The scale
Every call is scored on each category below against these four descriptions.
The behaviour didn't happen, or the agent did the opposite of what the playbook says.
It happened, but thinly, late, or by rote — the intent didn't land.
Done properly, the way the playbook describes. This is the standard, not the ceiling.
Everything in Strong, plus judgement the script can't teach. Rare by design.
The rubric
Every cell is meant to be something you could point at in a transcript — a descriptor, not an adjective. That's what makes an AI score the same call the same way twice, and what makes a score arguable with the agent it's about.
| Category | 1MissedThe behaviour didn't happen, or the agent did the opposite of what the playbook says. | 2DevelopingIt happened, but thinly, late, or by rote — the intent didn't land. | 3StrongDone properly, the way the playbook describes. This is the standard, not the ceiling. | 4ExceptionalEverything in Strong, plus judgement the script can't teach. Rare by design. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening the call | ||||
| 1Opening & purposeStep 1Right person, who you are, why you're calling. | Didn't confirm they were speaking to the right person, or never said who they are and where they're calling from. The client spends the first minute working out what this call is. | Named themselves and UK Therapy Guide, but the purpose stayed vague or assumed — no clear “we have a call booked today to place you with a therapist.” | Confirmed the person, introduced themselves and UK Therapy Guide, and stated the placement purpose plainly — all inside the first minute. | All of Strong, delivered warmly enough that the client is already talking easily. The opening reads as a conversation starting, not a checklist being cleared. |
| 2Framing the roadmapStep 2Told them you'd read the form, and where the call ends. | Went straight into questions. The client is never told what the call will cover or how it ends. | Gave a partial or vague outline (“I'll ask you a few things”), or mentioned reading the form but never set out where the call is going. | Said they'd read the intake form and walked the client through the four stages: their story and goals → schedule, budget and preferences → find the match and look at the profile together → book the assessment if they're happy. | All of Strong, and the framing is tailored to something specific in their form — the client can hear they've actually been read, not just filed. |
| Understanding the client | ||||
| 3Invitation & listeningStep 3Opened it up, then got out of the way. | Never opened it up — went straight to logistics — or talked over the client repeatedly while they were still telling their story. | Asked an open question but cut the story short, filled the client's pauses, or moved on at the first natural gap. | Opened with a genuine invitation and then let the client talk uninterrupted. The agent's turns are short and stay out of the way. | All of Strong, plus follow-up questions that visibly opened the story further — the client said more than they came intending to say. |
| 4Empathy before logisticsStep 4 · override ruleAcknowledge what they shared BEFORE asking about money or diary. | Asked about schedule or budget before acknowledging what the client had just shared. This is the rule the playbook says overrides everything. | Acknowledged it, but with a stock line and at speed — the client's disclosure is ticked off rather than received, and logistics arrive immediately after. | Acknowledged specifically what the client shared, thanked them for sharing, confirmed UKTG can help — then moved to schedule, and budget after that. | All of Strong, and the acknowledgement uses the client's own words back to them, so it plainly isn't a script line. The client's guard visibly drops. |
| 5Practical discoveryStep 4Schedule, budget, therapist preferences — enough to actually match. | Never established schedule or budget. Whatever match comes next isn't grounded in anything the client told them. | Got one of the three — usually schedule — or asked so briskly that the answers are thin and unusable for matching. | Established schedule restrictions, per-session budget, and the kind of therapist they'd feel best with — framed as helping the match, not as qualifying the client. | All of Strong, plus caught something that wasn't asked for — a past therapy experience, a format preference, a constraint — and carried it into the match. |
| Moving them to a decision | ||||
| 6The match pitchStep 5One named therapist, tied to their words, checked that it landed. | No specific therapist offered — a shortlist handed over with no recommendation, or a generic “we have lots of great therapists.” The client is left to do the matching. | Named a therapist, but the pitch is generic: specialisms listed without being tied to anything this client actually said. | One named therapist. Their specialism mapped explicitly to the client's own words, plus a concrete human quality about them — then checked it landed (“does that sound like what you're looking for?”). | All of Strong, and the pitch is unmistakably built for this client. The profile is walked through together rather than just sent over. |
| 7Handling hesitationOverride rulesPrice, doubt about matching, a bad past experience, scepticism. | Apologised for the price, jumped to a discount or a cheaper therapist, or pushed straight past a stated doubt as though it hadn't been said. | Acknowledged the concern but answered with a stock line and moved on without checking whether it was actually resolved. | Slowed down at the hesitation and addressed the real concern — value rather than price; the matching process for “how do you know who's right for me?”; what didn't work last time after a bad experience — then checked back in. | All of Strong, and turned the objection into matching material, so the recommendation came out stronger than before it was raised. |
| If the client raised no hesitation at all, score this N/A — never Strong. An untested skill isn't a demonstrated one. | ||||
| Closing it out | ||||
| 8Payment & wrap-upStep 7Link sent, receipt confirmed, next step clear. | No payment link sent, or sent with no explanation and no check that it arrived. | Link sent, but the client wasn't asked to use the same email address, or the agent moved on without confirming it had come through. | Sent the link while booking the session, asked for the same email address, confirmed it arrived, and closed by confirming everything is booked and the follow-up is set. | All of Strong, and held the client comfortably through the payment itself — no dead air, no awkwardness — leaving them clear on exactly what happens next and when. |
| N/A if the call legitimately never reached payment (a follow-up was agreed instead, or the client is deciding). | ||||
| Throughout the call | ||||
| 9Warmth & rapportCross-cuttingThe bit the script can't write down. | Transactional from start to finish. The client is processed rather than spoken to. | Polite and correct, but flat. The language is the script's rather than the agent's own. | Sounds like a person: natural language, responsive to what the client actually says, comfortable leaving a pause alone. | The client audibly relaxes across the call — guarded at the start, open by the end. They volunteer things, ask their own questions, thank the agent. |