Conversation Guide: Definition and Instructions in 7 Steps

A conversation guide serves as preparation and a basis for conversations with customers, employees, or patients. Creating a conversation guide improves structured communication and talking to an employee as well as a customer. Conversation guides are ideal for face-to-face, virtual, and telephone conversations.

Individual conversation guides are often used in sales or customer acquisition, among other areas, and are always adapted to the conversation partner and the goals of the conversation. At fonio, we offer an AI Phone Assistant for businesses, for which you create a conversation guide in the prompt so that it follows specific rules and behavior patterns during phone calls with customers.

What is a Conversation Guide?

A conversation guide is a document that serves primarily as a tool for discussions. The conversation guide outlines the sequence, occasion, questions, and goals for the upcoming conversation. A sample guide shows what the conversation may look like and serves as a guide during the conversation.

When developing the conversation guide, you should already write down important arguments, phrases, and sentences for the conversation, which you can then refer back to. If the conversation is a sales pitch, you should include all the important advantages of the product you are selling or the services you are offering in the conversation guide.

Conversation guides are created either as graphics, diagrams, or bullet points in the form of a checklist. Continuous text should be avoided in conversation guides to prevent constant reading during the conversation. Despite the conversation guide, it is important to be flexible and adapt the conversation to the situation and the conversation partner on a case-by-case basis.

What is the Purpose of a Conversation Guide?

The purpose of a conversation guide is that it serves to maintain a consistent thread throughout the conversation and uphold the planned structure with the topics you want to discuss. The conversation guide helps to keep the conversation on track, be prepared for any situation, and ensures quick responses to arguments.

A conversation guide ensures that all important information is addressed during the conversation and that proven communication strategies are always followed. With a conversation guide as targeted preparation, you will radiate professionalism during the conversation and have a better chance of success.

Conversation guides are particularly helpful for beginners in sales or customer service, as they make it easier to get started in sales and customer communication. Conversation guides serve as memory aids or as a constant reminder of possible adjustments to the conversation.

How Should a Conversation Guide be Structured?

A conversation guide should be structured around greeting, main part, and conclusion. The main part of the conversation guide consists of the introduction, explanation of the reason for the conversation, needs assessment, explanation of the offer, and counterarguments. Each discussion guide is structured separately.

Below, we will show you how to structure a conversation guide for a sales pitch.

1. Greeting: First Impressions Count!

The conversation guide includes a friendly greeting, with different greetings written down for different scenarios. When making a phone call, you should ensure that the right contact person is on the phone and that several greeting variants are included in the conversation guide that are optimized for different conversation partners. For face-to-face conversations, the conversation guide should include reminders such as eye contact and upright posture from the moment you greet the other person.

2. Build Trust with a Professional Introduction

During the conversation, you should establish trust with a professional introduction, which is why you should write down relevant aspects about yourself, your job, and the company in the conversation guide. If the conversation was not planned in advance, make a note in the guide that you should politely ask whether the other person has time for a conversation after introducing yourself. The introduction should be unchanged in every conversation guide and is the same for all conversations with new customers. Write down promising conversation starters in the conversation guide so that they are successful in every conversation.

3. State the Reason for the Conversation

At the beginning of the conversation, you should state the reason for the conversation directly and awaken the other person's interest so that even unplanned conversations receive the desired attention from the conversation partner. Write down the reason for the conversation in the guide and note down the goals to be achieved.

In your sales conversation guide, make a note that you should briefly introduce your service or product. The conversation guide should state that you should not present any arguments for making a purchase at the beginning of the conversation. It is best to write a suitable elevator pitch of 2 to 3 sentences in your conversation guide for the beginning of the conversation.

4. Assess Needs

During the conversation, you need to assess the needs of the other person so that you can sell your product or service to them in a way that suits them. Make a note of open questions in the conversation guide that encourage the other person to engage in dialogue. Let your conversation partner tell their story and ask them about the problems, wishes, and challenges they face in their everyday work. The questions in the conversation guide should determine which options for overcoming the problem or achieving the wish have already been tried by the conversation partner. Record all important questions for determining the needs of the customer in the conversation guide.

5. Explain the Offer and Highlight Customer Benefits

It is important to explain your own offer and highlight the customer benefits in order to sell the product or service in the best possible way. Explain in the conversation guide how the product or service can help to fulfill the customer's wishes. Write down appropriate if-then situations in the conversation guide so that you are prepared for all eventualities during the conversation.

In the conversation guide, write down what your offer brings to your conversation partner and note down all the advantages of the product or service in detail. Put your sales arguments in the right order in the conversation guide and remember to always address the needs of your conversation partner that you identified earlier. Have all the features and prices of your product or service ready and draft possible solutions to various problems in the guide.

6. Have Good Arguments Ready to Counter Objections

Always have good arguments ready in the conversation guide to counter any objections your conversation partner may have. When preparing the conversation guide, think about what objections or concerns your customer might have about your product or service, identify possible criticisms in advance, and write down appropriate counterarguments.

Counterarguments in the conversation guide are important for projecting self-confidence during the conversation. If you find weak points in your argumentation, you should write down appropriate responses to them in the conversation guide. Regularly adjust the conversation guide with regard to arguments that work and those that don't in order to increase your success rate.

7. End Conversation

How to end the conversation should be written in the conversation guide. Ideally, by the end of the conversation, you will have achieved your goal of closing the sale and negotiating a deal. To close the deal, note in the conversation guide how best to persuade the other party to make a purchase decision.

After closing the deal, you should make a note in your conversation guide that you will repeat what has been discussed for the other party and clarify the steps for the future. Write down that you will arrange a follow-up appointment with the customer if necessary and thank your conversation partner for the meeting. Remember to include a friendly goodbye in your conversation guide.

Where are Conversation Guides Used?

Conversation guides are used in sales during sales pitches. A conversation guide is used by supervisors in job interviews or performance reviews and by employees in customer meetings. Conversation guides are suitable for teachers in parent-teacher conferences and in telemarketing for customer acquisition.

A conversation guide is used for face-to-face conversations and telephone conversations, as well as for individual and group discussions. Conversation guides are used in human resources, customer service, nursing care, social work, and within authorities, among other areas. Creating a conversation guide is suitable for all areas and industries where structured, goal-oriented conversations are important.

AI Conversations with fonio Based on a Conversation Guide

It is possible to conduct AI conversations with fonio based on a conversation guide by configuring the AI Phone Assistant to adhere to specific conversation logic. When setting up the AI Phone Assistant, you write a prompt defining how it should handle the phone calls.

In the prompt, you define the conversation guide and explain rules of conduct, such as how the virtual phone assistant should greet callers, lead conversations, and respond to objections. In the prompt for the AI Phone Assistant, you should record if-then situations as a conversation guide so that the intelligent assistant knows how to behave in different situations.

Fonio has a knowledge database where you can provide the AI Phone Assistant with company-specific knowledge in the form of PDF documents as a conversation guide. During phone calls, the AI uses the documents provided and responds to the caller in accordance with the commands in the prompt.

At fonio, we specialize in providing an AI Phone Assistant that automatically answers calls, understands concerns, asks questions, and schedules appointments. Using written prompts and the knowledge database provided, you have optimal control over the AI Phone Assistant, which follows the specified conversation guide when configured correctly.