How to use the call scripts

What this is

A page for the calls you keep putting off. There are 40 situations, and each one has a script in four parts: the line you open with, the order to say things in, what to answer when they ask something back, and how to end the call.

We wrote every line ourselves. Nothing here is copied from a transcript or a recording, so some lines fit your situation better than others. Change any line that does not sound like you. A script is something to lean on, not a rule to follow.

Why a script helps

Calls are hard because there is no draft. A message can be edited before it goes; a call is final as you say it. If you have not decided what to say, the line connects and you stall on the first sentence, and that stall is what makes the next call harder to face.

A script does not make you a better speaker. It removes the choices. Once the opening line is settled you can get through the first few seconds, and after that most calls are just answering what you are asked. The branch list exists for the same reason: people ask back the same handful of things, so having those answers ready turns the hardest moment into an ordinary one.

How this page works

• A value you type goes into every line that uses it, all at once.
• Leave a blank empty and the example goes in instead. You never see a placeholder in curly brackets. The page lists which fields are still showing an example.
• What you type is kept in this browser only, in two places: the blank values and the text size. Nothing is sent to a server and nothing appears on your other devices.
• Bigger text and smaller text move through four steps. Go up one step and scroll so only the script is on screen, then you do not have to scroll while talking.
• Copy script puts all four parts on your clipboard. Print leaves out the inputs and buttons.
• The server records which of five stages you reached, and nothing else. It never records which situation you picked, because a situation name says too much about your life.

Before you dial

• Put a pen and paper next to you. Dates and amounts fade fast.
• Read the opening line out loud once. On the page and in your mouth are different things.
• Fill in the reference numbers now, so you are not searching mid-call.
• Check the opening hours. Five minutes before closing suits nobody.
• Call from somewhere quiet. One fewer repeat makes the whole call shorter.

When you get stuck mid-call

• Ask them to repeat it. Sorry, could you say that again is one short sentence.
• If your mind goes blank, say one moment and look at the script. That is shorter than silence.
• Read numbers back. Saying the date and the amount out loud catches mistakes on both sides.
• If the answer is no, ask what it is based on. A policy name makes the next call far shorter.
• Before you hang up, summarise: the date, the amount, and what happens next.
• A call that goes badly is not the end. You can call again with the same script.

Where it falls short

• They will ask things the branch list does not cover. Three common ones is not all of them.
• It does not place the call. It settles what to say and stops there.
• It gives no medical or legal judgement. Whether you get the appointment, the refund or the payment is decided by that institution and by law. The script only settles what to ask.
• It does not call your dislike of phone calls a condition, and it does not claim to cure anything. All we measure is how many people opened a script and copied it.
• There is no recording and no dialling. It is one page in a browser.