AI voice agents for free-trial and tour booking at gyms answer prospects who call in and call back web leads. They book tour slots and trial classes your gym software returns and write each booking back. Calls to web leads generally need written consent first, and the agent never signs anyone up to a paid trial.
Key Takeaways
- Book only the tour slots and trial classes your gym software returns.
- Call web leads back only when the form carried written consent.
- The agent books the visit; the club's own sign-up handles any paid trial.
This post is part of our guide to AI voice agents for gyms and fitness studios. The guide's section "Prospects: trial visits, tours and membership sales" sums up this call in one line: "The trial and tour call books a first visit from the slots your gym software returns." Here is that call in full, run in Dograh, an open-source, self-hostable voice agent platform.
Two ways a first visit gets booked
A first visit is booked either when a prospect calls the club or when the club calls a lead back, and the two paths follow different rules.
On the inbound path, the prospect starts the conversation by asking about classes or prices, usually because they want to see the place. There is generally no consent question on a call someone made to you, so the agent can answer and book straight away.
On the outbound path, the club calls someone who filled in a web form or answered an ad. Clubs want that call within minutes, while the interest is fresh. A fast call is still a sales call, though, and with an AI voice it generally needs written consent on file before the phone rings.
This post covers new prospects and their first visit. People who toured but did not join, and former members, get a different call with an offer, covered in AI voice agents for gym membership sales and win-back.
Booking from live tour and trial slots
The agent answers from the club's own documents and books only the times your gym software returns.
Questions about the club come from the Knowledge Base. Upload the class timetable, published prices, opening hours, parking and what to bring to a first class, and the agent answers in your wording instead of guessing. When the documents do not cover a question, tell it in the prompt to say so and offer a call from staff.
Booking runs in two steps. An HTTP API tool asks your gym software for open tour slots, or for spots in a beginner-friendly trial class, and the agent offers the soonest ones, never a time it invents. The tool's Custom Message, text or a recorded clip, plays once just before the tool runs, so the caller is not left in silence. HTTP API tools wait 5 seconds by default and do not retry, so keep the lookup fast.
Before writing, the agent reads back the day, time, type of visit and club address, and the prospect confirms or corrects it. A second HTTP API tool then writes the booking and returns a confirmation. Add a Preset Parameter named workflow_run_id, type Number, with the value {{initial_context.workflow_run_id}}, so a retried request never books the same slot twice. AI Voice Agents for Rental Tour Scheduling uses the same read-then-write pattern.
The agent records the prospect's goals and preferred training times as they stated them, so the staff member giving the tour starts from that. A question about an injury or a health condition goes to staff. Tell the agent in the prompt to give no medical or training advice.
Dograh has no SMS tool, so the confirmation text comes from your booking system. A trial pass or door code is issued by your system after its own check, and the agent never reads one out.
Book the visit, never the paid trial
The agent books a visit, and it never signs anyone up to a trial that turns into a paid membership.
Many clubs offer a free week that becomes a monthly membership unless the member cancels. That sign-up is a contract. The price after the trial, how to cancel, the member's signature and their consent to be charged belong in the club's own sign-up, at the front desk or online, where the member reads the terms.
Some states also regulate trials that convert to paid plans. California's automatic renewal law, for example, sets its own rules for how a free trial's later price is explained and how the consumer agrees to pay. Keeping enrolment in the club's own sign-up keeps those terms in front of the member. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm your position with counsel.
So the agent's job ends at the booked visit. If the prospect asks to start the trial now, tell the agent in the prompt to explain that staff will set it up at the visit, and record that the prospect asked.
Open Source Alternative to Vapi / Retell
Self-hosted voice agent platform — no per-minute fees
dograh-hq/dograh
Star on GitHub
Calling web leads back: the form is the consent
A call to a web lead that invites a visit is generally telemarketing, so the form the lead filled in decides whether the agent may call. This section is general information, not legal advice.
In its February 2024 declaratory ruling, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) confirmed that the TCPA's restrictions on the use of "artificial or prerecorded voice" "encompass current AI technologies that generate human voices." Under 47 CFR 64.1200, a call "that includes or introduces an advertisement or constitutes telemarketing" in an artificial voice to a mobile number is barred "other than a call made with the prior express written consent of the called party".
The rule defines that consent as "an agreement, in writing, bearing the signature of the person called that clearly authorizes the seller" to make such calls to a stated number, and signing must not be a condition of buying. A form that only asks for a phone number generally does not meet it. A checkbox that names the club, covers calls in an artificial voice and is not required to submit the form is the usual fix. Store that answer with the lead in your gym software, and confirm the wording with counsel.
Your lead system then starts each call through the API Trigger, which dials at once, but only for leads whose consent flag is set. Keep the call to the visit the form asked about. The greeting names the club, and a line right after it says how to stop calls. AI Voice Agents for Solar Lead Qualification runs the same consent check on web leads.
Dograh keeps no do-not-call list. When a caller opts out, an HTTP API tool writes it to your own list, and you remove those numbers before the next campaign upload. The do_not_call call tag records the request but never blocks a later call. Sales calls to homes are barred "before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m." local time, so a lead who fills in a form at midnight waits for the morning.
Reminders before the visit, and handing over
A reminder before a booked tour or trial class is a service call, as long as it stays about the visit.
Ask for consent to reminder calls when the visit is booked, and keep it with the booking. The prospect can keep the time or change it. A move books another open slot, a cancel frees the slot, and each answer is written back. If the reminder adds an offer, such as a joining discount, it becomes a marketing call that needs written consent. Once the prospect joins, their class bookings follow AI voice agents for class booking and reminder calls.
Voicemail handling is off by default. Turn it on in Settings under Voicemail & Screening, then choose "Disconnect the call", or "Leave a message" with only the club's name and a callback number.
Membership prices beyond the published list, and any deal, go to a salesperson. Transfer Call makes the handover. Transfer Call works on Twilio, Telnyx and Asterisk ARI. It passes no summary by default; on Twilio it can play a short spoken introduction to both people. Write the details to your system with an HTTP API tool before the transfer. If nobody answers, the caller stays with the agent; tell it in the prompt to offer a callback.
Self-hosted Dograh has no per-minute platform fee (servers, model keys and phone minutes still cost); Dograh Cloud has a 1¢-a-minute platform fee.
Join the Dograh Community
Dograh is an OSS alternative to Vapi. Join our Slack community for queries, releases, best practices & community interactions.
Glossary
- Free-to-pay trial
- A free trial that turns into a paid membership unless the member cancels before it ends. The voice agent books the first visit; the club's own sign-up captures the later price and the member's consent to pay.
- Speed to lead
- How quickly a club calls back a prospect after a web form or ad. A fast AI call is still a sales call, so it generally needs the form's written consent on file first.
- Prior express written consent
- Under 47 CFR 64.1200(f)(9), a signed written agreement that clearly authorizes a seller to make telemarketing calls with an artificial or prerecorded voice to a stated number, and says signing is not a condition of buying.
- Read-back
- The agent repeats the day, time, type of visit and club address before writing the booking, so the prospect can correct a mistake while still on the call.
