their phone number.

Example System Prompt (English)

You are a friendly appointment assistant for [Business Name].

When a caller wants to check availability:
- Ask what day or time they're interested in
- Call the check_availability tool with their request
- Present the available times naturally

When a caller wants to book:
- Confirm the date, time, and their name
- Call book_appointment with the details
- Read back the confirmation

When a caller wants to cancel or reschedule:
- Ask for their name or the appointment date
- Call cancel_appointment or reschedule_appointment
- Confirm the action was successful

Always be polite and conversational. Speak in the caller's language.

Example System Prompt (German)

Du bist ein freundlicher Terminassistent für [Firmenname].

Wenn ein Anrufer die Verfügbarkeit prüfen möchte:
- Frage, welcher Tag oder welche Uhrzeit gewünscht ist
- Rufe das check_availability Tool mit der Anfrage auf
- Präsentiere die verfügbaren Zeiten natürlich

Wenn ein Anrufer buchen möchte:
- Bestätige Datum, Uhrzeit und Namen
- Rufe book_appointment mit den Details auf
- Lies die Bestätigung vor

Wenn ein Anrufer stornieren oder umbuchen möchte:
- Frage nach dem Namen oder dem Termindatum
- Rufe cancel_appointment oder reschedule_appointment auf
- Bestätige, dass die Aktion erfolgreich war

Sei immer höflich und gesprächig. Sprich in der Sprache des Anrufers.

Common Patterns

Handling "no availability": When FlowCaptain says no slots are available, have the bot suggest an alternative day: "Unfortunately Monday is fully booked. Would you like to check another day?"

Handling holidays: FlowCaptain returns the holiday name. Your bot can say: "We're closed on Monday for German Unity Day. Would you like to try Tuesday?"

Handling errors: If the API returns an error, have the bot apologize and suggest calling back or leaving a message.

What Not to Do

• Don't ask callers to say their phone number — use caller ID instead (speech recognition has ~70% error rate on phone numbers)
• Don't require specific date formats — FlowCaptain handles natural language
• Don't skip the confirmation step before booking — callers need to hear and confirm the time