Someone just quit. The 72-hour checklist we walk owners through (whether or not they hire us)

Disclosure: AIMasterTools, we sell the AI seat mentioned at the bottom. The checklist stands on its own.

We've been on the phone with a lot of owners in the week after someone quit, and the same three mistakes show up every time: the phone rings to voicemail for days, the owner starts interviewing before writing down what the job actually was, and the panic hire gets fired in 90 days.

Here's the 72-hour triage we walk people through, whether or not they buy anything:

Today

1. Forward the main line to a cell, an answering service, anything. A ringing phone nobody answers is worse than a busy signal. Callers don't leave voicemail; they call the next name.
2. Write down the ten questions callers ask most. That list is 80% of the front-desk job, and it's what any replacement (human or otherwise) gets trained on.
3. If it was the bookkeeper: get the logins and pull the open receivables. That's the money at risk this month.

Tomorrow

4. Split the job into two columns: describable in writing (answer, book, confirm, remind, invoice, first two collection notices) vs. judgment (pricing exceptions, angry customers, your top accounts, HR).
5. Decide what you're filling. The judgment column is a smaller, better job that better people apply for. The describable column doesn't need a person.

Day 2

6. Cover the describable column now, before you post anything. Then hire calmly for the rest, or don't.

Week 2

7. Look at calls answered, jobs booked, invoices out vs. last month. Decide from numbers, not from the panic.

The honest options and their real timelines: rush hire 4–8 weeks (and the median receptionist costs ~$56K loaded per BLS), temp agency 3–10 days at $25–40/hr and the knowledge leaves with them, answering service 1–3 days but it only takes messages.

Our version: we'll have an AI seat trained on the business and working in 48 hours or setup is free. Pages for each scenario (receptionist, bookkeeper, office manager, no-show, leave, seasonal surge, after-hours) are at https://aimastertools.com/staffing-emergencies/ if you want the checklists in longer form.

What did you do in the first 48 hours the last time someone walked out? What would you do differently?