Creating custom playbooks

Custom Playbooks let you design your own conversation frameworks that reflect your company’s unique sales methodology. Instead of relying on Aircall’s predefined frameworks (SPICED, BANT, MEDDIC, PACTT), you can define your own qualification topics, conversation topics, and agent guidance to align perfectly with your business needs.

What are custom playbooks?

Custom Playbooks are user-defined conversation guides that help agents follow a personalized structure during calls. You decide the key topics, set the flow, and add tailored questions or scripts for each conversation step.

Note: While Aircall offers standard Playbooks based on established sales methodologies, Custom Playbooks allow you to build or modify frameworks to match your specific sales processes.

Why use custom playbooks?

Custom Playbooks are essential when:

• Standard frameworks do not fit your business methodology

• Industry-specific topics are needed for your conversations

• Company processes require unique qualification steps

• Existing methodologies need modification for your market

How to create a custom playbook

Step 1: Access the Playbook creation page

1. In Aircall Dashboard, go to AI Assist in the navigation menu
2. Click Live Assist tab and then choose Playbooks
3. Click Create custom playbook button

Step 2: Set up basic details

1. Name: Enter a descriptive name for your playbook (e.g., "Enterprise B2B Process")
2. Language: Select the language this playbook will use (English, French, German, Spanish)
3. Click Create

Step 3: Build your conversation framework

Once created, you'll see the Playbook editor with an empty framework ready for customization.

Adding custom topics

Click Add a topic to start building your methodology. You have two options for each topic:

Option A: Use predefined topic

Steps:

1. Click Add a topic

2. Select Choose a default topic

3. Browse available predefined options:
   • Situation - Current environment and context
   • Impact - Business effect assessment
   • Critical Event - Urgency and deadlines
   • Budget - Financial qualification
   • Authority - Decision-maker identification
   • Need - Problem identification
   • Timing - Implementation timeline
   • Metrics - Success measurement
   • Economic Buyer - Budget holder identification
   • Decision Criteria - Evaluation factors
   • Decision Process - Approval workflow
   • And more...
4. Option to Create custom from predefined topics to modify existing templates

Option B: Create your own topic from scratch

Steps:

1. Click Add a topic
2. Choose Create a custom topic
3. Add a topic: Enter the name for this conversation topic
4. Agent script: Write guidance text that agents will see during calls
5. Conversation Insights: Choose how to capture information:
   • Paragraph: Free-form detailed text capture
   • Yes/No answer: Binary qualification responses
6. What do you want to validate?: Define the specific question or information to gather
7. Click Add a topic

Building effective custom topics

Example: Custom topic

• Add a topic: "Integration Requirements"

• Agent script: "Understand the prospect's current tech stack, integration needs, and technical decision-makers. Assess complexity and potential roadblocks for implementation."

• Format: Paragraph

• Validation question: "What systems need to integrate and who makes technical decisions?"

Conversation insights formats

Paragraph Format:

• Best for complex topics requiring detailed notes
• Captures nuanced information and context
• Ideal for discovery and needs assessment sections

Yes/No Format:

• Perfect for qualification checkpoints
• Binary decisions and go/no-go topics

Managing your custom Playbook

Adding multiple topics

You can continue building your Playbook by clicking Add a topic for each new topic. Mix predefined and custom topics to match your conversation flow.

Important: Each Playbook can contain up to 10 topics. For best results, aim for 3 to 8 well-structured steps.

Organizing topics

Arrange your topics in the logical order your team should follow during calls. A typical sequence might include:

Example Playbook Structure:

1. Current Solution (Custom) - What they use today
2. Pain Points (Predefined) - Problems with current approach
3. Success Metrics (Custom) - How they measure success
4. Technical Requirements (Custom) - Integration and tech needs
5. Decision Timeline (Predefined - Timing) - Implementation schedule
6. Budget Authority (Predefined - Authority) - Who approves purchase

Using Custom Playbooks

Assign custom playbooks to phone numbers

Steps:

1. Once created, custom playbooks appear in the Playbook dropdown for all phone numbers

2. Assign them like standard Playbooks:

   • Go to Numbers and select the number you want to assign the custom playbooks

   • Open Settings

   • Go to Live assistant

   • Use the Playbook dropdown to select your custom Playbook

3. Different numbers can use different custom playbooks based on purpose

Allow agents to switch playbooks during a call

Admins can enable a setting on eligible lines that allows agents to switch between custom and Aircall playbooks during a live call.

Steps

1. Go to Aircall Dashboard > Numbers
2. Select the number and go to the Settings tab and navigate to the Live Assist section.
3. Turn ON Allow playbook switch.

Note: The playbook dropdown shown to agents is automatically filtered to match the line’s default language.

Agent experience during calls

• Same interface as standard Playbooks during calls.

• Custom topics appear in sequential order in the Live Assist panel.

• AI tracks progress through your custom conversation flow during the call.

• To see your custom Playbook during a call, click the Live Assist button to open the panel.

Agent experience after calls

• Structured summaries are generated in the end of the call based on your specific topics
• Edit the generated playbook summary with any information you consider missing and those changes will be saved.

FAQs

Can I edit custom playbooks after creating them?

Yes, you can modify custom playbooks at any time. Changes apply to all phone numbers using that playbook. If you add or remove new topics to a playbook, this change will be reflected only in future calls, the historical data will not be changed.

How many custom playbooks can I create?

There's no limit on the number of custom playbooks you can create.

Can I copy or duplicate existing custom playbooks?

Currently, you need to create each custom playbook from scratch, but you can use predefined topics as starting points.