Using a relatively simple confirmation strategy based on confirmation statuses, discourse pegs and request templates it is possible to implement an effective mixed initiative, natural language dialogue system. If the basic confirmation strategy is inherited by a set of specialist domain objects, the approach becomes particularly useful, allowing dialogues in several business areas to be conducted in a single implementation. The following paper outlines the basic confirmation mechanism and illustrates how this can be augmented by ‘rules of thumb’ that are encapsulated in implemented domain experts and that recommend particular strategies for continuing a transaction, given particular combinations of confirmed and uncon- firmed information.