How to Develop a Successful Sales Script
A sales script is a carefully thought-out and written down set of questions for your sales team to use every time they call (or approach) potential customers. A script is useful because it helps the team members to stay focused and to ensure they ask all the questions that they need to ask.
When planning a script, consider the following:
- Targeted Lists: You don’t want your team to speak to anyone who would not be interested in your product or service.
- Process: You need to plan your process. It’s unlikely your sales team will sell large, expensive items in one step, but they should be able to close a $50 sale in two steps or less.
- Urgency: People can put off buying forever. If you don’t give them a reason to act now, your script will be unlikely to work.
- You-Focus: Your script needs to be focused on the customers. If it says “I” and “we” throughout, it’s likely to bore them, and you can’t bore people into buying from you. Aim for something like: “So it sounds like you need this. By buying from us, you will get that plus a whole lot more, and I know that’s important to you.”
Your script should have a clear purpose— it needs to take people from point A (your initial statement) to point B (where you ask the prospect to take action). Before writing your script, consider what your point B is. Do you want them to present a credit card then and there, or do you simply want them to make an appointment? The nature of your script will change depending on your objective.
While scripts vary based on their objective and unique situations, every successful script follows a basic formula:
- Greeting
- “Hi there, could I speak to Mr. or Mrs. X? … Hi, my name is _____ and I’m from [company name]. How are you today?”
- Explanation
- “Great. Can I outline the reason for my call? … As I said, I’m from [company name] and we are [scheduled to have two appointments near [street name] over the next week…]”
- Ask open-ended questions
- “When was the last time you ______? (or) What problems have you noticed with your current _____?”
- Get agreement
- “So it sounds like you’d benefit by [benefit 1], [benefit 2], and [benefit 3], is that true?”
- Deal with objections
- “Can you elaborate on that for me? … If I could show you a way to get around that problem, would you be interested in that information?”
- Close and take the next step
- “I’d like to book you in for your appointment now—would you prefer tomorrow or Thursday?”
If you have a great offer and product and you’ve really targeted the market well, having a well-developed sales script can help solidify your sales process. Focus on making your message clear, quick, and customer-focused, and aim for building relationships with each prospect. Remember – about 80 percent of a person’s buying decision is based on emotion (whether they like and trust the salesperson) and only 20 percent on logic! At the very least, each call (or visit) can help build your database, which is the golden goose of your business.
