SMOOTH-TALKER

The Reason To Use A Prospecting Script?

THE REASON TO USE A BUSINESS PROSPECTING SCRIPT.

The question of why use scripts has a simple yet basic answer, "to make more money." Prospecting is essentially getting strangers to pay money for your products and services. Total concentration on the prospect is possible because you don't have to worry about the things you're going to say.  The script is at your fingertips and you’re prepared for questions and objections and your selling messages are at the ready. It's how you respond that determines the outcome of a business call.

TALKING IS NOT ALWAYS COMMUNICATING.

What you say and how you say it matters. Constantly talking is not necessarily communicating. You wouldn't send your soldier to fight with a “Saturday night special” and neither would you send a salesperson out with nothing to say. Salespeople are fighting a daily battle yet have so few weapons to get the job done.

SOLID BASICS.

A basic script has similar elements for all types of businesses and professions. There is a need for a script and to get an appointment, ask for the order, and sell a product. The sequence of events has a “flow” to it. Just like the foundation for a house is similar to every other house, a script has some basic elements. It must be solid and well constructed to support the structure placed upon it. 

PERCEPTION IS REALITY.

People will judge by what they perceive. Your ability to use a script properly will make a difference. A prospect will do business with the person that they perceive as trustworthy. They want the person they choose to be experienced and capable of getting the job done. 

SETS PRIORITY INSURES THAT OBJECTIVES COME FIRST.

Scripting demands that first things will come first. It insures the priority of “intended content.” The first words of each sentence contain the key points. A script keeps a salesperson from getting off track by keeping him “on topic.” The bottom line goal is to get a new potential prospect to agree with you and make them your customer. There are however, several minor objectives that must be considered on the way to a payday. A hierarchy of prospecting objectives exists for nearly every business.

THE "NITTY-GRITTY"

Most salespeople can’t wait to get to get to the nitty-gritty once they get in a conversation with a potential prospect. Like trying to rein in a thoroughbred race horse, the instinct is to sprint the moment the bell sounds. The temptation is to “cut to the chase,” and “go for the close.” Get the deal signed and head for the golf course. Long ago in a place far away, selling may have been like that.  It lives on in the clouded memory of those who think that the “good old days” were because of the “good old ways.”

OBSOLETE IDEAS.

Many have been taught to believe in the ABC’s of selling, “Always Be Closing.”  Prospects are a lot savvier then they were when the “ABC” guru’s had their way. The prospecting environment is a lot like a race track, it's fast paced but you can’t win by taking shortcuts. There’s mile of track to get around. Business development has a sequence of events to follow.

A SALES MANAGERS BEST FRIEND.

A properly drafted script is a sales managers best friend. Finally, a sales manager can control what he wants salespeople to say when they approach a new prospect. Sales managers will save countless hours of time spent with salespeople by referring back to a script. They can demand that a salesperson study the script before asking the same questions over and over.

WHAT IF THE PROSPECT SAYS . . .

When a salesperson asks "what if the prospect says…." The sales manager will have a ready source to refer to. A sales manager knows exactly what is "supposed" to be said to a prospect. He can then insist upon knowing what to expect from the salesperson and hold them accountable.

Sales managers endorse a script writing system because it will save them enormous amounts of time in the long run. There will be the initial time spent with a sales staff helping them to complete the scripts. Sales managers tend to avoid anything that adds to their job but to avoid spending the time to teach the salesman scripting is false economy. In the long-run they'll more than make up that time spent and increase sales to boot. 

WILLING OR UNWILLING.

In a normal conversation between two people who know each other the listener is a willing participant. In a prospecting conversation or exchange, the listener is “not” a motivated willing listener. If the speaker is knowledgeable, interesting, and skillful, the prospect will listen.

30 SECONDS TO GET YOUR POINT ACROSS.

If you can get someone to spend thirty seconds figuring out what you are trying to say, you've got their attention. People have come to expect at least some kind of dramatic description of the product that you are selling otherwise it doesn't sound like it's any better then other product. People want to believe that their lives will be better if they choose your product. 

COMMUNICATING OR SELLING.

If you're talking you’re usually selling, in manner of speaking. Selling is verbalizing with reasons, concepts, and ideas in exchange for the other person's acceptance. It's easy to think that prospecting is selling, it isn't. Why should anyone want to do business with someone who has nothing to say?

CLEAR THINKING IN ADVANCE.

Script writing is communicating in advance by writing the things you say and then saying what you wrote. Script dialogue enables you to have at your fingertips the information you need to sell your products. Scripting helps you to build strong relationships by being prepared with clear concise wording that leaves the prospect with a favorable impression.

ONCE YOU LEARN HOW, THE FEAR GOES AWAY.

ONCE YOU LEARN HOW, THE FEAR GOES AWAY.

You never know when or where you’re going to here something that sums your thoughts. I was listening to Dr. Laura (Schlessinger) the radio talk show host today and she was responding to a man who was promoted to a management position. Employees frustrated him and made him angry, just like a prospect can do when you call them to ask for business. He didn’t know what to say when talking to an employee and the result was that he faced anxiety everyday. He wanted to know how to handle these situations.

GOOD ADVISE

Dr. Laura wisely said that it was a “learned” skill and the responses were not natural responses. She recommended reading books, listening to speakers, and attending workshops to learn management techniques and what to say.

It struck me how familiar this situation was to making a prospecting call. Although she couldn’t  cover such a broad topic in 30 seconds, she said it would take a lot of work to become proficient at responding with the proper things to say. That sounds like prospecting to me.

JUST LIKE MAKING A PROSPECTING CALL.

It’s the same as learning what to say when making a prospecting call to someone you don’t know. A manager is at a disadvantage and must remember all of these techniques and be able to use them without the assistance of notes and scripts. 

A salesperson has the advantage being able to have a script in front of them to help them remember what to say when making a prospecting call. The only trouble is that scripts are most often inadequate or nonexistent. No one seems to know much about writing such a complicated document.

SCRIPTS HELP YOU REMEMBER WHAT TO SAY.

It’s knowing what to say under a variety of circumstances that we all face when making a prospecting call. Scripts are what this blog is all about. 

Today’s objection response.  What do you say when a prospect says ….

I DON’T WANT WHATEVER YOU’RE SELLING!

Possible responses:

“We don’t know what we want until we see what’s available.”

“I’d have to offer the type of products you want to earn the right to your business”

“Deciding if you want our product can be done with an appointment.”

Why salespeople fail.

THE REASONS WHY SALESPEOPLE FAIL IS THAT THEY DON’T PROSPECT ENOUGH.

Salespeople in just about every business that involves selling, say that they hate to prospect for new business. Countless surveys show that the “number-one” reason that salespeople fail is their reluctance to prospect. “Reluctance” or as it is called “rejection” is stated to be at the core of why salespeople hate their jobs.

The starting point of all business is the initial contact. Someone must make the call. If you don't make the call your competition will. In order talk about how to succeed in selling we must talk about why a salesperson fails. It’s a problem looking for a solution. No one is immune; CEO’s, professionals, business owners, and shopkeepers cannot avoid making an unannounced call for the purpose of obtaining new business.

The biggest frustration in the business world is getting people to prospect. They're faced with problems at every step of the process but can't pin down the real problem.  They don't even know what the real problems are that are preventing salespeople from prospecting.

PROSPECTING IS AN ACTIVITY THAT IS AVOIDED.

In prospecting fear of rejection, failure, and humiliation are not caused by what others do, but by what they say and how they say it.  It’s never a physical attack but a verbal attack.  The only way to avoid any type rejection is to avoid making phone calls in the first place.  To avoid hostile prospects is to not make any calls at all and is not a good alternative.

Making a call is like "looking at a firing squad." Which one of them will fire the blanks and which will fire the bullet to get me.  I get far too many people who say “no” rather then “yes” so I'm unhappy 98% of the time. For every four hours I attempt to get business, I’m happy for 20 minutes. Each one of us thinks that they are the only one unhappy when making prospecting calls. Every salesperson I have have ever met feels the same way.

Maybe I can write about some things that will help all of the salespeople of the world become better  at what they do by sharing what I learned. 

 

Love selling but hate to prospect for new business.

LOVE SELLING - DISLIKE PROSPECTING

Salespeople say they love to sell but hate to prospect.  They avoid prospecting activities because of the perceived disapproval they get when making a phone contact to a potential prospect.   Human nature tells them they are being personally rejected during the course of making a call to someone they don’t know.

Calling a new prospect may involve being subjected to humiliation and derogatory criticism. It is perceived as a personal attack that is hurtful and difficult to cope with. Salespeople may not have the skill and ability to counteract the things that other people are capable of saying to them. 

Some cannot master the skills required for phone prospecting forcing them to rely on other less effective methods of getting new business. Others spend enormous amounts of money on advertising, direct mail, and passive marketing in hopes of reaching the same prospect they could have reached with a free phone call.

The avoidance is so strong that they would rather sacrifice their potential success then take the risk of getting their feelings bruised. Some salespeople would rather abandon their sales career then deal with fear and rejection. No matter how much they like their work, getting a new prospect can be intimidating. 

TOO MUCH SELLING, NOT ENOUGH PROSPECTING

The eternal question of which comes first, “The chicken or the egg,” is the same dilemma faced in business. Which comes first, the prospect or the customer? Most every one would agree that a prospect becomes a customer the “moment” that an agreement is reached to exchange money for goods and services. That’s the moment in time that every salesperson, business owner, and professional lives for.

The exhilaration experienced when that happens is undeniably one of life’s finest rewards. The sale is clinched and the contract is signed and the paycheck won’t be far behind. For the time being, “business is good, people are wonderful and life is great.”

We all love the classic one-liners: “No job too small & no fee too big” and “Do the deal & take the afternoon off.” If only life were that simple.

The fact is that most salespeople in just about every prosession must prospect for new buseness.  The question is how best to do it? What do you say to a new potential prospect? Follow along with this web log for answers.   

Smooth-talker, prospecting for new business.

SALESPEOPLE AVOID PROSPECTING BY PHONE. 

I’d like to share with you some of the things I keep hearing over and over from salespeople, sales managers, professionals, and business owners all around the country. They consistently say that they love their business but hate to prospect for it. The most difficult part of the business is getting new business.

Salespeople universally agree that the worst part of their job is making a prospecting call. Salespeople may excel at what they do but get tongue-tied when it comes to approaching a new prospect. There is very little that is more intimidating then making calls to potential customers that they are unfamiliar with. Experienced salespeople find it even more difficult because they’ve had more chances to experience the dreaded effects of making those calls. That old feeling never goes away.  Who hasn't put off a call they didn't want to make?

It doesn’t matter what label is given to the people who produce new business for themselves or for the company. Salespeople love to talk and are pretty good at it as long as someone is willing to listen. 

This blog seeks to address the one element of the business process called “prospecting.” It is the act of talking to a new prospect and turning them into a customer. This blog is about approaching the prospective customer using the verbiage that will cause them to allow you to actually sell your product or service.

It's the most critical one of all, the words used in the first initial conversation with someone whom you’ve never spoken to. This blog will “not” cover the typical selling strategies that are discussed in many web blogs on how to sell.

I will attempt to make it completely understandable for the person who is charged with the responsibility for generating new business. It's a constant frustration of not being able to get the most out of a salesman prospecting for a new customer.

As a writer of this blog, I will attempt to help every salesperson out there with the best things to say prospecting for new business. Help is on the way!