What should an auto attendant script say?
Your business name, then no more than three options, each named by what the caller wants with the keypad number after it, and one way to reach a person. Copy the main menu below, fill in the brackets, and eleven more by trade and by situation follow.
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Main menu, any business
Thanks for calling [Business Name]. For [sales], press 1. For [service], press 2. To hear our hours and address, press 3. Or stay on the line and we'll put you through.
Most pages about auto attendants explain what one is. This one hands you the words. Below are twelve scripts: a menu for six trades, the four situations every business hits, and the hours-and-address announcement that the third keypad option plays.
Two things make the difference between a menu that works and a phone tree people hang up on. Say the option before the digit, because the caller is listening for what they need and only then for the number. And stop at three options. If you are reaching for a fourth, what you want is the call answered, not routed.
If the greeting line is the part you are stuck on, spin one up with our free phone greeting generator and drop it in front of any menu on this page.
12 auto attendant scripts you can copy
TradesDental & medicalLaw officeSalons & barbersAuto repairReal estateAfter hoursHolidayEveryone busyOne-person shopHours & address
Plumbing, HVAC and electrical
An emergency option first, because the caller with water coming through a ceiling will not sit through a list.
Trades, emergency first
Thanks for calling [Business Name]. If you have a burst pipe, no heat, or another emergency, press 1 and we'll get you straight to [name]. For a quote or a scheduled job, press 2 and leave your name, number and address. To hear our hours and service area, press 3.
Dental and medical offices
The 911 line comes before the menu, so nobody with a real emergency is listening to options.
Dental or medical office
Thank you for calling [Business Name]. If this is a medical emergency, please hang up and dial 911. To reach the front desk, press 1. To leave a message for [provider name], press 2. To hear our hours and address, press 3.
Law offices
Current clients and new matters want different things, and separating them at the menu saves the intake conversation twice over.
Law office
Thank you for calling [Firm Name]. If you're a current client and need [attorney name], press 1. If you're calling about a new matter, press 2 and leave your name, number and a short description of the issue. To hear our office hours and location, press 3.
Salons and barbers
Salon or barber shop
Thanks for calling [Business Name]. To ask about an appointment, press 1 and we'll ring the front desk. To leave a message for [stylist name], press 2. To hear our hours and address, press 3.
Auto repair shops
Half the calls to a shop are the same question from someone whose car is already on the lift, so give that caller their own option.
Auto repair shop
Thanks for calling [Business Name]. For an update on a vehicle already in the shop, press 1. For an estimate or a new job, press 2 and leave your name, number and what you're driving. To hear our hours, address and what we work on, press 3.
Real estate offices
Real estate office
Thanks for calling [Brokerage Name]. To reach [agent name] about a listing, press 1. If you're buying or selling and would like a call back, press 2 and leave your name and number. To hear our office hours and address, press 3.
After hours
Say you are closed, say when you open, give one thing to do. A caller who has to guess whether anyone is coming calls the next shop on the list.
Closed for the night
Thanks for calling [Business Name]. We're closed right now. Our hours are [hours]. If this can't wait, press 1 and we'll reach [name]. Otherwise press 2 to leave a message and we'll call you back [when you open].
There is more to the off-hours rush than the greeting, and our guide to after-hours answering covers what to do with the calls once they land.
A holiday or a planned closure
Closed for a holiday
Thanks for calling [Business Name]. We're closed for [holiday] and we reopen [date] at [time]. Press 1 to leave a message and we'll return your call when we're back. You'll also get a text from this number so you have it.
Everyone is busy
The script for the middle of a rush, when the phone is ringing and every pair of hands is already on a customer.
All with customers
Thanks for calling [Business Name]. We're all with customers right now. Press 1 to leave your name and number and we'll call you back today, or press 2 to hear our hours and address.
A one-person business, with no menu at all
If you are the only person who could pick up, a menu has nowhere to send anyone. Say where you are and what happens next instead.
One-person shop
Thanks for calling [Business Name]. This is [name] and I'm out on a job. Leave your name, number and what you need after the tone and I'll call you back today. You'll also get a text from this number so you've got it.
The hours and address announcement
This is what press 3 plays in every menu above. It is the cheapest option on the list: it answers the most common question on your line without anyone picking up.
Hours, address and directions
You've reached [Business Name] at [street address]. We're open [hours]. [One line of directions, like: we're behind the building, park in the rear lot.] To go back to the main menu, press 1.
The four rules behind every script above
Name, then options, then a person. The caller needs to know they reached the right place before they will listen to anything else, and they need to know a human is reachable before they will trust the menu with their problem.
The option before the digit. “For service, press 2” works; “press 2 for service” makes the caller hold a number they do not need yet.
Three options, not six. Every extra branch loses the callers who cannot place themselves on your list.
Never end in silence. Every path should finish with somebody reachable, a message that actually gets to you, or a time you promised to call back.
Put your menu live in your own words
Pick the script that fits, fill in the brackets, and hand it over. ReadyToTalk answers your number with that greeting, plays the options exactly as you wrote them, rings through to you or the person you name, takes a voicemail and sends it to you as text, and tells you who called. Change any line yourself the moment your hours or your team change.
Set your menu up with ReadyToTalk at the founding price of $19.99 a month plus .
When a menu is the wrong answer
A menu earns its place when your callers really do want different people: a clinic with a front desk and providers, a shop with a service bay and a sales counter. It does not earn its place on a single line answered by one or two people, where the menu is just a stile the caller has to climb before reaching the only person who could help. If that is your phone, read whether you need an auto attendant phone system before you record anything.
And once the call does reach a person, the menu stops mattering and the first ten words start to. Our phone answering scripts for small business pick up exactly where these leave off.
Auto Attendant Script FAQs
Put your auto attendant script live in your own words
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