Mastering the World of Selling: The Ultimate Training Resource from the Biggest Names in Sales

Chapter 83. All Salespeople Use Scripts

Wendy Weiss

Weiss Communications

When you are speaking with a prospect, do you use a script? The Queen of Cold Calling says, "yes." Find out why . . .

Many sales professionals claim that they never use scripts and never would. Many take issue with the entire idea of scripting, saying that scripts are "phony," "don't work," "make you sound like a telemarketer," or that "every call is different, so it's impossible to use a script."

The reality is that all salespeople use scripts. Here is why . . .

You probably hear certain questions from your prospects over and over and over and over. If you've been in sales for even a very short time, you probably have fairly standard answers to those questions. If you are more or less repeating the same answers every time you hear particular questions, those answers are your script.

You probably also hear the same objections from prospects over and over again, and probably have developed fairly standard responses to those objections. If you are responding to a particular objection over and over again with more or less the same counterargument, those responses are also lines in your script.

You also probably have a fairly standard way you introduce yourself to new prospects. Sometimes this is called an "elevator speech"—a brief introduction you could make to a prospect in an elevator that would be finished and understood by the time the elevator reaches your floor. If you have been in sales even just a little while, ...