By business type
A support assistant is not a product you install, it is a thing you feed
What a dental practice must refuse, a bike shop can answer freely, and what a law firm has to hedge, a garden centre does not. These pages set out the questions each trade actually gets, the material that answers them, and the line past which a person has to take over.
Clinical and near-clinical
Where the line between administration and advice is the whole design problem.
- For a dental clinicThe questions a dental practice actually gets, the ones that must reach a clinician, and the documents worth indexing first.
- For a medical practiceAdministrative questions a practice can safely automate, the symptom questions it must never touch, and how to word the refusal.
- For a veterinary clinicOwners ask about price, hours and emergencies at once. Here is what a vet practice can automate and where it must hand over fast.
- For a physiotherapy clinicSession prices, referral rules and what to wear are safe to automate. Exercise advice and injury assessment are not.
- For a opticianEye test prices, NHS entitlement, frame ranges and prescription rules are all answerable. Vision symptoms are not.
- For a pharmacyOpening hours, services and prescription collection are safe ground. Anything about a medicine belongs with the pharmacist.
Professional services
Where the answer depends on facts nobody has given you yet, and saying so is the job.
- For a law firmFee structures, consultation terms and onboarding checks are answerable. Anything applied to a caller's own facts is legal advice.
- For a accounting firmDeadlines drive the volume. What an accountancy practice can automate, and why no answer may touch a caller's own numbers.
- For a insurance brokerProduct information is safe ground. A personal recommendation is regulated, and no assistant may confirm whether a loss is covered.
- For a mortgage brokerProcess, documents and fees are safe to automate. Rates go stale fast and affordability cannot be answered generically.
- For a estate agencyViewings, fees, referencing and deposit rules are answerable at any hour. Valuing a property or discussing an offer is not.
- For a recruitment agencyTwo audiences on one website. Process, payroll and compliance questions are answerable, application outcomes never are.
- For a marketing agencyService definitions and engagement terms convert. A price quoted for work nobody has scoped is the trap on an agency site.
Retail
Where most pre-purchase questions turn out to be about delivery and returns.
- For a online storeDelivery cut-offs, the returns window and restock questions get asked before purchase. The one thing an assistant cannot do is find an order.
- For a fashion retailerFit is both the most asked pre-purchase question and the biggest cause of returns. Here is what a clothing retailer can safely automate.
- For a furniture retailerLead times, delivery access and assembly dominate furniture enquiries. What an assistant answers well, and where it must take a name.
- For a electronics retailerCompatibility, warranty and returns on opened items answer well from your own terms. Firmware level setup advice does not.
- For a garden centreSeasonality drives every question a garden centre gets. Plant care answers well, toxicity and site suitability need a person.
- For a bike shopFrame sizing, service turnaround and whether a part fits are the daily questions. Safety critical repair advice is an escalation.
Hospitality and leisure
Where the booking system is the thing everyone assumes an assistant can see.
- For a restaurantHours, last orders, deposits and dietary options are safe ground. Confirming a dish is free of an allergen never is.
- For a hotelRate inclusions, check in times, parking and room accessibility answer well. Live availability and a named reservation do not.
- For a holiday rentalWhat is provided, deposits and cancellation terms answer well. The exact address and the door code stay back until a booking exists.
- For a gymContract length and cancellation terms cause most gym complaints. Timetables, inductions and joining fees are worth automating.
- For a salon or spaPrices depend on hair length and condition, so a real quote needs a consultation. Patch tests and pregnancy questions need a person.
Education
Where one site serves applicants, students and parents with three different questions.
- For a universityApplicants and enrolled students ask different things. What a university assistant can answer about entry, fees and visas, and what it must never predict.
- For a private schoolAdmissions timelines, fees, bursaries and uniform lists are safe ground for a school assistant. Anything about a named pupil or applicant is not.
- For a driving schoolLesson prices, block booking, instructor coverage and what a learner needs before a first lesson, without claiming a pass rate or judging readiness.
- For a online courseWhat is included, how long access lasts, refund and cooling off rights, and the honest limit that it cannot see a learner's own progress.
Trades and field service
Where a quote needs a survey and an emergency needs a phone number.
- For a plumbing and heating firmSorting an emergency from a routine job, quoting call out rates, and never suggesting a fix on gas work that only a registered engineer may touch.
- For a electrical contractorCall out charges, EV charger enquiries and landlord certificates are answerable. A described electrical fault is an escalation, not a question.
- For a removals companyPrice depends on volume and access, so a survey comes first. Insurance limits are what customers misunderstand most, so say them plainly.
- For a car dealershipStock moves daily and finance adverts are regulated, so this is mostly about what a dealership assistant must never claim to know.
Software
Where the documentation is the material, and the version it describes is the risk.
- For a SaaS companyOne widget serves prospects, trialists and paying customers. What it can answer about plans and limits, and what has to reach a person.
- For a developer tools companyOn a docs site an assistant competes with search, not a phone line. Version skew, deprecations and error strings decide whether it earns its place.
- For a fintech appFees, limits and identity checks are safe ground. Balances, transactions and anything reading as a personal recommendation are not.
- For a healthtech appHealth data is a special category and clinical claims carry device rules. What a healthtech assistant answers for patients, and for buyers.
Why these are separate pages
Because the differences are real. A veterinary practice needs the emergency number inside the refusal message, because an owner whose dog has eaten something types before they read. A recruitment agency has two audiences on one site asking opposite questions. A restaurant has a category of question, allergens, where the correct configuration is a refusal and a phone number rather than an answer.
None of that is visible from a feature list, and none of it can be worked out from a template. So there is a page per trade, and underneath the trades, 648 playbooks pairing a trade with one recurring question.
36 business types covered so far.