GuidesAI agents
Build an outbound agent
Set up the agent your outbound campaigns call with: who speaks first, the conversation guide, variables, what counts as success, voicemail and phone menus.
An outbound agent makes the calls in an outbound campaign. It uses the same builder as an inbound agent, with four extra sections and a different Greeting.
- Where
- AI Studio > Agents > Create Agent > Outbound agent
- Plan
- Scale
- Engine
- Classic
Create it
Select Create Agent, then Outbound agent. Crulon creates an Untitled outbound agent straight away and opens the builder, with starter text to replace:
- A conversation guide with an objective, key points, questions, objections and a close.
- A voicemail message.
- Two variables:
first_nameandreason.
Give it a name in Identity: the agent uses it when a call screener asks who’s calling.
Sections
- 01
Identity
Name, business and an internal note
- 02
Voice
How it sounds
- 03
Greeting
Who speaks first, the opening line and what call screeners hear
- 04
Persona & Instructions
Who it is and its rules
- 05
Conversation guideOutbound only
What the call is for and how it should go
- 06
VariablesOutbound only
The details each person’s call is filled in with
- 07
KnowledgeBeta
Documents it answers questions from
- 08
Business Tools
What it can look up or change
- 09
Call Handling
Where it hands people over, and when it ends the call
- 10
VoicemailOutbound only
Whether it leaves a message
- 11
IVR navigationOutbound only
Getting through a phone menu
- 12
Behavior
Listening, turn-taking and silence
- 13
Versions
Every published version
Identity, Voice, Persona & Instructions, Knowledge, Business Tools and Behavior work as they do on inbound agents: see Every agent setting and Write your agent’s instructions.
What happens when someone picks up
Crulon listens to the first moments of the call to tell who or what answered.
- 01
The agent dials
From the number the campaign calls from.
- 02
Crulon listens to who answers
A person, a voicemail, a call screener or a phone menu.
A person
The agent says your AI disclosure, then the greeting, then follows the conversation guide.
A voicemail
The agent leaves your voicemail message, or hangs up if you haven’t set one.
A call screener
The agent says who it is and why it’s calling, then waits up to 45 seconds for the person.
A phone menu
With IVR navigation on, it presses keys to reach a person. Off, it talks to the menu.
The AI disclosure is set for the whole workspace, in Outbound > Settings. See The AI disclosure.
Greeting
| Field | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Who speaks first | The person (recommended): the agent waits for them to say “Hello?”, then greets. The agent: it greets about a second after they pick up, but a voicemail that starts slowly may be greeted as if a person answered |
| If they don’t say anything, start after | When the person speaks first: how long the agent waits for them before it greets anyway. 1 to 10 seconds, 3 to start |
| Reason for calling, for call screeners | Up to 150 characters, such as “about your October bill”. When a phone’s call screener asks who’s calling, the agent says: “Hi, this is agent name from business, calling reason.” Leave it blank to use the greeting |
| Greeting | One or two short sentences, said word for word. Use variables: “Hi {{first_name}}, this is Sam from North Valley Heating, calling about {{reason}}.” |
| Let the agent generate its own greeting | On, the agent opens with a line of its own, and the greeting box is ignored. A blank greeting does the same. Write a greeting for outbound calls, so the person hears why you’re calling |
Templates: Introduction, Payment reminder and Appointment confirmation. Payment reminder uses {{amount_due}} and Appointment confirmation uses {{appointment_date}}, so add those variables if you use them.
Conversation guide
Call objective & flow is required. Write what the agent is trying to do and how the call should go. It guides the conversation and isn’t read out, so don’t repeat the greeting.
Confirm
{{first_name}}’s appointment for{{reason}}. If the time doesn’t work, offer to have the office call back to reschedule. Answer questions about what to expect. If they ask about cost, say the office will confirm it.
The Template gallery has Appointment reminder, Payment reminder, Lead qualification and Survey. Picking one replaces the guide. Rendered preview shows the guide with sample values filled in, and a warning lists any variable the guide uses that isn’t in Variables.
A call is successful when…
Up to 1,000 characters, such as “the customer agrees a payment date.” After each answered call, Crulon reads the transcript and judges it against this. Leave it blank to judge against the call objective.
| Result | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Successful | The goal was met |
| Partly successful | Some of it was |
| Asked for a call back, Not interested, Wrong number | The goal wasn’t met, for that reason |
| No result | None of these |
Calls that didn’t reach a person get other results, such as Voicemail - Message Left, Screened, no answer or IVR - Could Not Reach a Human. Calls can only be judged when transcripts are on, in Settings > Voice & recording.
Variables
The details each person’s call is filled in with, such as their name or the amount due. They come from the columns of your contact list.
| Field | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Name | How you write it in double braces, such as {{first_name}}. Letters, numbers and underscores |
| Type | Text (string), number, true or false (boolean), or date |
| Sample value | Used in test calls and the Rendered preview |
| Required | People with this detail missing are left out of the campaign |
| Description | What it is, for your team |
Use variables in the greeting, the conversation guide, the voicemail message and the reason for calling. Select Validate schema to check them.
Voicemail
Leave a message on voicemail is on to start. Write the Voicemail message, with the same variables: “Hi {{first_name}}, this is North Valley Heating calling about {{reason}}. Please call us back at 520-555-0142.”
Turn it off and the agent hangs up when it reaches a voicemail. Either way, the campaign can try again.
IVR navigation
For calls to businesses with a phone menu. Turn on Navigate phone trees (IVR), then:
- Navigation goal: where to get to, such as “Reach a live agent in the billing department.”
- Max menu steps: how many menus it goes through before giving up, 1 to 20, 5 to start.
When it reaches a person, it greets them. If it can’t, the call ends as IVR - Could Not Reach a Human. With navigation off, the agent talks to the menu as if it were a person.
Call Handling
- Handoff works as it does inbound: the agent can put an interested person through to your team or an outside number. Call Flow destinations only work on inbound calls. See Hand calls to your team.
- Max call length: 1 to 240 minutes, 10 to start, counted from when they pick up. At the limit, the agent ends the call politely. A campaign can set its own under Advanced.
- Goodbye phrases, Farewell message and Idle retries work as they do inbound. See End call.
When someone asks not to be called again, the agent checks with them and adds the number to the STOP list, while “Stop calling me” is on in Outbound settings (it is to start). See Stop calling me.
Test and publish
Talk in browser lets you take the call as the person being called, with each variable filled in from its sample value. Turn on Use sample data for tools so Tools don’t do real work.
A campaign needs a published agent, and its calls use the published settings. Publish before the campaign starts, and again whenever you change the agent. See Publish and roll back.
If something goes wrong
The guide or greeting uses a variable that isn’t in Variables. Add it, or fix the spelling.
They’re missing a variable marked Required. Add the column to your list, or turn Required off.
Set Who speaks first to The person (recommended).
Write a greeting, and turn off Let the agent generate its own greeting.
Write A call is successful when…, and check transcripts are on in Settings > Voice & recording.
Last updated 18 Oct 2026