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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.
Image showing custom playbook

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
Image showing the 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, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese.)
  3. Click Create
Image showing the create custom playbook settings
IMPORTANT:

Aircall supports AI Assist and AI Assist Pro in 24 languages, across two coverage tiers. Here's what to expect from each:

Verified languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian. 

Available languages: 17 additional languages across Eastern Europe, the Nordics, and other regions (Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian, Slovak, Croatian, Russian, Catalan, Ukrainian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Turkish, Greek, Filipino). These are offered on a best-effort basis:

• Accuracy has not been validated to the same standard as Verified languages
• Quality may vary depending on accent, industry vocabulary, and audio conditions
• Predefined playbook templates are not available (custom playbooks still work)

If you rely on transcription or AI output quality for a business-critical workflow, we recommend using a Verified language where possible, or testing Additional languages on a representative sample of your calls first. Please, refer to our T&C.

Step 3: Build your conversation framework

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

Image showing the playbook editor

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
  1. Select Choose a default topic
  1. 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...
  2. Option to Create custom from predefined topics to modify existing templates
image showing the add a topic window

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. AI prompt: Write the questions the AI should use to evaluate and summarize this topic from the call transcript
  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

Writing effective AI prompts

The AI prompt field tells the system what to look for and summarize for each topic. The AI has no context beyond the call transcript, so how you write this field directly affects the quality of the output.

Write as questions, not instructions. The AI expects questions that define what should be captured.

  • Instead of: "Identify the systems that need to integrate and who makes technical decisions."
  • Use: "What systems need to integrate? Who makes technical decisions?"

One question per topic. Avoid combining multiple concepts in a single prompt.

  • Instead of: "What is the prospect's budget and their timeline for adopting a new solution?"
  • Use two separate topics: one for budget, one for timeline.

Keep it simple and focused. Target exactly the piece of information that needs to be collected. Do not include instructions on how the agent should ask the question, why the information is important, or other contextual details.

Avoid unnecessary context. Coaching notes belong in the agent script field, not in the AI prompt.

NOTE:
The agent script and the AI prompt serve different purposes. The agent script is displayed to the agent during the live call. The AI prompt is used by the AI to analyze the transcript after the call. Keep them separate and focused on their respective roles.

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.
Image showing how multiple topics appear in My Custom Playbook

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.
Image showing how to turn playbook switcher on
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.

Jordan W.