Guide
How to train an AI assistant on your business information
What information an AI assistant needs, how to write it so answers are accurate, what to forbid, how to test it before launch, and how to keep it up to date.
VAULT 33|27 · Updated 12 November 2026 · Reviewed 12 November 2026 · 2 min read
"Training" usually means giving it the right knowledge
For a business assistant, you rarely train a model from scratch. You give a capable model a knowledge base (your approved information), instructions (how to behave), and limits (what never to do). The quality of those three decides the quality of the answers.
1. The knowledge base
| Section | Include |
|---|---|
| Services | What you do and do not do, with plain descriptions |
| Pricing | Prices, ranges or "from" prices you are happy to share, and what affects them |
| Areas and hours | Where you work, opening hours, holiday hours, response times |
| Process | What happens after an enquiry, typical timelines, what clients need to prepare |
| Policies | Deposits, cancellations, guarantees, payment methods |
| Real questions | The 30 to 50 questions clients actually ask, with approved answers |
Write it like you would brief a new receptionist: short, factual, unambiguous. Remove contradictions; the assistant cannot guess which version is right.
2. Instructions
- Tone: warm, brief, professional, in the customer's language.
- Always say it is an AI assistant at the start.
- Ask only the questions needed to help or book.
- Offer the next step: a booking link, a call, a visit.
- Summarise the conversation for the team.
3. Limits
| Never | Instead |
|---|---|
| Invent prices, availability or promises | Say what it knows and offer a person |
| Give medical, legal, financial or safety advice | Hand over to a qualified person |
| Argue with a customer | Apologise and hand over |
| Collect sensitive data it does not need | Ask only for what the booking requires |
4. Test before launch
Have staff try to break it: unusual questions, angry messages, questions in other languages, requests for discounts, questions outside your services. Record every wrong or awkward answer and fix the knowledge or instructions, not just the single reply.
5. Keep it current
- Update prices, hours and services the same day they change.
- Review a sample of conversations weekly in the first month, then monthly.
- Add new questions customers ask to the knowledge base.
A stale knowledge base is the most common reason assistants give wrong answers. Our AI chat assistants include this setup and ongoing review.
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