How To Create An Effective Sales Call Script Outline
Find out what makes a sales script effective and learn how you can make your own sales call script stand out.
RELATED: How To Write An Inside Sales Script
In this article:
- Why Phone Calls are Essential in Inside Sales
- Cold Call Sales Script Structure
- Benefits of Using a Sales Script
- How to Work Around Objections
- Start Creating and Improving Your Sales Script
How to Write Sales Script Step-By-Step
Why Phone Calls Are Essential in Inside Sales
In the world of inside sales, phone calls are incredibly important. As inside sales reps don’t get to take advantage of fieldwork, using communication tools like phone calls are the best way to reach prospects and clients.
One of the secrets to gaining new clients and closing deals is a great sales script.
Cold Call Sales Script Structure
Making cold sales calls may sound daunting, especially to a rookie salesperson. That’s why having a sales script handy is ideal to steer the conversation in the right path.
There are six steps in the cold call sales script structure. Using these as a guide, you can create your own sales script template that nails everything you need to pitch and learn from your prospect:
Step 1. Pique the prospect’s curiosity. Make sure they know who you are and why they should listen to you.
Step 2. Provide context for your call by making an elevator pitch.
Step 3. Request for permission to continue your call.
Step 4. Ask questions. Learn their needs and determine if they’re a good fit for your company and what you offer.
Step 5. Execute a good closing. Find out internal information such as their pricing preference, who the decision-makers are, and what their timeline on decision-making is.
Step 6. Schedule and arrange the next steps.
Open the Conversation
The first three steps in the sales script structure should all happen within your opening. You can cover them with two statements and one question:
- Hello! My name is [YOUR NAME]. I’m reaching out to some companies in the area to find out if they’re a good fit for the product/service/program we offer.
- In a nutshell, what we do is provide companies with [WHAT YOU OFFER].
- Does this sound interesting to you?
What Makes This Kind of Sales Script Opening Effective?
Now, let’s break down what these opening lines accomplish for you:
1. It Establishes Context
Introducing yourself establishes context right from the start. A lot of reps forget or don’t even bother to start the conversation by introducing themselves.
You don’t need to jump right into the pitch. Rather, let your prospect know first who they’re talking to.
When they know who’s calling them, they’ll be more attentive to what you’re going to say.
Some sales trainers teach reps to make small talk after introducing themselves, but that’s unnecessary. Small talk may set a friendly conversational tone, but not everyone has time for that.
Remember that when you’re calling someone, you’re interrupting their busy day. That’s why you need to get to the point and let them know you value the time they can spare for you.
2. It Has a Specific Purpose
When you lay out your reason for calling, make sure you let the person know the following:
- Who you work with (your current customers)
- Where you’re located
- What you’re looking for (your target market)
- What you’re offering
Since this is an exploratory call, telling your prospect you’re looking for companies that may be a “good fit” with what you’re offering is more ideal than saying you’re looking for customers.
How you structure your script will still depend on what type of company you are and who your target market is. The sales script examples we’re discussing can serve as your guide when you create your own.
3. It Presents Your Elevator Pitch
The next thing to do is to present your elevator pitch. What does your company do?
Answer this question clearly and concisely — keep it within a single sentence. It shouldn’t take you 30 seconds to make your elevator pitch.
Remember that prospects aren’t patient when it comes to cold calls.
RELATED: How To Be Remarkable, Memorable, And Compelling In A Remote Call
4. It Gives the Prospect an Opportunity to Get off the Call
Asking the prospect if your pitch piqued their interest is important. This is because what you’re really giving them is an opportunity to opt-out of the cold call.
If they’re not interested right from the start and they weren’t able to make objections, all they’ll think about for the rest of the call is how to get out of it.
You won’t get any useful information out of the prospect if this happens. On the other hand, hearing their response to your elevator pitch lets you continue the conversation.
You’ll receive three kinds of answers from your prospect:
- Yes
- No
- Maybe
No matter how they respond, you can still keep the conversation going by asking them to tell you about their sales process.
At this point, neither of you have enough information to decide if the call is worth continuing or not. You still have to ask qualifying questions, and they still have time to decide whether to stay in the call or not.
Ask Qualifying Questions
The qualifying stage is the fourth step in the sales script structure. There are three qualifying questions you can ask your prospect to get an idea if they’re a good fit for your company or not:
- What’s your current process when it comes to ___________?
- How do you solve _____________?
- Who are your target market and customers?
Execute a Good Closing
As you begin to close the conversation (step five), find out internal information from your prospect. You can do this by asking the following questions:
- We’d like to begin in [X] days/weeks.
- Is this ideal for you?
- Our product/service/program will cost $X per day.
- What’s the decision-making process in your company like?
Plan the Next Steps
The last step covers your next courses of action with the prospect. You can end your call by telling them what you’ll do next and asking for pertinent details:
- It sounds like your company is a good fit for what we have to offer. I’ll send over more information about our company and let’s schedule a day next week to discuss your questions and concerns.
- What’s the best email address to use when I send over the information and calendar invite?
- What schedule works best for you next week? Let me know so I can send you the invite before we get off this call.
Benefits of Using a Sales Script
If you think using a sales script makes you sound dull and robotic, it only means you’re not using it properly. Mindlessly reading lines from your sales script will make you sound like a robot.
Use your script as a guide instead of letting it lock you into a rigid conversation. When used properly, sales scripts help you:
- Provide structure and clarity to your message
- Listen to understand your prospects
- Increase your IQ in selling
- Improve your sales process
- Develop a sales process that’s scalable
- Make quick improvements and changes
- Lessen low-performance days
How to Work Around Objections
Sales professionals know what it’s like to face rejections. The key is to learn how to work around sales objections.
Here are some ways to help you develop your skills at handling objections:
- The first step is to understand the kind of “no” the prospect is giving you. They could be saying no to working with you because of the timing or price point.
- You’ll learn how to deal with sales objections by experience. Expose yourself to different kinds of prospects by making lots of calls.
- Another thing that helps is having an objection handling file where you document the different ways of how a sales representative can manage objections. This way, they’ll be ready to address different types of no’s they receive.
Two of the most common objections are:
- “I don’t have time at the moment.”
- “Email the details to me.”
You can work around the time issue by providing value to the prospect early on and keeping it up throughout the conversation. Using the sales script we shared above, you can achieve these right from the opening.
When the prospect asks you to send an email, you can respond with, “I definitely will. Just so I know what else to write in the email, can you share it with me…”
Then, follow it up with your qualifying questions.
Start Creating and Improving Your Sales Script
A winning sales script is one of the many contributors to long-term success in sales. Always keep in mind that creating an effective sales script is a continuous process.
As you revise it each time you learn something from your prospects, you’ll find new ways of how to close deals.
Revisions don’t need to take up a lot of time. Setting aside a specific schedule each month with your team to work on your sales script can highly improve it.
Using a sales script guide you through the conversation doesn’t have to be limiting. If you’re using it properly, it can become an effective tool to get through the exploratory call and eventually close deals.
Start creating your own winning script with our sales script template. Practice using it in your calls and keep on improving it to see a difference in your customer interactions.
How has using or not using a sales script affected your communication with prospects and clients? Share your experiences with us in the comments section below!
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