Missed-Call Text-Back with AI

From Line Check AI. Leak: CALLS. Setup time: about 30-45 minutes. After that: about 10 minutes a week.

What you'll get: when nobody can pick up during the rush, the caller gets a friendly text within a minute with your online ordering or reservation link, so they don't just call the next place.

Formats in this playbook:

1. Written step-by-step guide (with copy-paste prompts)
2. 60-90 second video script
3. AI chat coach system prompt

Tools and steps were checked October 19, 2026. These products change often, so if a button has moved, use the help links below for the current version.

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Part 1: The Written Guide

Why bother?

A missed call during the rush is usually someone ready to order, book, or ask a quick question. If nothing happens after the ring, they move on. A text back gives them a way to finish what they called for without anyone on your team stopping to pick up.

The tools (all real and available now)

Tool	What it does here	Cost	Link
Quo (formerly OpenPhone)	A business phone app with auto-replies: separate automatic texts for missed calls, voicemails and after-hours calls. Sends at most one auto-reply per caller every 3 hours. Setup is on the web or desktop app.	Paid, with a free trial. Texting requires US carrier registration first.	Quo help: auto-replies
Slang AI (upgrade path, reservation-heavy restaurants)	An AI phone host that answers every call, books reservations into OpenTable, SevenRooms, Yelp and others, and texts links. It doesn't take phone orders.	Starts at $399 per location per month (published pricing)	Slang AI pricing
Google Business Profile	Make sure your hours, ordering link and phone number on Google are right, since that's where many callers find you.	Free	Edit your business hours
ChatGPT or Claude	Writes your text-back messages and voicemail greeting in your voice.	Free plan works	Projects in ChatGPT · Claude projects

Our recommendation for most owners: start by fixing your voicemail greeting (free, today), then try a business phone app with missed-call auto-replies such as Quo on its free trial. Consider an AI phone host like Slang AI only if reservations drive most of your calls and the monthly price makes sense for your volume.

Important: moving your restaurant's main number to a new phone service is a real decision. Talk to your current provider and the new one about porting or forwarding before you change anything, and test with a friend's phone first.

The golden rules

1. One text, not a conversation blast. One helpful message per missed call.
2. Only text people who called you. Never add callers to a marketing list without permission.
3. Give them a way to finish the job: an ordering link, a reservation link, or your hours.
4. Say who you are. Start every text with your restaurant's name.
5. Keep it short. Two or three sentences.
6. Test it from your own phone before you rely on it.

Step 1: Fix your voicemail greeting (10 minutes, free)

Use Prompt #1 to write a 15-20 second greeting that gives your hours and tells people where to order online. Record it on your current phone system.

📋 Copy-paste prompt #1: Voicemail greeting

Write a friendly voicemail greeting for my restaurant, under 20 seconds when read aloud.
Restaurant name: [NAME]
Hours: [HOURS]
Where to order online: [e.g., "our website, [URL]" or "DoorDash and Uber Eats"]
How to book a table (if you take reservations): [e.g., "Resy" / "call back after 3 pm"]
Tone: [warm / casual / upscale]
Give me 2 versions: one for open hours (we're busy) and one for after hours.

Step 2: Write your text-back messages (10 minutes)

📋 Prompt #2: Missed-call text messages

Write 4 short text messages my restaurant will send automatically to people whose call we missed. Each under 300 characters, starting with our name. No emojis overload, no pushy sales language.
Restaurant name: [NAME]
Online ordering link: [URL]
Reservation link (if any): [URL or "none"]
Hours: [HOURS]
Versions needed:
1. Missed call during open hours, no voicemail
2. Missed call during open hours, left a voicemail ("we'll call you back")
3. Missed call after hours
4. Missed call on a holiday or special closure

Step 3: Turn on missed-call auto-replies

In Quo (example): on the web or desktop app, go to Settings → Phone Numbers (under Workspace) → pick your number → Automations tab → Auto-Replies. Paste your messages into the missed-call, voicemail and after-hours slots. (steps)

• Set your business hours in the app, so the right message goes out at the right time.
• Complete carrier registration first. Texts won't send without it.

Step 4: Test it

Call your number from a friend's phone while nobody answers. Check that the text arrives, the links work on a phone, and the hours are right. Repeat after hours.

Step 5: Your weekly 10-minute check

1. Look at last week's missed calls and texts.
2. Call back anyone who left a voicemail and hasn't been helped.
3. Use Prompt #3 if a lot of callers ask the same thing.

📋 Prompt #3: "What are callers asking?" summary

Here are this week's voicemails and text replies from callers (names and numbers removed). Group them by what people wanted (order, reservation, hours, catering, other), count each group, and suggest one change to our text-back message or website that would answer the most common question without a call.
"""[PASTE]"""

📋 Prompt #4: Catering or large-order follow-up

Write a short, friendly text to a caller who asked about catering or a large order. Ask for the date, number of people, and the best time to call. Sign it from [FIRST NAME] at [RESTAURANT]. Under 300 characters.

Optional upgrade: an AI phone host

If most of your calls are reservations, an AI host such as Slang AI can answer every call and book directly into your reservation system. Ask for a demo with your own call patterns, get the per-location price in writing, and check how calls get handed to a person. (Slang AI)

Your checklist

• New voicemail greeting recorded (open hours and after hours)
• Four text-back messages written
• Missed-call auto-replies turned on and business hours set
• Tested from another phone, during and after hours
• Google Business Profile hours and ordering link checked
• Weekly 10-minute missed-call check on the calendar

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Part 2: Video Script (about 75 seconds)

Format: phone video, host behind the counter, with screen recordings cut in. Captions on.

Time	On screen	Voiceover / on camera
0:00–0:07	Phone ringing on the counter, nobody grabs it	"Phone rings during the rush, nobody can grab it. That caller's about to order somewhere else. Let's fix that."
0:07–0:20	Host on camera	"Step one is free: fix your voicemail. Tell people your hours and where to order online. I had AI write mine in 30 seconds."
0:20–0:35	Screen: ChatGPT writing four short texts	"Step two: have ChatGPT or Claude write a short text for missed calls, one for during the rush, one for after hours, each with your ordering link."
0:35–0:52	Screen: business phone app, auto-replies settings	"Step three: turn on missed-call auto-replies in a business phone app. Quo has this, for example. Paste your texts in and set your hours."
0:52–1:05	Host calls the number from another phone, text arrives	"Then test it. Call from a friend's phone. You should get the text within a minute."
1:05–1:15	End card: "Line Check AI: free 5-minute checkup" with the URL	"Want to know where else your restaurant's leaking money? Take our free five-minute checkup. Link's right here."

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Part 3: AI Chat Coach System Prompt

Members paste this into a ChatGPT or Claude Project as the project instructions.

You are "Call Coach," a friendly, practical helper from Line Check AI. You help busy, non-technical restaurant owners stop losing customers to missed phone calls.

WHO YOU'RE TALKING TO
- Independent restaurant owners and managers. Busy, often on a phone, skeptical of tech. Plain words, short sentences, no jargon.

YOUR JOBS
1. Collect (a few at a time): restaurant name, hours, online ordering link, reservation link (if any), whether they take catering, current phone provider, tone.
2. Write: a voicemail greeting (open hours and after hours, under 20 seconds each) and four missed-call texts (open/no voicemail, open/voicemail, after hours, holiday), each under 300 characters and starting with the restaurant name.
3. Teach setup: explain that a business phone app with missed-call auto-replies (for example Quo: Settings → Phone Numbers → choose number → Automations → Auto-Replies, on web or desktop; carrier registration is required before texts send) can send these automatically. For reservation-heavy restaurants, mention AI phone hosts such as Slang AI (published pricing starts at $399 per location per month) as an upgrade.
4. Coach the habit: a weekly 10-minute check of missed calls and voicemails, plus a monthly "what are callers asking" summary.

HARD LIMITS
- Never claim a tool has a feature you're not sure of. If unsure, tell them to check the tool's help center.
- Never recommend porting or changing their main phone number without first talking to their current provider and testing.
- Never suggest adding callers to marketing lists or texting people who didn't contact them. Remind them texting rules exist and to check them (or ask a lawyer) if they plan any marketing texts.
- Don't make up statistics about missed calls or lost revenue. Point them to their own call logs and to Line Check AI.
- You can't change their phone settings yourself; they make every change.

STYLE
- Warm, encouraging, short. End with the next step ("Want me to write your after-hours text next?").

FIRST MESSAGE
"Hi! I'm your Call Coach. Let's make sure nobody who calls your restaurant gets left hanging. What's your restaurant called, and where can people order online?"