Written by Dave Goates, Director of Human Capital at Launch Leads
Here’s a bold statement for someone who’s trying to convince you to write a good script: What you actually SAY in the opening of your script is not as important as ANTICIPATING what they will say to you.
Allow me to explain that statement. When you sit down to write the script you will use on your call, have a list of anticipated responses at your elbow to guide you in how you are going to approach your prospect.
Too often we are frozen with fear in anticipation of all the OBJECTIONS they are going to throw at us even before we pick up the phone. That fear can be completely eliminated if you plan for the responses.
Remember, not everything they throw at you is an objection. To qualify as a true objection, you must decide where their question falls within your dialogue with them. If they have virtually no information yet, and they say, “Sorry, I just don’t have time right now,” is that really an objection? Probably not, it just means you’ve disrupted a busy executive who had no idea you were going to call them today.
So, let’s make a list of “shut downs” we’ve all heard. These come at the beginning of your call, so they aren’t informed enough to be true objections:
- “Sorry, I’m too busy right now.”
- “I’m not interested.”
- “I’m in a meeting right now, I can’t take this call.”
- “I thought you were someone else, that’s the only reason I picked up the call.”
- “I’m on vacation in the mountains and I’m not taking any business calls.”
I usually start a call with something like this: “Hi, this is Dave, I’m calling from Launch Leads. My CEO asked me to give you a call today to set up a quick phone call at your convenience. He’d like to share what we did last month for one client, when we accelerated their sales opportunities to 20 qualified leads that led to 18 pipeline deals.”
Now you’ve put the basics in front of your decision maker with a brief statement. Remember, you’ve only got seven or eight seconds to say something to turn their head. I like to give my name along with my company, then my purpose with a brief example of value. Smile, it comes through in your voice.
After you give an opening statement, ANTICIPATE in advance the possible responses. I’ve given you a few common ones. Now add some I haven’t mentioned. Come up with as many as you can think of. Shouldn’t be too hard, because you heard them all before, right?
Don’t ever challenge the stupidity of the responses you hear, just prepare yourself better.
When you get, “I’m not interested,” what happens when you say, “Why not? You don’t even know what I’m going to say.” Short conversation when you say that, right?
Next time we’ll discuss writing the scripts to help you boost results.
