> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.telzino.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Greeting

> Tips on configuring how your Agent answers the phone or starts web conversations.

The greeting option allows you to define what your agent should say when it answers the phone. This greeting also applies when people interact with your agent via its public profile through chat. A well-crafted greeting sets the tone for the interaction and ensures that your customers feel welcomed and understood.

### How to Configure the Greeting

To set up the greeting for your AI agent:

1. Navigate to the greeting settings in your Telzino agent configuration.
2. Enter the desired greeting message.
3. Save your settings to apply the changes.

### Dynamic Prompt Driven Greetings

Prepending "prompt:" to your greeting will trigger your AI phone agent to come up with a dynamic greeting every call. You can feed in additional context in your prompt. This feature also works well with the `Pre-Answer` function for use-cases where you want to greet a caller by name via a CRM pre-answer lookup.

It's important to understand that your entire Agent Instructions is *not* fed into this Prompt-driven greeting, but there is helpful context made available if present: Previous call summaries, previous saved contact info, any context that has been added to the room via our context API, as well as any Pre-Answer function results.

### Outbound Greeting

Agents that place [outbound calls](https://docs.telzino.com/functions/outbound-calls.md) have a separate **Outbound Greeting** setting, spoken the moment the person you're calling answers. This keeps inbound and outbound openers independent — "Thanks for calling Acme!" for inbound, "Hi, this is Ava calling from Acme Corp." for outbound.

When the callee answers, the agent uses the first of these that's set:

1. The per-call greeting supplied when the call was placed (API `greeting` field or the dashboard dialog).
2. The agent's Outbound Greeting setting.
3. An AI-generated opener composed from the call's context (who it's calling and why).
4. The regular inbound greeting, as a last resort.

If you leave Outbound Greeting empty and always pass call context, the agent composes a natural, purpose-specific introduction on every call.

### Tips for Crafting an Effective Greeting

* **Introduce the Business**: Start by clearly stating the name of your business to let callers know they've reached the right place.
* **Introduce the Agent**: Provide the name of the agent or simply mention that it's an AI assistant to make the interaction feel more personal.
* **Offer Assistance**: Briefly state how the agent can help, whether it's answering questions, taking reservations, or providing information.
* **Keep it Short and Friendly**: A concise and friendly greeting helps set a positive tone for the conversation.


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