Practice Before Your First Call
Run a practice call to see the real call screen, set it up the way you like, and try wrap-up, without anyone on the line.
You don't have to wait for a real call to learn the call screen. A practice call opens the exact same screen you'll use on a live call, with a script, a customer, and your panels, but nobody is dialed and nothing you do is saved.
It's the best way to spend your first ten minutes in careCycle.
Start a practice call
- Click your avatar in the top right corner.
- Choose Start Practice Call.
- In Simulate a Call, pick:
- Direction: Inbound rings like a real incoming call, so you can practice answering it. Outbound connects right away, like a number you dialed yourself.
- Routing Group: the team you take calls for. The practice call uses that group's script and wrap-up dispositions, so you see exactly what a real call from that line looks like.
- Customer (optional): search for a real customer by name, phone, or email to practice with their details. Leave it blank to use a sample caller.
- Click Start Practice Call.
A banner across the top reminds you it's a practice call: no one is on the line, and nothing you change is saved.
What to try
Treat it like your first real call:
- Answer it. On an inbound practice call, the incoming call card rings just like the real thing. Click to answer.
- Follow the script. Step through it with Previous and Next, and fill in the fields.
- Open your panels. Add the ones you'll use most, like Customer Info (⌥3), Notes (⌥2), and Policies (⌥4), and drag them where you want them. See Working a Call.
- Find your controls. Mute, Hold, Add someone, the keypad, and Hang up all sit in the header. Nothing reaches anyone, so click around.
- Wrap it up. Hang up and you'll get a Practice Wrap-Up, so you can practice picking a disposition. See Wrap-Up and Dispositions.
To stop early, click End Practice in the banner. It ends right away, with no wrap-up.
Good to know
- Nothing is saved. Changes to the customer, notes, and dispositions are thrown away when the practice call ends. Quoting in HealthSherpa is turned off too, since that would send the customer to HealthSherpa.
- Real calls come first. If a real call comes in while you're practicing, the real call takes over.
- One at a time. You can't start a practice call while you're on a real call or still wrapping one up. Finish that first.
- Anyone can do it. Every signed-in user can start a practice call. It's a great thing to have new agents do on day one.