Adjust Your Agent's Persona & Objectives
In this article
In this article group
Each of your agents has three things you can shape:
Persona: how the agent comes across, meaning its name, tone and the way it writes. Warm and chatty, or short and to the point.
Objective: what the agent is trying to get done in a conversation. For example, booking the visit, following up on an estimate, or passing a membership sale to your team.
Rules: your shop's specific instructions on top of that. For example, "never book drain cleaning," "always ask for the age of the system," or "mention our $79 tune-up."
Ask Jenny is the assistant built into your UpSmith dashboard. Describe the change you want in plain language, and Jenny makes it.
To see exactly what each agent does today, read its article in Meet Our Agents.
What you can do
Change how your agent sounds. For example: "Make Mollie a little warmer and less formal," or "Keep Lenny's texts shorter."
Change what your agent focuses on. For example: "Have Ellie ask what would make the decision easier before offering to send the estimate again."
Add or change a rule. For example: "Don't let Andy cancel appointments. Send cancel requests to the office," or "Tell customers about our weekend fee before booking a Saturday."
Give your agents the facts they need. Upload or update price sheets, membership terms and policies. Agents quote only what's in your documents. See Giving Your Agents Documents to Work From.
Test the change before it's live. Run a simulation, a practice conversation, to see how the agent responds with the new settings, without texting any real customers.
What to expect when you make a change
You always confirm first. Jenny shows you a before-and-after, and the change only takes effect after you approve it in the same conversation.
Simulations don't touch anything real. Practice runs never send texts or change your live setup.
Some rules can't be changed, by design. Agents always honor do-not-contact, never take card numbers over text, never make up prices or terms that aren't in your documents, and hand off to your team when they should.
What still goes through UpSmith
A few settings live outside the agent. Email support@upsmith.com for:
Your maintenance plan setup: seasons, time between visits, and which job types count as each visit.
Whether Ellie marks an estimate sold when a customer says yes.
Your Google review link, and the business name an agent uses for a lead source.
If Jenny can't do something you ask, she'll tell you, rather than guess.
Common questions
What's the difference between persona, objective and rules?
Persona is how your agent sounds. Objective is what it's trying to get done. Rules are your shop's specific do's and don'ts on top of both.
Can I see how the agent will behave before it goes live?
Yes. Run a simulation. It shows the new behavior without texting real customers or changing anything.
Can I undo a change?
Ask Jenny to change it back. Every change is confirmed with a before-and-after, so you always know what the current setting is.
How do I change my agent's name or tone?
Tell Jenny, for example "rename this agent to Sam" or "make the messages friendlier." You'll see the change and confirm it before it applies.
Something I want isn't possible in chat. What do I do?
Email support@upsmith.com and we'll make the change or point you in the right direction.