Playbook Guide

The Playbook is where you define how your agent actually runs a call — what it says, what it asks, what it's trying to accomplish, and how it handles pushback. Think of it as the agent's script and strategy rolled into one.

You configure the Playbook in the Agent Studio under the "Playbook" section. It has five parts, each covered below.

How the pieces fit together

A call roughly flows through the Playbook in this order:

Call connects
   ↓
[Opening]     Agent greets the caller.
   ↓
[Discovery]   Agent asks questions to understand what's needed.
   ↓
[Actions]     Agent works toward its goal.
   ↓
[Scripts]     Triggered by context during the call.
[Objections]  Triggered when the caller pushes back.
   ↓
Call wraps when goal is reached or caller hangs up.

Scripts and Objections aren't sequential — they're references the agent pulls in when the conversation warrants.

Opening

What it is: The first line the agent says when the call connects.

Why it matters: The greeting sets the tone for the entire call. A warm, specific opening makes callers feel heard. A generic one can feel robotic.

Good opening examples

Appointment booking:

"Hi, thanks for calling Bright Smile Dental! This is Maya — how can I help you today?"

Customer support:

"Hi! You've reached Acme Support. Can I get your account email so I can pull up your account?"

Sales outreach:

"Hey, it's Alex from Orbit Analytics. Do you have a couple of minutes to chat about your data pipeline?"

Tips

• Name the business. Callers want to know they dialed the right place.
• Name the agent. "This is Maya" humanizes the interaction, even if the caller knows it's an AI.
• Ask an open question. "How can I help you?" beats "Press 1 for..." every time.
• Use tokens where appropriate. {caller_name}, {business_name}, and {agent_name} are substituted at call time.

Common mistakes

• Starting with a long pitch before asking what the caller wants.
• Asking a yes/no question immediately ("Are you calling about your appointment?") — it forces callers down a narrow path.

Discovery

What it is: The questions the agent asks to understand who's calling and what they need. Includes a list of required information the agent must collect before wrapping up.

Why it matters: Without discovery, the agent guesses. With it, the agent has context to make the right recommendations, book the right slot, or resolve the right issue.

Questions to Ask

Each question has two parts:

• Question — what the agent asks verbatim (or paraphrases).
• Listen for — a hint about what kind of answer the agent should extract from the caller's response.

Booking example:

• Question: "What are you coming in for?" → Listen for: "appointment type, symptom, or referral"
• Question: "Any preferred days or times?" → Listen for: "day, time window, timezone"

Support example:

• Question: "Can you describe what's happening?" → Listen for: "error message, feature name, symptom"
• Question: "When did this start?" → Listen for: "date, event, last working time"

Required info

A list of slots the agent won't end the call without collecting. Common examples:

• full_name — the caller's name
• email — for follow-up
• phone — for SMS confirmations or callbacks
• preferred_date — booking only
• account_email — support only
• timezone — for scheduling

When one of these is missing, the agent will ask for it before trying to wrap up.

Tips

• Fewer questions beats more. 3–5 good ones beat 10 mediocre ones.
• Order matters. Start broad ("what's happening?") before narrow ("what error code?").
• Let the caller lead when they know what they want. Don't run discovery if they open with "I need to book a cleaning for Tuesday at 3."

Actions

What it is: The agent's goal (and backup goal) for the call, plus the conditions under which it should transfer to a human.

Goal

The primary outcome you want from every call. One sentence, imperative, specific.

• Booking: "Book the appointment"
• Support: "Resolve the issue on the call"
• Sales: "Book a 15-minute demo with a rep"

Backup goal

What counts as a win if the primary goal isn't reachable. This is your fallback so calls don't end empty-handed.

• Booking: "Send a self-service scheduling link"
• Support: "Open a ticket and set expectations for follow-up"
• Sales: "Capture email so the team can follow up"

Transfer when

Describe the situations where the agent should stop and connect a human. Be specific.

• Booking: "If the caller has billing questions or complaints about a previous visit, transfer to the office manager."
• Support: "If the issue involves account access, refunds, or data deletion, transfer to the support lead."
• Sales: "If the prospect wants to talk to a senior rep or has procurement questions, transfer to an AE."

Tips

• Transfer rules protect trust. Over-triggering erodes the agent's usefulness; under-triggering frustrates callers. Start conservative and loosen once you have call data.
• State the transfer reason out loud. "Let me connect you with someone who handles that."

Scripts

What it is: Phrases the agent says word-for-word, pulled in at specific moments.

Why it matters: Unlike the rest of the playbook, which the agent paraphrases, scripts are verbatim. Use them for anything where the wording matters:

• Legal disclaimers ("This call may be recorded...")
• Compliance phrases (HIPAA, GDPR, regulatory)
• Pricing statements
• Confirmation messages

Structure

Each script has three fields:

• Title — a short name so you can recognize it in the list (e.g. "Pricing", "Legal Disclaimer", "Appointment Confirmation")
• Use when — describe the moment in the call when this script should fire
• Script — the exact words the agent will read

Examples

Appointment confirmation (booking):

• Title: Appointment confirmation
• Use when: After all required info is collected
• Script: "Perfect — I've got you down for {preferred_date}. You'll receive a calendar invite at {email}. Is there anything else I can help with?"

Recording disclosure (support):

• Title: Recording disclosure
• Use when: Start of every call
• Script: "This call may be recorded for quality assurance. Say 'yes' to continue, or 'no' if you'd prefer we don't record."

Pricing intro (sales):

• Title: Pricing intro
• Use when: When the caller asks about pricing
• Script: "Our plans start at $49 per month for up to 500 calls. I'd love to have our team walk you through a demo — does Thursday at 2pm work?"

Tips

• Only use scripts for wording that matters. Everything else should be handled by the agent's natural paraphrasing — it sounds more human.
• Keep them short. Long scripts feel recited. One or two sentences is usually plenty.
• Use tokens for variable content. {preferred_date}, {email}, {caller_name} get substituted live.

Objections

What it is: Pre-written guidance for how the agent should respond when a caller pushes back, hesitates, or says no.

Why it matters: Most calls that don't reach the goal fail at a specific, predictable objection. Preparing for the top 3–5 objections turns a good chunk of "no"s into "yes"es.

Structure

Each objection has two fields:

• Objection — what the caller says (or the sentiment they express)
• Response — how the agent should reply. This is guidance, not a verbatim script — the agent will paraphrase based on context.

Examples

Booking:

• Objection: "I don't have time this week"
• Response: "No problem — I can check availability for next week. What day would work better for you?"

Support:

• Objection: "This is the third time I've called about this"
• Response: "I'm really sorry for the runaround. Let me pull up your full history so you don't have to repeat yourself."

Sales:

• Objection: "Too expensive"
• Response: "Totally fair — can I ask what you're currently paying? Most customers save about three times what they spend with us."

Tips

• Cover the top 3–5, not all possible objections. Diminishing returns kick in fast.
• Acknowledge before pivoting. "Totally fair..." / "I understand..." makes the response feel human instead of rehearsed.
• Give the agent an out. If the objection is truly a deal-breaker ("I'll never buy from you"), the response should route to Transfer or Backup Goal, not push harder.

Putting it together: a worked example

A minimal but complete Playbook for a dental booking agent:

playbook:
  opener: "Hi, thanks for calling Bright Smile Dental! This is Maya — how can I help you today?"
  qualificationFlow:
    - question: "What are you coming in for?"
      listensFor: "appointment type, symptom, or referral"
    - question: "Any preferred days or times?"
      listensFor: "day, time window, timezone"
  requiredSlots: [full_name, phone, preferred_date]
  closingCTA: "Book the appointment"
  fallbackCTA: "Send a self-service scheduling link"
  escalationRule: "If the caller has billing questions or complaints, transfer to the office manager."
  scripts:
    - title: "Appointment confirmation"
      when: "After all required info is collected"
      content: "Perfect — I've got you down for {preferred_date}. You'll receive a calendar invite at {email}. Is there anything else I can help with?"
  objectionHandlers:
    - trigger: "I don't have time this week"
      response: "No problem — I can check availability for next week. What day would work better for you?"

Next steps

• Write your Opening and Discovery first — those cover most of the call's value.
• Start with one Script (usually a confirmation or disclosure) and one Objection. Add more based on what you see in call transcripts.
• Iterate. Your first Playbook won't be your last. Rymi records every call (if you've enabled recording), so listen back and refine.