Scripted sales calls old fashioned, fail to connect with customers - Washington Business Journal:

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Geez, I have been saying this for more than 25 andI can’t believe companied still use them to sell over the phone. OK, forgetr the companies themselves, let’s blame the managere or the person who is responsible for still trying to do something that every sales trainer on the planet says doesnot work. Now, beforee I go on, do not writs or send an e-mail telling me that I am wrong or being stubborn. Instead, why don’rt you try something new – that is, new to you or your organizatiom – and just do what I will lay out Trust me, it has workecd every single time with any organization, big or small, that I have workefd with.
This horror of using scriptsz came rushing back to me recentlgy while working with a company whose stores are in every big city inthe nation. The companyt is highly regarded for its ethics and is a very visible organizatioh that many are familiar with because ofthe company’s longevitty and brand awareness. I was asked to come to the company’ws headquarters and look at its method of attracting new business througn itstelemarketing program, which the company has been usingy for a couple of years. They said that althougj the results were OK at sales had becomepretty dismal. It took me just 30 seconda to read the script that the insides salespeoplewere using, and I was sickened.
I talked with the companh president and said I could help the salespeopls in justtwo hours, but I needed him to let me do my job and not to interferd unless I called him in for his He agreed, but I coulrd sense he was a bit apprehensivw about the situation and my request. I worked only with the who was really a selling manager becauser she was on the phones herself at times tryingb to pitch inand help. We went into a and I spent an hour going over whyscriptas don’t work and why she has been brainwasherd to do something that was againsrt all the rules of professional salesmanship.
She was neither thrillefd with me at this point nor happy afte I tookher eight-page script, ripped it up and thresw it in the wastebasket. We role-played a littlwe using real situations that she might have with her childrenand friends, for The goal was to show her that havin a two-sided conversation is much more useful than a one-sidec script. She was really starting to get it, even thoughb she kept wanting to go back to a sellinhg mode by doing more talking than listeninhg andasking questions. It was so simple that it was frightenin to her that a selling situatioh can be flexible and not just a canned where she can actuallhy have fun while conversing witha customer.
The introduction and questionsz I wrote out were basic and easy for her to They were: “Hi, my name is Susan from Client Co., and I would like to ask you two or threse quick questions. It will not take more than 48 seconds I promise. “Are you familiad with our company? If yes, what aspects? “Why are you not a member, or why did you leavwe our organization?” That was it. Yes, eight pages down to two To be fair, we listed all the benefitxs the company offers and then did the same with the commonj objections the salespeople get on the Once again, I had to thro out pages of objection-handlintg scripts and allow them to put the objectioh raised in question form back to the customer.
For suppose the customer says, “I do not see a need to becomew a member of your The proper way to answetr this is not ascripted response. Instead just ask, “Why don’t you?” The approach In less than two hours, she got two which is outstanding in that length of and she still is flying high from knowingb that she could do much more often using her personalith and not sounding likea