Create and manage Roleplays

Note: This is a new feature that’s actively being improved, so some details may differ from this article as updates roll out.

Showpad Roleplays offer a streamlined way to deploy and manage sales practice scenarios for your sellers directly within Showpad. Roleplay uses AI to simulate real-time customer interactions, providing a scalable method to practice and enhance seller performance.

See how it looks

Key features

• Simulate real-world interactions to reinforce sales methodologies and competencies
• Accelerate training rollout by generating scenarios instantly with GenieAI
• Provide instant, unbiased feedback with the AI Virtual Coach to eliminate coaching bottlenecks, no human review needed
• Create scenarios and feedback criteria quickly and easily using Genie AI
   

You need this to succeed

The quick way

1. Navigate to the Roleplays library in the Admin App 
2. Create a new Roleplay activity
3. Use Genie AI to generate your scenario and scoring criteria or input the information manually 
4. Assign participants and set email notifications using the Roleplay detail panel
    

Do this step by step

Create new Roleplay

As an Admin you can create, assign, and manage AI Roleplay activities.

1. Log in to the Admin App and navigate to the Libraries tab.
2. In the left side menu, select Roleplays to see a list of all current Roleplay activities. 
3. Click the Create Roleplay button. This opens a configuration modal, where you will:
   • Add a Roleplay name.
   • Add a short description of the Roleplay you’re creating to identify the scenario.
   • Assign any relevant tags to the Roleplay by selecting them from the dropdown menu.
   • Confirm that the Invitations checkbox is checked so users receive invitations when they are assigned to a Roleplay. This option is checked by default, ensuring participants are invited via email.
4. Click Create.
5. On the General tab, provide instructions to the users who will practice with your Roleplay. To provide files to help your users prepare, click the upload icon and select the relevant files. 
    

Customize the Roleplay scenario

Click the Scenario tab to customize the Roleplay.

1. Select a Scenario type from the drop-down menu. 
2. Select an interaction type:
   • Text chat: Simulates an instant text chat style conversation.
   • Turn based audio: A conversation where the seller will take a turn speaking, then click stop or press the space bar to indicate they are done, and it’s the Roleplay partner’s turn to speak.
   • Real time audio: The Roleplay actor will automatically fill in natural pauses in the conversation.  

There are two methods available for customizing the Roleplay, you can use Genie AI to help you generate scenarios and scoring criteria, or you can manually set up the Roleplay.

Generate with Genie

1. Click the Generate with Genie button to generate the Roleplay scenario using AI and the specific feedback criteria. In the prompt field, provide details about what kind of scenario Roleplay you want to create. The more details, the better. Important information to include here would be:
   • Brief scenario description (why the call/meeting is happening and context)
   • Training goal (skill(s) to practice and success outcome) 
   • Participant role and level (e.g., SDR, AE; novice/experienced)
   • Customer/prospect profile (industry, persona/title, company size)
   • Product/service focus (which offering and primary value prop)
   • Call type and stage (e.g., cold call, discovery, renewal)
   • Key customer pains/objectives to surface
   • Likely objections to include (top 1–2)
   • Setting and timeframe (phone vs. virtual; time limit)
   • Success criteria (what “good” sounds like)
2. When you’re happy with the summary of the drafted scenario, click Use this scenario. The fields on the Scenario tab will be filled with the drafted scenario. 
    

Manually set up the Roleplay

Alternatively, manually set up the Roleplay. 

1. Set the scene. This defines the scenario you are trying to reproduce and how you know your user has succeeded. 
   • Add a Goal to the Roleplay to define the scenario's main objective. Check the box to show the Goals and Objectives during the Roleplays.
   • Specify the product or service involved in the scenario.
   • Add 2-4 objectives for the seller to achieve during the Roleplay.
2. Set up the AI Roleplay Partner. 
   • Choose a communication style from the dropdown. Find out more about Roleplay Partner communication styles.
   • Enable Advanced Settings to customize speech, education, and difficulty levels. 
   • Fill in the prospect’s goal.
   • Add background information. Describe any information about the prospect’s life related to the scenario that an actor would need to know to successfully play the role.
   • Enter some pain points. Describe issues the customer is facing that the scenario should explore. 

3. In the Settings section, select a time limit from the dropdown menu and select a language. The available languages are:

   Chinese (Mandarin)	English (Australia)	French (Canada)	Hindi	Korean
   Czech	English (UK)	French (France)	Italian	Portuguese (Brazil)
   Dutch	English (US)	German	Japanese	Spanish

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Set feedback and grading 

1. Choose the grading system.
   • Rating: Select the grading scale between 2 and 10. A grading scale of 5 is enabled by default.
   • Pass/Fail
   • None
2. Define the feedback categories. Depending on your admin’s settings, you can edit the default categories and add up to 10 total. For each category, set its weight by entering a percentage. All category weights must add up to 100%.
3. To use Genie AI to help craft custom feedback categories, click Generate with Genie. Review the generated feedback and click Apply scoring criteria.
4. When you’re done, click Save to publish the Roleplay, or Save as draft. 
5. Optionally, add an evaluation scope for the Virtual Coach. This informs your Virtual Coach of important evaluation knowledge unique to your company. Click the upload icon to include a PDF for the Virtual Coach evaluation. Password-protected PDFs are not supported.
    

Note: Knowledge scope support is currently not available in Genie AI for Roleplay scenario creation.

Invite participants and set email notifications

Within the detail panel for a Roleplay, you can determine the notifications users will receive and assign users to a Roleplay. You can also view insights here and assign tags to Roleplays. 
 

1. Select a Roleplay from the Roleplays library to open the detail panel. 
2. In the Settings section, click Send email notifications and toggle it on. This allows users to receive notifications when they are assigned a Roleplay. Click Save changes. 
3. Assign users the Roleplay in the User access section. Select the users and/or user groups from the dropdown to assign them the Roleplay. Click Save changes.
4. Within the detail panel, you can also view insights related to the Roleplay, such as the number of users invited, entries completed, average score, minimum score, and maximum score. 
5. Optionally, assign tags to the Roleplay as needed. 
    

Note: Feedback is solely provided by the AI Virtual Coach.