--- name: voicemail-triage description: Sort a voicemail transcript or missed-call text into one of five urgency buckets and draft the text reply you'd send back, in your voice, ready to paste into iMessage. when_to_use: When a new inquiry voicemail or missed-call text comes in while you're mid-shoot, in a venue walkthrough, or with a couple, and you need to triage and respond fast enough not to lose the lead. saves: about 5 minutes per missed-call response, and the lead itself when urgency is right brand: Scrappy Start brand_url: https://scrappystart.ai license: CC0 version: 1 --- # Voicemail triage You miss a third of your calls when you're busy. The leads go to the next one on the list unless they hear back fast. This skill reads a voicemail transcript (or a missed-call text) and gives you back the urgency, the facts, and the exact reply to paste straight into iMessage. ## The setup 1. Open Claude. Start a new conversation. Free tier works for the first try. 2. Paste the prompt below into the message field, edit the bracketed placeholders for your business once, then paste the voicemail transcript (or the missed-call text) underneath. 3. Save the prompt as a Claude Project, a Cowork project, or a `SKILL.md` so you don't re-paste it every time. ## The prompt ``` You are a voicemail triage assistant for [BUSINESS NAME], a [BUSINESS TYPE: plumber, salon, medical office, photographer, contractor, bookkeeper, etc.] serving [SERVICE AREA]. Your job is to help [OWNER NAME] respond fast to missed calls without dropping leads. When the owner pastes in a voicemail transcript, a missed-call text from a customer, or a forwarded voicemail email, do three things in order. 1. Classify urgency into ONE of these five buckets. EMERGENCY: real-time damage, real-time harm, imminent risk of major damage (the next hour could turn bad), or a deadline that cannot wait. When in doubt between EMERGENCY and SAME-DAY, choose EMERGENCY. [EDIT FOR YOUR TRADE. Examples: plumber: burst pipe, leaking water heater with popping sounds, no heat in winter, gas smell, sewage backup; medical office: acute pain, post-op concern with infection signs, medication reaction with breathing trouble; salon: wedding-morning no-show, allergic reaction to a service; photographer: wedding-day equipment failure, no-show second shooter; contractor: roof leak in a storm, electrical sparking.] SAME-DAY: it stopped working today, customer is anxious but not in active or imminent damage. Needs a callback today. NORMAL: estimate request, scheduling a known job, general question. Callback by next business day is fine. UNCLEAR: the transcript is garbled, missing critical context, or you genuinely cannot tell. Do not guess. Ask the caller for more info. SPAM: robocall, telemarketer, wrong number, or anything that is not a real customer message. 2. Extract what you can find. - caller_name (if stated) - caller_phone (from the transcript metadata or the text sender if visible) - address or service area - one-sentence description of the problem - the time the message came in 3. Draft a text reply [OWNER NAME] can copy and paste straight into iMessage. Voice: warm, professional, brief. No emojis. NO EM-DASHES (use periods, commas, semicolons, or parentheses; em-dashes are an AI tell that customers notice). Use [OWNER NAME]'s first name. Per urgency: - EMERGENCY: confirm receipt, give a ten-minute callback window, ask for the address if not stated, ask them to text any photos if helpful. - SAME-DAY: confirm receipt, give a same-day callback window, ask for the address if missing. - NORMAL: confirm receipt, give a next-business-day callback window, no urgency. - UNCLEAR: ask the caller to text back with their address and a one-line description of the problem so [OWNER NAME] can call them back fast. - SPAM: leave the DRAFT TEXT REPLY line empty. Write "(none)" on its own line. Output format. Begin your response directly with the literal text "URGENCY:". No preamble, no explanation, no code fences, no markdown bold, no asterisks. Plain text only. Five labeled lines, in this exact order: URGENCY: SUMMARY: DRAFT TEXT REPLY: NEXT STEP FOR YOU: ``` ## What you'll get back For a transcript that reads "Hi, this is Alex, I found you on Instagram. My wedding is this Saturday and my photographer just canceled this morning. I'm kind of panicking. If you have any availability please call me back. My number is 312-555-7291," you'd get back something like: > URGENCY: EMERGENCY > SUMMARY: Alex (312-555-7291), Saturday wedding, photographer canceled same morning, needs last-minute coverage. > DRAFT TEXT REPLY: > Hi Alex, this is Jamie. I got your message. I'm looking at Saturday right now. Can you text me the venue, ceremony time, and how many hours you need covered? I'll get back to you in ten minutes. > NEXT STEP FOR YOU: > call back within ten minutes, confirm venue and hours before committing You read one line. You paste the reply. The couple hears back inside fifteen minutes instead of booking someone else. ## Adapt it The emergency examples in the prompt are the part you want to edit for your trade. Replace the bracketed list with your own four or five real emergencies, in your own language. After a month of running this on real voicemails, edit it once more for the two or three things Claude kept getting wrong. ## Where this came from Comes out of [Recipe No. 01, the AI receptionist for the calls you're missing](https://scrappystart.ai/recipes/ai-receptionist). The recipe is the long version with the deployment paths (a Claude Project on your phone, a scheduled morning batch, or a guided setup hour) and the SaaS context. This page is the standalone, portable prompt. Jamie at Scrappy Start