How to train AI to reply to your customers — step by step
An AI assistant does not know your business on day one. It does not know your prices, your address, how you like to greet people or when a customer should be passed to your team. Training it is your job, and it takes about half an hour. This guide shows exactly how to train the AI in ITC-CRM so it answers customers accurately, in their own language, in your style.
Never turn on the auto-reply for all your customers before training it. An untrained assistant has nothing to answer from, so it ends almost every conversation with "a colleague will get back to you", and customers leave.
Why training comes first
The assistant in ITC-CRM does not "learn by itself" from the internet and it does not guess. It is fed facts by you and answers only from them. That is what keeps it safe: it will never invent a price, a date or a promise. It also means the quality of its replies is exactly the quality of what you give it.
What the AI reads
| Source | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Business information | Your services, working hours, address, registration or booking conditions, and the questions customers repeat with their answers. |
| Behaviour instructions | What it does and when: how it opens, what it asks, when it hands over to a person, and what it must never say. |
| Services and prices | Each service with its price and details (duration, instalments, certificate…). Prices are read from here only, so one service never has two prices. |
| Company profile | Name, phone and address, taken from your company settings. |
Train it in 8 steps
- Write your business information. Short, factual lines: what you sell, to whom, where, when you are open, how to book or register, payment methods. Add the 10–20 questions customers ask most, each with the answer you would give.
- Describe the full conversation path. What the first reply says, what it asks next, what it does after the customer answers, the goal of the conversation (a booking, a visit, a call) and the exact cases where it should hand over to your team. Every step you leave out ends with "a colleague will follow up".
- Add your services and prices in the services list, not in the notes, so prices stay consistent.
- Let it read your website. Use "Analyse the company website" to pull your pages into a draft of business information.
- Let it read your past conversations. "Analyse my conversations and suggest facts", or pull WhatsApp history from a linked device, or import chats from your previous app. The fastest way to capture how your team really answers.
- Review every draft before saving. Old chats contain staff mistakes and outdated prices. Delete what is wrong, correct what is old, then save.
- Add files it can send in the AI media library: price lists, brochures, location, photos, each with a clear description of when to send it.
- Choose when it replies: always, only when no one on your team is on shift, or on days and hours you set. "Outside working hours" is the best place to start.
A weak note vs a strong note
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| Ask for the customer's phone number. | First reply: greet them, answer their question in one or two sentences, then ask for their phone number with the country code so our team can send details. After you get it, thank them in one sentence and ask which service interests them and when they would like to start. If they ask for a discount, a refund or to speak to a manager, hand over to the team. |
| We have good prices. | Payment: cash at the centre, bank transfer or card. Instalments are available on courses over 3 months. Never confirm a discount; say the team will check. |
Test before you switch it on
- Turn the company-wide switch on, but leave automatic enrolment of new conversations off.
- From your own phone, message your business on WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger.
- In the inbox, turn the auto-reply on for that one conversation only.
- Ask what real customers ask: prices, location, how to register, a hard question, a question in another language, and send a voice note or a photo.
- Where an answer is wrong or vague, fix the information or instructions and try again.
- When you are happy with the answers, switch on automatic enrolment so it covers every new conversation.
The first message a member of your team writes in a conversation stops the auto-reply in that conversation immediately, so the customer never receives two answers.
Common mistakes
- One-line instructions such as "ask for his number": it obeys, then has nothing left to say.
- Prices written in the notes and in the services list with different values.
- Saving an imported draft without reading it, which teaches it old mistakes with full confidence.
- Switching it on for everyone on day one without a single test conversation.
- Never updating it when prices, dates or offers change.
Questions
How long does it take to train the AI?
About 30 minutes for a first good version: 10 minutes for business information, 10 for the conversation path and services, 10 for testing. Then improve it a little each week from real conversations.
Does it learn on its own over time?
No. It does not change by itself. You improve it by updating the information and instructions, or by running the conversation analysis again.
Will it make up an answer if it does not know?
No. If the information is not in what you gave it, it says it will check and that a colleague will follow up.
Which languages does it answer in?
It replies in the customer's language, whatever language you wrote your notes in. It also understands voice notes and images.
Can I stop it at any time?
Yes, for one conversation or for the whole company, with one switch.