Setting Do's and don'ts

Do's and don'ts are the house rules. They are not answers to particular questions. They are the things you want true of every reply Chloe writes.

What a Do or a don't is

A rule written in plain language that Chloe follows in every reply, on every channel.

A Do

Something you want her to always do. "Offer the phone number when someone sounds stuck."

A Don't

Something you want her never to do. "Never promise a delivery date."

They are kept in two columns under Chloe, then Training, then Do's and don'ts.

Rules, answers and knowledge are different things

This is the distinction that makes the whole training area make sense, and it is worth getting straight once.

Knowledge

Answers "what is true about our business?". That means your prices, your hours and your policies.

Guided answers

Answer "what should she say when somebody asks this particular question?"

Do's and don'ts

Answer "how should she behave, whatever the question?"

If you find yourself writing the same correction into several guided answers, it was a rule all along.

How to add a rule

1. 1Go to Chloe, then Training, then Do's and don'ts.
2. 2Click Add a rule.
3. 3Choose Do or Don't.
4. 4Write the rule as you would say it to a new colleague. You have 500 characters, and you will not need them.
5. 5Click Add a rule to save it.

It applies from the next reply onwards, on every channel.

Writing a rule that works

The box prompts you to say it like you would coach a teammate, and that is exactly the right register. Rules that work are specific and observable; rules that fail are vague instructions about attitude.

• Good. "Never give a refund date, say we will confirm by email". She can follow it, and you can tell whether she did.
• Useless. "Be helpful". It is not a behaviour, and nothing she writes could fail it.
• "Always use the customer's first name if you know it".
• Wrong place. "Sound more professional" belongs in the tone setting, which is designed for it.

Why the list is capped

You can have thirty rules, and the counter at the top shows how many you have used.

The cap is deliberate. A short list keeps every rule sharp; a list of eighty contradicts itself and dilutes the ones that matter. If you are running out of room, some of your rules are probably guided answers in disguise.

Rules that come from coaching

You do not have to write every rule here. When you correct Chloe, a rule can come out of that correction and land in this list automatically. That works in the Training mode sandbox and from a real conversation.

So the list grows on its own. Read through it occasionally and delete anything that no longer reflects how you want to sound.

When rules conflict

Two things can disagree, and the order of precedence is fixed: don't rules win.

A don't beats a do, and a don't beats a guided answer. So if you have an answer that mentions a delivery date and a don't that forbids promising one, the don't is what happens.