| I want to… | Jump to |
|---|---|
| Make a character sound human | Natural speech, Response length |
| Fix how a word is said | Pronunciation rules |
| Stop the character over-asking | Don’t ask superfluous questions |
| Keep reps from getting stuck | Exit conditions, Concession points |
| Make discovery harder | Multi-level depth |
| Write better grading | Observable chains, Scenario-specific notes |
| Spin up a variation | Hard/easy variants, Dynamic variables |
| Figure out why it broke | Diagnose from a transcript |
Character & Voice
Make the persona specific
Give the character a personality, a motivation, and a communication style, not just a job title. The more human they feel, the less robotic the conversation.Do: “VP Finance, skeptical and efficiency-oriented, wants to pre-qualify on price before investing time.” Don’t: “VP Finance.”Use a real personality type (for example DISC: Dominant, Influential, Steady, Conscientious) to keep buyers distinct. More on character fields in Advanced Roleplay Building.
Write the opening line verbatim
Write the character’s first line in exact words so the AI doesn’t improvise an off-base start. It sets the tone for the whole conversation.Natural speech patterns
Make the character sound human with occasional filler and pauses.Control response length
Stop a character from monologuing or over-sharing.Pronunciation rules
If the character mangles a product name or acronym, add a text guideline that spells out how to say it.Segment variants
The same buyer type behaves differently by company size. Spell out how an Enterprise buyer’s motives differ from SMB or mid-market, or use conditional context to vary the character by the learner’s profile.Conversation Behavior
These live in the character’s Conversation Guidelines, built from text sections (free-form rules like response length, speech, pronunciation) and trigger sections (a trigger plus leveled responses).Be explicit about objections
List the specific pushbacks you want and when, or the AI invents objections that may not match your product. If you only want pressure on price and timeline, say so.”Don’t ask superfluous questions”
One of the highest-impact lines you can add. Without it the AI over-asks and creates dead ends.Define exit conditions
If the rep must do something specific to advance (ask for the meeting, present ROI), say so, or reps get stuck waiting for a “magic phrase” the character is silently holding out for.Define a concession point
Tell the AI when to soften, or it stays in objection mode forever.Add multi-level discovery depth
Make reps dig instead of accepting the first answer. Ask the agent to add levels to a response guideline.Add or edit text and trigger sections
Reach for a text section for a general rule (“keep answers short”) and a trigger section for a specific moment (“when asked about budget, respond like this”). You can add your own triggers and as many response levels as a moment needs. Full editor: Conversation Guidelines.Evaluation Criteria
Write observable behaviors, not vague qualities
Do: “Asks at least three open-ended questions about the prospect’s workflow before presenting.” Don’t: “Demonstrates good discovery skills.”
Write criteria as observable chains
Format a criterion as “rep does X, then Y, without Z.”Add scenario-specific scoring notes
Drop a note right into the Good / Fair / Poor text to override or supplement the default logic.Editing & Variants
Edit in place, or Remix to change behavior
Most of a published scenario is editable in place (context, criteria, character identity, voice, personality, session settings). Reach for Remix only to change how the character behaves (response guidelines, triggers, hidden details) or to spin off a variant. See Edit a Scenario and Remix a Scenario.Make a hard or easy variant
Remix and describe the change, keeping the original intact.Reuse with dynamic variables
Set a placeholder like company name once and have it update everywhere in the scenario, so you can reuse a scenario across teams or accounts without hand-editing every mention.Clone vs. Remix
Use Clone to adapt someone else’s scenario (for example from a shared collection) into your own; use Remix to iterate on your own scenario or create a variation. If you get stuck while editing, use Revert to return to a previous version.Testing & QA
Test with Try Now before publishing
Click Try Now for a quick conversation with the character. Check the opening line, whether resistance feels right, whether it reveals too much, and whether the flow gets stuck.Preview with a simulated transcript
Don’t always run it live. Ask the agent for a sample run to review in a couple of minutes.Diagnose a stuck conversation
Paste a real transcript back to the agent and ask what went wrong.Planning Shortcuts
- Start with the moment, not the topic. “Prospect pushes back on price during a procurement demo after seeing the proposal” beats “objection handling.” Specific moments make realistic practice.
- Split long conversations. Keep a scenario under about ten minutes; split longer ones at natural stopping points and match the character name, company, photo, and voice across parts so it feels continuous.
- Start simple, then layer. Build the easy, cooperative version first, confirm it works, then remix to add tougher objections, a more resistant persona, or time pressure.