E-Class #28: How to Write Scripts that Increase Sales

Checkpoint:

You have written at least two guarantees for your business, and implemented them in your advertising or marketing materials.
You have trained your staff on the details of the guarantee, and set up a system for handling returns and claims.

Scripts streamline your sales process and increase predictable results.

In most cases, exchanges with customers can be rather unpredictable. They can depend on your mood or the time of day, or the type of customer you’re speaking with. When you’re engaged in the sales process, there are any number of variables that can influence whether or not you close the sale.

Sales scripts are tools you can create for your business to increase the level of predictability or preparedness in the sales process. They guide salespeople during interactions with customers on the phone, on the sales floor and in sales presentations.

When you have a higher level of predictability in your sales process, you have more control and an increased ability to close more sales. More closed sales means a higher conversion rate, which means higher revenues.

Ready to work on your scripts?

In this E-Class we will cover:

Why you need to script all areas of your business
Why your current scripts may not be working
Types of scripts
How to keep your scripts organized
A step-by-step process for creating scripts

Wondering if your business really needs a script?

I run into quite a few clients who think scripts are too time consuming and would prefer to sell the ‘natural way,’ without planning and preparation. For some of them, this strategy works really well. But others are leaving money on the table that could be in their bank accounts.

Creating scripts is a way of preparing for every potential customer interaction that will occur in your business. The more you prepare and the more you practice, the stronger you and your sales team will get at what you do, sell.

Scripts also maintain consistency amongst a sales team, and ensure each customer is treated with the same level of service and according to company’s standards. They can be great training tools for new salespeople, providing a map for the sales process and the potential scenarios they may encounter.

Your scripts don’t need to sound scripted, or like a cheesy commercial. They don’t even have to be read verbatim. Scripts are a road map for your sales process, alerting you to the signs and stops along the way to keep you on track.

If you already have scripts in place for your business, here are some reasons they may not be working:

The script was written for the wrong target audience.
The script is old or outdated.
The script has never been revised.
The script does not address all potential customer objections.
The script is inconsistent with other scripts used in the business.
The people who need to use the script most are not using the script.

You can use scripts in all areas of your business to streamline customer interactions and simplify the sales process.

Just like your marketing materials, you will need a unique combination of scripts in your business, depending on the product or service you offer and the marketing strategies you have chosen.

Scripts are important tools for streamlining and systemizing the day-to-day actions in your business that involve customer relations. The more you can plan and prepare, the higher your success rate – or conversion rate – will be.

Start by drafting a list of all the instances where you and your sales staff come into contact with customers or prospects, as well as instances where you or your staff has difficulty. Then, order the interactions in order of importance, and plan to start writing the most important scripts first. Some instances may be:

Incoming call
Outgoing call
In store visit
Cold call
Sales presentation
Difficult customer
Happy customer
Closing
Ice breakers
Surveys
Follow-up

Here are several types of scripts you may need in your business:

Sales presentation scripts tend to alleviate some of the natural nervousness that many feel before they speak in front of a group of people. They will also provide you and your staff with a clear plan for the presentation and help you prepare to overcome objections and handle responses.
Closing scripts are designed to (obviously) help you close sales. They focus on strategies, prompts and statements that will begin the closing process and get the transaction started. Sometimes they also include a list of closing objections, and suggested responses for overcoming them.
Incoming phone call scripts provide the people who answer the phone (reception and individual or department extensions) with a guideline for how each phone call should be handled. Every customer should be treated the same way, and the same information should be both gathered and provided to the customer.
Cold call scripts are essential for your business because the art of cold calling can be challenging to master. You will need to script a strategy for quickly grabbing the attention of the prospect, then engaging them and inspiring them to act.
Direct mail follow-up scripts are great tools that will boost direct mail campaign results. You would use these scripts to encourage prospects that have already received information from you to act, and give yourself an opportunity to overcome the objections that stopped them from acting sooner.
Market research scripts are used to gather information about your target audience, and are typically designed to encourage the customer to speak. Open-ended questions and relationship building statements are the focus here to relax the customer and encourage dialogue.
Difficult customer scripts prepare you for disgruntled customers and provide your staff with guidelines for diffusing the situation. These scripts focus on calming the customer down, and then working to remedy the situation and handle their objections.

Once you have decided which scripts you need to use in your business, write each of your scripts using this step-by-step process.

Writing new scripts for your business is not a complicated exercise, but it should be done strategically and with considerable thought. You are trying to systemize customer interactions, and make them more predictable.

1. Record yourself engaged in the sales process.

The best place to start writing your script is by evaluating how you currently handle the sales process. You can learn a ton by watching yourself in action, either on the phone or on the sales floor. Don’t be shy – you have to start somewhere!

Use a video recorder or audio recorder to tape yourself engaged in the sales process with a customer. This can be on the phone, in a sale presentation, or on the floor with a customer. Do this several times over the course of a week. You may also wish to do the same with your sales staff so they can identify opportunities for improvement.

When you view or listen to the recording, make notes on your approach, language choice, body language, responses to objections and success rate. Also make notes on your customer’s reactions, comments, and body language.

When you’re done with your notes, ask someone else to watch and make comments on your performance. Remember this is a constructive exercise!

2. Analyze your recording and identify opportunities for improvement.

Based on the notes you made about your customer exchanges, ask yourself the following questions:

How do you engage the customer and begin the conversation?
What strategies are you using to relax the customer and build trust?
Is the customer interested in what you are saying?
Are you making a powerful offer that the customer resonates with?
What objections is the customer raising?
How do you handle each of the objections?
Are you avoiding any objections? Which ones? Why?
How seamless or natural is your closing strategy?
What is your success rate? Are you as effective as you could be?

Answer and make notes in response to the each of these questions. Then, make a list of things that you may need improvement on and how you might be able to do so. Do you need advice from a stronger salesperson? Do you need to streamline your closing statements? Do you need more responses to objections?

Also make note of your strengths. Do you have a series of killer icebreakers? Do you make customers feel at ease right away? You can use what is working well and incorporate it into your scripts.

Remember that we’re all human, and that everyone can afford to improve on the sales skills. Working through this process will help you improve dramatically.

3. Establish who you are writing the script for.

Now, armed with the knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses, you can begin to draft your scripts.

Just like every other piece of marketing collateral, you will need to start with a clear understanding of who you are writing the script for. With a strong knowledge of your target market, you will be able to design a script that speaks to their emotional triggers, and convinces them to take action. Remember the strategies you learned in previous E-Classes on copywriting, and the importance of targeting your prospects’ ‘hot buttons.’

If you are writing a phone script, consider what times of day you may best reach your customer, and what they would likely be doing at that time. If you are targeting families, calling around the dinner hour may only frustrate them as they are trying to put food on the table for their kids.

If you are writing a script for the sales floor, consider the mood your customers are usually in when they visit. Are they in a hurry? Do they want to spend a long amount of time with the sales staff asking questions? You can use this information to create your icebreakers and find ways to build trust and common ground quite quickly.

4. Write your script according to the sales process.

Walk through an imaginary sales process, and write it down as you imagine how it would actually happen. Then, go back through what you’ve written and find opportunities to add body language cues, stronger responses to objections, and more natural closing statements.

Write your script like a step-by-step guide, identifying areas where the customer would speak and where you would speak. Include body language cues in italics, and list a variety of opening statements, closing statements, objections and responses. You won’t use all of the statements in every sale, but you will need the list for reference.

Here is a general outline of the sales process that you can use as a framework for your script:

Engage the customer and build common ground.

Find a way to grab their attention, pique their interest and make them care about what you have to say.
Be natural, establish common ground and build trust.
Ask for their time, and be clear about your objectives.

Ask questions and qualify needs and wants.

Ask open-ended questions to get the customer talking and take control of the conversation.
Try to keep the customer talking as long as you need to get information about their needs, problems, and purchase motivations.
Identify the problem or need, and repeat it back to the customer to show that you understand.

Present the solution, then ask questions to gain agreement.

Offer the product or service, focusing on benefits and results.
Paint a picture of the customer using the product or service, and receiving the benefits or results.
When you want to establish agreement on the merits of the product or service, ask closed-ended questions that you are sure they will respond to with “yes.”
Repeat key points back to the customer and ask for their agreement.

Anticipate and overcome objections.

Anticipate objections and choose customer-appropriate responses.
Identify and empathize with their concerns using your own experiences.
Repeat concerns back to the customer to demonstrate that you have heard what they had to say.
Ask the customer if they have any further questions or concerns.
Note the type of body language customers typically have when they are ready to buy.

Ask for the close.

Script body language that shows confidence.
Ask the customer for the sale with questions about the details of the transaction, like delivery, payment and contracts.
Include your successful strategies for closing and making calls to action.

5. Train your staff to be comfortable using and revising scripts.

When you are comfortable with the scripts you have drafted, implement them in your business and teach your staff to use them.

It may take some practice and some time to get comfortable using scripts if you haven’t incorporated them into your business before. Focus on memorizing the key points of the script, and ensuring no one sounds like they’re reading scripted language on the phone.

An effective way to implement scripts is to have a team training session to learn, review and practice using the scripts. Use role-play to rehearse each of the scripts, and encourage staff members to give feedback.

Remember that each script will be personalized to a certain degree so that it will sound natural from each person who uses it. Be clear with your staff on which parts of the script are company standards – and must be consistent – and which can be changed to suit the salesperson.

6. Review and revise your scripts on an ongoing basis.

Encourage your employees to provide feedback on your draft scripts based on their experiences using it. Is the list of objections complete? Are there stronger ways to engage customers? Do the responses to objections work to overcome concerns?

As I discussed in earlier E-Classes, make sure you not only revise your scripts on a regular basis, but that you test and measure their effectiveness on a regular basis. What is the conversion rate for each script? What strategies or techniques convert the most customers?

Scripts are organic documents that will constantly change and improve as they are used. Encourage feedback, and incorporate it where you feel it is appropriate. When a script becomes outdated, draft a new one to suit your new needs.

Keep your scripts in an organized place, like a filing cabinet or script binder, and make sure your staff has access to the scripts they need.

Take all of your scripts and keep them in a single organized place where you and your staff have easy access to them. You could use a binder, separating each script with a tab, or a filing cabinet, and give each script its own file.

I also suggest that you keep a separate tab or file for customer objections only. Here you and your staff can list every objection you hear, the situation you heard it in (closing, phone, sales presentation, etc.) and several suggestions for resolving the objection. This master list will be an invaluable tool, so spend time creating, building and revising it on an ongoing basis.

Your script binder and objection list will never be truly “finished.” It should be updated and revised on a regular basis to ensure it is the most effective it can possibly be.

And lastly, here are a few extra tips for writing scripts that close sales.

Find ways to not only anticipate objections, but also to elicit objections your customer may not be comfortable raising, like price.
Personalize your script so it sounds and feels like a conversation you would actually have, not like you’re reading from the page.
Learn from the strong salespeople around you, and implement their strategies into your scripts. Observe them in action, if you can, and take notes.
Objections will happen, so do everything you can to prepare for or learn from them. Keep long lists of all the objections you hear.
Continuously brainstorm responses to the objections you hear. Each objection could have dozens of different responses, depending on the customer or situation, so prepare for anything.
Use your persuasive copywriting skills in your scripts. Storytelling is a powerful communication tool, and can go a long way towards bringing a customer on board.
When writing phone scripts, remember that you only have your voice, so use it. Choose tone, language and speed carefully, and watch for background noise.
Confidence sells, so consider including a positive stream of self-talk in the script as a preparation tool.
Practice your closing scripts and spend extra time refining them. Closing can be the most challenging part of the sales process, so find what works for you and script it.

Scripts are evolving documents that need to be practiced, customized and perfected.

No script will ever work perfectly forever – they need to be updated based on new customer objections, new products and services, and the new people using them. It’s only in your best interest to continually strive to improve the scripts you work with.

While it may seem like writing scripts is a lot of extra work, it’s a wise investment that will pay dividends in your conversion rate and revenue figures. You will see that scripts will make your results more predictable, and boost the confidence of your staff.

Speaking of staff, in the next E-Class I’m going to show you how to improve your staff training and development programs so that you can leverage their skills to boost your conversion rates.

See you in the next E-Class!