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5 Updates Your Sales Script Needs Now

// table of contents //

INTRODUCTION // 04

01 // Do Your Research Before You Call // 05

02 // Make Small Talk then Cut to the Chase // 06

03 // Don’t Ask About Their XYZ Plan This Year // 08

04 // Be Prepared to Discuss Everything // 10

05 // Don’t Fake it, Make it Up or Forget to Follow Up // 11

CONCLUSION // 12

talkdesk © www.talkdesk.com // 3

//

// 4talkdesk © www.talkdesk.com

// 5 Updates Your Sales Script Needs Now

Like any sales practice, your lead generation efforts should be a standardized, professional process with a step-by-step routine for reaching, engaging, and capturing leads. Yet, more often than not, sales managers, lead generation departments, and sales representatives routinely complain that the process isn’t optimal - usually due to an outdated sales script - and in fact argue that following the steps actually hampers lead generation efforts.

If you’re one of the many lead generation professionals lamenting your subpar sales script, there are some options available to you to improve it—and your success rate. If you’re directly responsible for maintaining, analyzing, and updating your sales script, the following are 5 updates your sales script may benefit from today. If you’re not directly responsible, take a look and then pass them on to the person who is!

// INTRODUCTION //



There is no excuse for not knowing about your prospect before beginning your outreach. With so much information publicly available online, it’s impossible to imagine a situation in which it could be excusable to call anyone without knowing a substantial amount about them in advance. Include a pre-call step to investigate a company website, social media platforms, and perform a general Google query. Alternatively, use call center software that provides comprehensive information about your prospects such as their name, company, title, social media profiles, tickets, cases, voicemails and previous contacts with your company. These resources offer troves of information in mere seconds and will help you tailor your initial talking points to the actual prospect.

If you’re making an unsolicited call, either to a business or customer, you should have a clear understanding of why you’re calling, what the benefit is, and how you decided to reach out, before you make the call. All of this can be figured out by knowing your prospect in advance - through pre-call research.

01 // DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU CALL

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Sound confusing? Good, because it sort of is. Your sales script needs to be updated to encourage the lead generation team member to think and process what the prospect is saying. All too often, the team member gets stuck in the process and infuriates the prospect on the end of the line. Yet, this is the easiest problem area to fix, as what you’re really doing is encouraging your team to simply do a little less by script and do a little more by perception and in-the-moment adaptation.

Have a business owner in a rush on the phone? Unfortunately, B2B lead generation can be a tricky aligning of the stars. Getting pushy or refusing to skip to the main point can be disastrous for your lead generation efforts. In many ways, it might have been better to have never made the call than upset your B2B prospect by

02 // MAKE SMALL TALK THEN CUT TO THE CHASE



refusing to cut to the main event. If your B2B prospect is asking about your purpose or trying to move to the main selling pitch, this is likely a sign of potential engagement.

An adaptable sales script that allows for off-course conversation will help keep this prospect in the sales funnel.

This also applies to customers who show significant interest. If your prospect is asking all the right questions or requesting a demo or trial, be prepared to act right away, even if your sales script says to set an appointment for another day. Sales scripts need to be flexible and adapt to today’s buying habits. Usually, this means an all-or-nothing attitude and being prepared to close at a moment’s notice. (Don’t blame us, blame Amazon!)



We can’t tell you how often we have witnessed something along the lines of “So, tell me about your plans for 2014” worked into the beginning of a sales script. First and foremost, this line of questioning is at best annoying and at worst intrusive and inappropriate. Yes, you do need to ask discovery questions during the beginning phase to get a better idea of how your products and offerings may suit your prospect’s needs. But if you’re using this as one of your first inquiries, you’re conveying to your prospect that:

03 // DON’T ASK ABOUT THEIR XYZ PLAN THIS YEAR

You probably didn’t do your research in advance of calling; They’re just another line on your call sheet rather than a qualified prospect; You have no idea whether or not your product is actually applicable to them.

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Furthermore, if you are calling a business or if your product or service is highly specialized or sensitive in nature, you may be asking for proprietary or confidential information. Remember that while you are in a professional office going through routine questions, your prospects may be leery of these questions and of you.

Given recent security breaches and data leaks, it is inadvisable for businesses or consumers to divulge any personal information over the phone, especially to someone reaching out to them for the first time. Remember that the only thing they know about you is your sales script, which isn’t looking so good with these early discovery questions.



Remember that your prospects have instant access to your products, services, and information. They may very well be seated at a computer when you make contact, and may be researching you in real time. Your sales script needs to be prepared for any and all questions inspired by the content on your website. This means that your lead generation team needs to be well versed in more than just the routine outbound call. They need to be flexible and informed about every nuance and feature - including your blog content and social platforms. If you’re running a promotion on Facebook, remember that your prospects can get there in an instant – your sales script needs to be knowledgeable and ready to discuss all of these features.

04 // BE PREPARED TO DISCUSS EVERYTHING



If you haven’t started to worry about this from the first 4 updates, understand that there are likely going to be a lot of opportunities for your lead generation team to be unable to handle the call as they did in the past. The most important thing your sales script needs is an ironclad ability to be honest about not knowing the answer. The lead generation team simply cannot make up answers or fake information they aren’t sure of. Your prospect will figure this out very quickly and your warm lead will turn very cold, very fast. Instead, make sure to have a standard follow-up process wherein the lead generation team can queue requests for more information and then place return calls when they are fully informed. Of course, the last step of this process will be making sure there is ample follow-through to ensure none of the prospects are forgotten.

05 // DON’T FAKE IT, MAKE IT UP OR FORGET TO FOLLOW UP



Updating your sales script to help manage the expectations of today’s prospects is crucial to supporting your lead generation efforts. This often means allowing for more variables and empowering your sales professionals with the ability to speak more independently and off script as necessary. To support this, include ongoing, regular training to keep your lead generation team informed and your sales script agile.

// CONCLUSION //

Find out more about:

The all-in-one call center software for small and medium businesses.

Business phone and inside sales software for support, sales and marketing.

Browser-based call center software that takes 5 minutes to setup.Integrate with your business tools (CRM, Helpdesk).

Call monitoring and reporting (real-time and historical).

Sales Try Talkdesk for Free

http://www.talkdesk.com/?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=Update%20Sales%20Script&utm_campaign=Sales%20EBooks

http://blog.talkdesk.com/topic/sales/?utm_source=ebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=Update%20Sales%20Script&utm_campaign=Sales%20EBooks