There can be very significant advantages to planning what you’re going to ask and say when meeting with sales prospects, but the majority of salespeople do not script sales conversations.

For example, when a news anchor is going through the news for the day, she’ll speak clearly and go through all of the information in a very structured and organized way.  At the same time, she’ll sound very knowledgeable about the information that she is speaking about.

News anchors are able to give this type of impression due to three key details. Initially, the things that the news anchor was saying were written out in a script ahead of time. Second, the news anchor has practiced the script numerous times. Third, she has the script up in front of her so she can read it directly and have it as a guide.

This all helps greatly with the presentation as well as the delivery of the message. What type of impression would a news anchor make if they just went on the air and “winged it” and just talked through the news?

We can script sales calls in a similar way. Air-time is incredibly valuable, and this is one reason for the news and other television shows to be scripted. In conclusion, it makes perfect sense to prepare in order to try and avoid any mistakes. Air time with prospects should be looked at in the same way because it is extremely valuable too. Everything should be done to provide the best performance possible as well as avoid errors.

The following are some areas where you can script sales:

 

Qualifying Questions

It is very easy to script out key questions that are necessary to ask in order to gather details as well as qualify prospects. Once you can identify what your ideal prospect looks like, it will be much easier to write a short list of questions that can be asked to ensure you’re speaking with prospects who are a good fit for what you’re offering.

 

Common Pain Points

Uncovering some pain that the prospect is experiencing in the areas that your products help is important. Scripting out common pain points other clients have experienced and shared those in order to see if the prospect is able to relate or has any similar challenges is one way to help.

 

Building Interest Points

While building interest may appear like something that will simply naturally occur as you are speaking with prospects, it may not, so you can help trigger interest as well as improve your odds of it building by developing powerful statements ahead of time that communicates how you stand out, the value that you are offering, the ROI that you deliver, impacts from doing nothing, and more.

 

Name Drop Examples

Telling stories about your existing clients and how you have been able to help them is most powerful for building credibility. When you script sales messaging, you develop these points ahead of time.

SalesScripter provides a sales script tool to help sales pros to script sales.