Overview
Practice call lets you roleplay a campaign with a teammate, or an AI, playing the prospect while you read the same live teleprompter the Campaign Dialer uses. Open it from the campaign's Practice section (under Calling in the side panel), where Call a phone, Simulator and Send a link open this page with that way already picked, or with Practice call on the Email Context tab of Tools > Campaign Context. It works on paused and unlaunched campaigns and leaves their status alone. Practice never dials prospects and never creates contacts, dial sessions or call logs, so it never counts toward campaign stats or reports. Sales demo campaigns do not offer it. During the call the page switches to the Dialer's session layout, so practice looks and feels like a real dial session.
How to use this page
Choose how to practice
Pick Call a phone to have your browser ring any phone number (whoever answers plays the prospect), Send a link to open a practice room in your browser and send someone a link, or Simulator to practice on your own with an AI answering as the prospect. Opening the page from a Practice option picks that way for you. Your last choice, the number and your AI scenario are remembered in this browser.
Fill in the details
For a phone practice, enter the 10 digit Phone number to ring and pick Your caller ID. SalesHive staff also get SalesHive testing numbers, listed under SalesHive testing (practice only) after the client's own lines under This client, and one is picked for you by default, so practice works even before the client has a calling line. A SalesHive testing pill beside the caller ID shows when a testing number is picked. If no caller ID is offered, use Send a link or the Simulator. For the Simulator, pick how the AI acts: Open but busy, Skeptical, Quick brush-off, or Surprise me to get one of those at random. Optionally add the Prospect name, Company and Title being played, so the teleprompter can use them. With the Simulator, a blank name gets a made-up one.
Decide whether to record
Record this call is off by default. Turn it on to save the call so you can play it back, download it, or email it to the client afterward. Only recorded calls are saved.
Start the call
Choose Start practice call and allow microphone access; you have up to a minute to answer the browser's microphone prompt. The page switches to the call layout and the app menu steps aside. A thin strip across the whole top of the page shows Status, Time, Mode and Recording, centered. In phone mode the status reads Ringing your manager, then Live once they answer. In Send a link mode it reads Waiting for your manager to open the link; copy the link with Copy manager link in the right column and send it to them. The room stays open until you end it, so take your time. With the Simulator the call goes straight to Live and the AI answers.
Read the teleprompter
Talk as you would on a real call. The Teleprompter tab suggests lines from the campaign's Calling Context as the prospect speaks. It uses your spoken introduction to continue after a simple confirmation, and answers a question about the call's purpose from approved context rather than restarting the opener. A displayed line alone does not count as spoken. It uses both speakers' answers, including short yes or no replies and later corrections, to skip questions already settled. This also applies with Low customization. If the prospect explains that their team is keeping up or needs no help and declines the offered support, it should suggest a brief closing without another pitch, meeting question or email request. An in-house team alone is not a refusal. Clarify only missing details; a request to repeat or a necessary contact or booking readback is still allowed. Silence does not reopen a settled answer or refusal. Review the suggestion against what was actually said. The suggestions keep corrections from the conversation. If someone no longer works there, use only the replacement name or role actually supplied, or ask who handles the topic. Do not ask for the departed person to call back. If the prospect says they are driving but explicitly says they can talk, answer briefly without asking them to read, type or open a calendar. A request to stop or end the call takes priority. The Teleprompter can wait silently when no reply is appropriate or the prospect needs a moment. On a recorded voicemail greeting, the Teleprompter stays silent. It does not suggest a message, callback request, notice or disposition advice. Live receptionists, phone menus and screeners keep their separate guidance. Silence alone does not request a follow-up line. Continue the conversation naturally and use the Calling Context when needed. The current suggestion stays visible while the prospect speaks or interrupts, until a new nonempty suggestion replaces it. Phone menus and hold announcements do not erase the displayed line. When the prospect finishes dictating an email address, the Teleprompter suggests reading it back and asking "Is that right?" It uses the spoken spelling, dots, digits and domain in order, even when the saved address differs. While they are still spelling, let them finish; if part is unclear, ask about that part instead of guessing. A short acknowledgment from you does not discard the earlier spelling. The readback contains no promise to send, sales question or goodbye. Once the practice phone connects, Your opener may appear from saved practice details before the first speech or live reply. The prepared opener stays until the first live suggestion replaces it. Speech alone does not clear it, and it does not return during later pauses. Use Context if it is unavailable. The current line shows in bold orange at the top of the reader. By default only the current line shows and each new line replaces it. Turn on the History switch in the teleprompter toolbar to keep this call's earlier lines, dimmed, under Earlier in this call above the current one; every new line jumps the reader to the bottom, even if you scrolled up. The reader clears when the practice call ends. The Calling Context also sits under the teleprompter, with a drag handle to give either half more room; turn off the Context switch in the teleprompter toolbar to give the reader the whole tab, or turn it on to bring it back. It is also on the Context tab; the teleprompter keeps its place while you read it. In both places, when the context has several sections, a contents list on its left (or a row of tabs in a narrow pane) shows one section at a time; select a part under it to jump straight there, or select the open section again to fold its parts away so the other sections stay in reach. Coaching notes written in square brackets on their own line show as a Note, set apart from the lines you say. A short note shows in full; a long one shows only its first sentence, so select More to read the rest and Less to fold it again. Bracketed text inside a line, such as [Optional:], shows smaller than the words to say. Turn off the Notes switch above the text to hide every note and all bracketed text so only the lines to say remain; your browser remembers it here and in the Dialer. The left rail opens on who your manager or the AI is playing (with the Simulator, also the scenario), and a small SalesHive logo sits at the left end of the status strip above it. Use Mute in the right column, and choose End practice when you are done, or Exit practice at the bottom of that right column to end the call and go back to the campaign.
Set your reading font, size and width
Select the settings button (sliders icon) at the right of the teleprompter toolbar to choose Text size, Font, Line width and Tone, or use the Font and Size menus on the Context tab. Line width, in the teleprompter settings only, sets how wide its lines run, from 50% to Full (the default). These are the same choices you make in the Campaign Dialer, so a change here also applies there, and they are remembered in this browser. At the right end of the status strip, the sun or moon button switches between light and dark mode, and the Background icon picks the scene behind the call.
Review saved practice calls
Saved practice calls, at the bottom, lists this campaign's recorded practice calls with the date, who called, the mode, the prospect name and the length. A recording shows Recording is processing for a few minutes after the call ends. Then you can play it or choose Download. SalesHive staff can also choose Email to client.
Email a recording to the client
Choose Email to client. SalesHive drafts the email from the campaign context and what was said on the call. The draft is written to say it was a practice roleplay, with your manager or, for an AI practice call, an AI voice playing a fictional prospect, and never a real prospect conversation. It then shows the whole email: To (client contacts on file are suggested), Cc, Subject and Message, plus the attached recording. Edit anything, or choose Rewrite draft. Nothing sends until you choose Send this email. It goes from your own SalesHive mailbox with your signature, and the call then shows when and to whom it was emailed.
What the buttons do
- Back link (campaign name)
- At the top of the setup page. Returns to the campaign's Practice section.
- Call a phone / Send a link / Simulator
- Chooses whether your browser rings a phone number, opens a practice room someone joins from a link, or puts you on the line with an AI playing the prospect.
- AI scenario
- Simulator mode only. Open but busy listens if you get to the point; Skeptical pushes back with real objections; Quick brush-off tries to get off the phone fast; Surprise me picks one of these at random when the call starts.
- Phone number to ring
- The number to ring in phone mode. Numbers on the client's blocklist, stored on its prospects, or already called by its dialer are refused.
- Your caller ID
- The number the practice call rings from. It lists the lines you may use for this client and, for SalesHive staff, SalesHive testing numbers used only for practice, which are picked by default and marked with a SalesHive testing pill. A client line paused because carriers appear to be labeling it as spam can still be listed, but a phone practice from it stops with a message saying it was paused. Pick another line, such as its replacement. Focus the dropdown and press Enter, Space or an arrow key to open it. Use Up and Down to move through choices, then Enter or Space to select. Home and End move to the first or last choice when an option has focus. If a search field appears, type to filter and press an arrow key to reach the choices. Escape closes without changing the selection and returns focus to the button. Tab closes and moves on. Reopening clears the search.
- Prospect name, Company, Title
- Optional details for the prospect your manager or the AI plays. With the Simulator, a blank name gets a made-up one.
- Record this call
- Off by default. When on, the call is saved to Saved practice calls and the status shows Recording.
- Start practice call
- Starts the call. After one ends it reads Start another practice call.
- Copy manager link
- Send a link mode only. In the right column during the call, under the manager link. Copies the private link your manager opens to join.
- Teleprompter / Context tabs
- During the call, switch between the live teleprompter and the campaign's Calling Context. The context's contents list picks a section to show and jumps to its parts; select the open section again to fold or show its parts.
- Font / Size
- In the teleprompter settings (sliders icon) and as menus on the Context tab during the call. Font offers Default, Sans-serif, Readable, Times New Roman and Comic Sans; Size offers Small, Medium (the default) or Large. They share your Campaign Dialer choices and are remembered in this browser.
- Line width
- In the teleprompter settings (sliders icon): 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% or Full (the default). Below Full, the lines run in a centered column that share of the reader wide. It changes only the layout, never what is suggested, and is saved in this browser; the Campaign Dialer and the call simulator use the same choice.
- Tone / History / Transcript
- On the teleprompter toolbar during the call. Tone, in the teleprompter settings (sliders icon), sets how suggested lines sound: Laid-back, Professional, Upbeat or Funny. The History switch (off by default) shows this call's earlier lines above the current one and keeps the reader at the newest line. The Transcript switch hides or shows the Live conversation lines above the suggested reply. All three are saved in this browser.
- Context switch
- On the teleprompter toolbar during the call, after History and Transcript. Shows or hides the campaign's Calling context in a pane under the teleprompter, with a drag handle between them. On by default. The choice is remembered in this browser. The handle starts halfway. Your last drag is saved to your account, so it stays where you left it in any browser and every new session; double-click the handle to reset it to halfway. Both are shared with the Campaign Dialer and the call simulator.
- Light / dark switch
- Sun or moon button at the right end of the status strip. Switches the app between light and dark mode.
- Background (picture icon)
- Next to the light and dark switch. Opens the same Background grid as the app menu, so you can change the scene during practice. Your pick is saved in this browser.
- Mute / Unmute
- Mutes your microphone during the practice call.
- End practice
- In the right column during the call. Hangs up, ends the practice room and returns you to the setup page.
- Exit practice
- At the bottom of the right column during the call, below End practice and Mute. Ends the practice call and takes you back to the campaign's Calling context section.
- Download
- Downloads a saved recording.
- Email to client
- SalesHive staff only. Drafts an email with the recording attached and shows it in full before you send it.
- Refresh
- Reloads the Saved practice calls list.