Courtesy Call Script Examples That Book Appointments

A courtesy call script helps you call existing customers the way a friend would, to check in and offer something useful, and most customers welcome that kind of call far more than a telemarketing call. The approach works for any team that calls its own customers, whether that's a bank branch, an insurance agency or a service company.

courtesy call scripts hero: a phone with a gold speech bubble and check mark

Think about the last time a friend called just to see how you were doing, and then the last time a stranger called to sell you something before you'd said much more than hello. Most people are glad to get the first call and want to hang up on the second, and your customers feel the same way.

The difference is the goal of the call. A telemarketing call tries to make a sale on the phone, and a courtesy call tries to book an appointment so you can sit down with the customer and talk through everything they need.

When the appointment is the goal, the call gets easier on both ends of the phone. Your people stop pushing a product and customers stop bracing for a pitch, and the sales still happen in the appointment, where you have time to understand what the customer needs.

The other change is how you speak and how you keep score. You talk from a few bullet points in your own words instead of reading a script, and you track each call in a way that counts every positive contact, so your team wants to make more calls.

What Is a Courtesy Call?

A courtesy call is a short phone call to an existing customer to check in, make sure you're meeting their needs and offer help with anything that's come up. In sales, the call usually ends with an offer of a free review, and the appointment is what you're hoping to book.

A telemarketing call works the other way around. It leads with a product and tries to close the sale before you hang up. The table shows how the two compare.

	Telemarketing call	Courtesy call
Who you call	Often people who've never done business with you	Your existing customers
What you lead with	A product or special offer	How you've been treating them
Goal of the call	A sale on the phone	An appointment for a full review
What counts as success	A sale	Any call that leaves the customer feeling valued
How you sound	Reading a script	Talking from a few bullet points in your own words

Mindset for Making Courtesy Calls

Your mindset has a lot to do with how long you keep dialing, especially after a few calls in a row go nowhere. Keep these in mind as you work through your list.

Call to help the customer. Each call is a chance to check in and fix anything that's gone wrong, and that alone is worth making the call for.
Expect a good call. You never know what you'll uncover, and a problem you solve today could matter a lot to that customer.
Plan on hearing no. A server offering to refill your coffee knows that sooner or later everyone says "no, thank you." They thank the customer and move to the next table, and you can do the same with the next call.
Don't take a no personally. A short answer usually has more to do with the customer's day than with you.
Make each call as fresh as the first. The last call has no bearing on the next one, so the customer on call 20 gets the same energy as the customer on call 1.
Stay friendly when a customer isn't. You control what you say and how you say it, and that's where your attention belongs.

Courtesy Call Script: 5 Steps With Sample Wording

Use these five steps to build your own courtesy call script for existing customers, then put it in your own words. Fill in the parts in parentheses for your business, such as an account, a policy or a service plan.

Introduce yourself. "Hi, this is (name) from (business) here in (city). This is a quick courtesy call. I'm checking in with our customers to make sure we're meeting your needs. Do you have a minute?" If yes, go to step 2. If no, thank them, give them your number and invite them to ask for you by name the next time they come in.
State the purpose of the call. "I'm calling to see how we've been treating you. Is there anything I can help you with?" Then offer the review: "When was the last time we went over your (account, policy, service plan) with you? We offer a free review to make sure you're getting everything you need from us. Would that be helpful?" If yes, go to step 3. If no, ask if there's anything else you can help with, leave your number and thank them for their business.
Set the appointment. "Would tomorrow morning or afternoon work better for you? Does 10:30 work?" Offering two choices makes it easy for the customer to pick a time.
Handle a complaint or an objection. If the customer raises a problem, say "I'm glad I called, so I can help you get this fixed." If you can't fix it on the call, take notes, tell them when you'll call back and follow up. Objections usually sound like "I'm fine with things the way they are" or "Call me in six months." Acknowledge what they said and offer the review once more, and if the answer is still no, thank them and move on.
Close the call. "Thank you for your time. It was great talking with you, and I'll see you on (day) at (time). If anything comes up before then, my number is (number)."

If you reach voicemail, keep the message under 30 seconds. "Hi, this is (name) from (business). This is a quick courtesy call to check in and make sure we're taking good care of you. There's nothing you need to do, but if I can help with anything or you'd like to set up a free review of your (account, policy, service plan), you can reach me at (number). Thanks for being our customer." Say your number slowly, and say it twice.

Turn the Script Into Bullet Points

Once you've written your script, turn each step into a few short bullet points and speak from those. Customers can tell within a few seconds when someone is reading, and a call that sounds read feels like the telemarketing call they were hoping to avoid.

Step 2 is written out both ways below. The first version is fine on paper, and the second is what you'd keep in front of you on the call.

READS LIKE A SCRIPT

"I'm calling to see if we are meeting your expectations as your provider. How have we been treating you? Are there any issues that I can help you to resolve? When was the last time we conducted a full review of your needs? One important benefit of doing business with us is that we provide a free annual review to ensure that you are receiving all the benefits you need and deserve."

SOUNDS LIKE YOU

How have we been treating you?
Anything I can fix for you today?
Last full review? (check the file before the call)
Free review, about 30 minutes

Write your bullets in the words you'd use with a customer at your desk. Practice them out loud with a coworker a few times before your first call, with one of you playing a customer who pushes back.

Use Time-Sensitive Promotions in the Courtesy Call Script

Never lead with a product or special offer. Ideally, the customer agrees to an appointment and any promotion comes up after you've talked through everything they need.

If the customer doesn't want an appointment and you're ready to end the call, you can decide whether to mention a promotion. By then you'll have a feel for how the customer will take it, so use your judgment.

If you think they'll be open to it, you might say "While I have you on the phone, have you heard about (special offer)? Is that something you'd like to know more about?" If the answer is no, thank them and close the call. If it's yes, talk it through and ask one more time about an appointment.

How to Measure Courtesy Call Success

Courtesy calls are measured differently from telemarketing calls, because the goal is the appointment and not a sale on the phone. In my experience, a telemarketing team that closes 1 sale in 100 calls is doing well. With courtesy calls, a success rate of 50% to 70% is common, because every call that leaves the customer feeling valued counts.

As each call ends, put a mark in one of six columns on a tracking sheet, A through F.

Column	What happened	Counts as
A	No contact. The customer doesn't know you called.	Negative
B	You reached the customer, and they weren't interested and were unhappy you called.	Negative
C	You uncovered a complaint, and now you have a chance to fix it and keep the customer.	Positive
D	You reached the customer, and they weren't interested but were glad you called.	Positive
E	You left a message, so the customer still hears that you called to help.	Positive
F	You set an appointment.	Positive

At the end of your calling time, add up each column and use the two formulas below. The success rate shows how many calls went well, and the appointment rate shows how many of your live conversations turned into a review.

COURTESY CALL SUCCESS RATE

(C + D + E + F) ÷ Total Calls × 100

APPOINTMENT RATE

F ÷ Live Conversations (B + C + D + F) × 100

Courtesy Call Success Rate Calculator

Enter how many calls landed in each column. Leave a column blank if it had none, and the rates update as you type.

A. No contact
B. Not interested, unhappy
C. Complaint uncovered
D. Not interested, glad you called
E. Left a message
F. Appointment set

Your success rate and appointment rate will show here.

Why Track Calls This Way

Tracking calls this way keeps people calling. A banker who makes 20 calls and books 1 appointment can walk away feeling like the hour was wasted, even though she left 5 messages, talked with 4 customers who were glad she called and found 2 problems she could fix. Counted this way, that hour is a 60% success rate, and she's much more likely to pick up the phone again tomorrow.

A complaint you uncover counts as much as an appointment, because keeping a customer who was ready to leave is worth as much as bringing in a new one.

Watch the appointment rate alongside the success rate. If someone's messages keep climbing while their appointments stay flat, they may be calling at times when customers can't pick up, and moving their calling time usually helps. Recognize the most calls made as well as the most appointments set, and Sales Recognition Programs can help you set that up.

Courtesy Call Example

Angela runs an insurance agency with three agents, and she set aside 9 to 10 every Tuesday morning for courtesy calls to existing policyholders. Each agent called 20 customers whose policies hadn't been reviewed in more than a year.

ANGELA'S TUESDAY CALLING HOUR

Column	What happened	Calls
A	No contact	18
B	Not interested, unhappy	2
C	Complaint uncovered	3
D	Not interested, glad you called	14
E	Left a message	13
F	Appointment set	10
	Total calls	60

Step 1. Add the positive columns: 3 + 14 + 13 + 10 = 40 positive calls.

Step 2. Divide by total calls: 40 ÷ 60 = 0.667, a 67% success rate.

Step 3. Count the live conversations, the calls where the agents reached the customer: 2 + 3 + 14 + 10 = 29.

Step 4. Divide appointments by live conversations: 10 ÷ 29 = 0.345, a 34% appointment rate.

What she did next: Two of the three complaints were billing errors, and Angela had both fixed by noon. Kevin had left 9 of the team's 13 messages, so she moved his calls to late Tuesday afternoon to see whether more customers would pick up.

The next Tuesday, Kevin left 4 messages, reached 12 customers and booked 4 of the team's 11 appointments.

Courtesy calls are one of the simplest ways to keep the customers you already have. To see how many you're keeping over a full year, the Customer Retention Formula walks through the math, and Customer Loyalty and Retention Strategy covers what keeps customers coming back. A full Courtesy Calling Leader's Guide and Call Tracker for training your team is on the way.

Courtesy Call Script FAQ

The questions below address what leaders most commonly ask about courtesy call scripts.

Click on the (+) sign below to expand each question. Click the (-) sign to collapse it again.

What is a courtesy call?

A courtesy call is a short phone call to an existing customer to check in, make sure you're meeting their needs and offer help with anything that's come up. In sales, the goal of a courtesy call is usually to book an appointment for a full review.

How is a courtesy call script different from a telemarketing script?

A telemarketing script leads with a product and tries to close a sale during the call. A courtesy call script leads with how the customer has been treated, offers help with any problem and asks for an appointment, and you speak from a few bullet points in your own words.

What do you say on a courtesy call?

Introduce yourself and your business, say it's a quick courtesy call and ask if the customer has a minute. Ask how you've been treating them, offer to fix any problem and offer a free review, then ask for an appointment and close by thanking them and leaving your number.

How do you measure courtesy call success?

Mark each call in one of six columns: no contact, not interested and unhappy, complaint uncovered, not interested but glad you called, left a message, or appointment set. Your success rate is the last four columns added together and divided by total calls. Appointments divided by live conversations is a good second number to track.

Can you make courtesy calls to customers on the Do Not Call Registry?

Under the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule, a business can usually call a customer on the National Do Not Call Registry for up to 18 months after their last purchase or transaction, or for 3 months after an inquiry. That exception ends if the customer asks you not to call them, and your industry or state may have stricter rules, so check with your compliance team before you start.