How sales scripts work to get appointments.
Are you successful at selling or successful at prospecting? The question of what causes success is whether a salesperson is a result of being good at prospecting or being good at selling. The real reason that salespeople don't like prospecting is they can't always remember what to say. The salesperson's behavior is always in anticipation of not having an appropriate response when a prospect has an objection.
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Salespeople have always been reluctant to make prospecting calls. In fact they say they hate to make prospecting calls. Quite simply they need a script for selling products.
Prospecting is primarily asking questions. The goal is to get an appointment by asking the most important questions you can ask. That is the job of the green pages. We chose to print the scripts on green card-stock to indicate when to talk & converse, usually asking questions. The color of green represents how the sales script works for when you are doing the talking. The words we use will cause the prospect to like you, trust you, and agree to do business with you.
Scripts are cut-down and ready to use right out of the box. Includes a high quality "Leatherette" 3-ring
60 pages of dialogue that you can access at a glance. binder plus 4 plastic section flippers.
Includes a 24 page Instruction Booklet about how to use the scripts. A script writing kit to write your own additional prospecting scripts.
The Lead-off scripts are the initial dialogue you say to the prospect. The Lead-off scripts pages means that you are talking in an attempt to get the appointment which is the first step of the selling process. Each Lead-off page is designed to identify yourself, give a reason for the call and give a brief selling message. and that can be simply read aloud to a prospect.
Green page sales scripts will get you more appointments. As in all prospecting dialogue, you want to ask for the appointment, build a relationship, or close the sale right away if possible. If you're not getting the appointment or closing the sale or establishing whether they need your services, there's usually a question or an objection that must be answered. You must flip to the Red pages that have the responses that are likely to answer their question or respond to the objection.
Asking for the appointment is the ultimate goal. The Green pages means that you are talking in an attempt to get the appointment which is the first step of the selling process of a product or a service. Each heading page of the sales script has 5 or 6 "one-liners" that can be simply read aloud to the prospect. After awhile, the line of dialogue will begin to sound natural and convincing.
Making statements or asking questions? Thats the great debate. - Green pages are statements that are designed to take the next logical step towards asking for the appointment. Green pages often trigger questions and objections that can be addressed in the Yellow pages. Green pages contain rhetorical statements that require an answer. The prospect is predictable in that they will say any one of 6 things.
The prospect may say: The prospect may also say:
no, maybe,
not now, maybe if you convince me,
not interested. maybe someday I'll consider it.
Maybe they'll say "yes" and then you'll know that preparation really does matter!
Examples of the GREEN page headings. You are Talking & Conversing. - (printed on Green card-stock)
Need. There are generally two types of need we must address here when you close the sale and ask for an appointment. First we must ask if there is a real perception of need for the product or service. Second, we must ask for an appointment to discuss it. Asking for an appointment it is different than "selling" over the phone.
Want. Similarly the prospects may have the perception that they want to buy the product or they also want your services. The salesperson must discover the extent of their desire to determine if they warrant further expenditure of their time and ask for an appointment.
Money. Usually the prospect wants to talk about money issues. Other money topics include how the prospect can save money. The sentence “When is a good time to talk about money” at first glance sounds like a “time” issue when in fact it's asking for an appointment about to talk about money. Asking for appointment based on money can mean the cost of the product or how much they have a budgeted for it. For real real state agents, they include how much money can they loan, selling costs, and closing costs. Are they willing to pay a commission and what will the prospect get for the commission that they pay.
Time. Time to buy includes the best time for an appointment and most convenient time for getting an appointment. Time has many elements of which two have relevance at this stage of making prospecting calls. The first is “when” they think they have a need or want for obtaining the product or service. The second and equally important is whether they will tell you when the best time for an appointment to discuss all of the above.
Decision. Ask for a decision of what they are going to do. Are they ready to make a decision. If you find that you're not talking to a decision maker, find out if they influence the real decision maker.
Close. Green page “closes” mean ask for a decision to buy or do business with you. There are numerous closes that you may use, but we chose the "if & would" type. If your business favors a particular type of "close" then by all means write them down and attach on the "CLOSES"page.
Potential. The green page heading of “potential” asks for information and qualifies the prospect. Asking questions is the most efficient way to get information but it is also the most fraught with irritation on the part of the prospect. The questions must be understated and indirect if possible.
Get An Aggreement. All it may take to overcome sales reluctance is to make a remark that is reassuring and does not sound like you are trying to sell them something. It is too premature to ask for the order at this point other than to get an agreement on a minor point.
Overcome Reluctance. Positive affirmations and getting a committment is the best way to end any conversation and will leave the person is a much better frame of mind.
RED pages. Responding to Questions & Objections. (printed on RED card-stock) The red pages mean the prospect has questions that must be answered and objections that must be responed to.
What happens when you get an objection. - When you get and objection, it gives you an opportunity to keep the conversation going. The salesperson using the prospecting script is advised to stop talking and listen to the prospect before responding. There are 24 pages of the Questions & Objections that are most often heard when prospecting. The pages are cut-down so the heading appears to the viewer/user.
Garden-variety objections are easy to prepare for. - Prospects have questions and objections that are routine and are heard many times. If you get a question or objection in which the prospect agrees, there is no problem and go on with the call. If they don't agree, you'll get a question that needs to be answered or an objection that needs to be overcome. In a way, that's just what you want to hear because it give you the opportunity to prove your credibility. In a perfect world, every business prospect would agree with you. But in the real world of sales prospecting for new business, most prospects has a question or objection and won't continue with the call until they're satisfied with your answer.
Listen carefully to an objection. - The pages printed on red card-stock are for the salesperson using the sales and prospecting script to stop talking and listen the prospect before responding. In business-to-business prospecting and real estate prospecting we use the color of red to indicate to the salesperson that the prospect demands to be heard. Listen carefully to see if the business prospect agrees or disagrees ... or has a question or objection. For instance: If the prospect says, "Send Me Some Information." They are giving you the chance to not only send the information, but you can ask if it's alright to deliver it in person giving you the opportunity to meet them in person & give your sales presentation.
Red page objections lead you back to the green pages. In an ideal world, every listener would agree with you but the reality is most won't. Red objections are the result of something you said while you were talking using the Green pages. The way in which you answer questions and objections will determine the direction that the conversation will take. The response you give will usually determine the outcome of the prospecting call and sales call. In other words people respond to what you say.
Questions mean interest and that means you "have the floor" to talk. - Questions and objections usually mean there is an interest in you and your product and should be welcomed. If they don't ask any questions there's nowhere for you to go.
Change the prospects thinking. - The goal of the red pages is one that could lead to the prospect changing their attitude toward the agent or the company. The response to the question, must take the form of a benefit to the prospect. It should be aimed at the prospects emotions and worded in such a way as to sound positive yet answer the question.
Emotional objections. - Emotional objections are based on feelings. Those feelings are usually “not” positive. They can be unsubstantiated and vague. Unfortunately their perception is your reality. Emotional objections are harder to respond to. Anything you say tends to be wrong. Logical questions or objections are measurable, specific, and factual. The first step is to isolate the emotional objections to find prospects source of information or what caused the experience.
Logical objections. - A logical objection can then be turned into an opportunity by responding and quickly following up with a Green page question. The prospect may be simply misinformed. These are good questions because you can answer them truthfully and with candor. If they regard money or time issues, the responses are more than adequate. They are fair questions in that the prospect was simply misinformed.
Irrelevant questions ment to harass. - These are the toughest questions of all. It's a question that is totally irrelevant yet has the sting of harassment. There is no real answer that will make sense. The best you can do is to “smile” and treat the prospect with charm and respect, the things that are missing in their life. Above all don't stoop to their level by saying something that is less than professional. Remember, your job is not to put someone in their place; your job is to get them to do business with you.
Skeptics and nay-sayers. - Skeptics and nay-sayers are nearly impossible to deal with. One out of five people you deal with carry mental baggage that is difficult to cope with. They do not come up with bona fide questions or objections that are meaningful. A person who is skeptical is going to be that way no matter what. It's easy to get defensive. A skeptical person will remain unconvinced until a preponderance of evidence is presented.
Oppositional people & "Yeah-buts." - They take the opposing viewpoint to anything and everything. Oppositional behavior is built-in to their nature and a simple prospecting call isn't going to change that. Calling a prospect who has an "oppositional" state of mind is maddening enough when answering a question and objection, Doing business with them is tough on those of us who are well-adjusted. You can’t make any sense of their taking issue with everything. That's just the way they are.
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YELLOW pages are the Selling & Telling pages. Selling dialogue that you must have at your fingertips.
Yellow pages mean that the sales presentation dialogue is at your fingertips. - This section is printed on yellow card stock. The dialogue we wrote will fit most selling situations but specific wording is required by you to make the dialogue sound convincing and persuasive. The more time you spend on the selling dialogue, the more you'll be talking about selling your products and services. The selling dialogue enables you to have at your fingertips the information you need to effectively sell your products using a sales presentation. The words should be carefully crafted, be brief, and to the point. It’s all in the presentation as they say.
Fill in the blanks with your own personal dialogue. - The dialogue that we have written in the yellow pages (1-liners) is somewhat general and will fit most selling situations. The real benefit of the yellow pages is that it offers you an opportunity to fill in the blanks with information about you, your company, and the products & services you provide. Once you complete writing your personalized dialogue in the yellow pages, it becomes a shortened version of a sales presentation. The dialogue should be specific to you, your company, and your services. It’s the nuts and bolts of your selling plan and your sales presentation.
The Yellow pages, in essence, contain the sales presentation section. Proceed with caution when the traffic light turns "yellow." It also means
proceed with caution whenever you're selling something.
If you get the appointment the prospect is willing to go along with the selling process. If you don't get the appointment, you'll get a
question that generally requires you to answer and give more information.
Only you can fill in the blanks. - If the writers of this business script book attempted to write any content of the yellow pages, .. it would be nothing more then a pithy fluff piece that wouldn’t fool anyone. It would be too generalized to be of any use. Smooth-talker scripts require "you" to fill in the blanks of the yellow pages business plan and selling plan. It would be impossible to write a universally acceptable script for this section of the business script that would effectively communicate the unique characteristics of your business.
Reasons why you must fill in the blanks. - That is why only you can write & "fill-in-the-blanks" of the Yellow-pages. They contain the information that causes a prospect to want you what you have to offer. The Yellow-pages scripts' primary purpose is to function as your own personal marketing department and public relations agency.
Use your imagination. - The yellow pages are designed to be a basic framework that is to be modified and completed by you and sales manager. We have given you some examples of lines of selling dialogue that you can use. Each line of the dialogue is written to inspire your resourceful imagination.
Yellow pages dialogue are the classic selling dialogue. - It is the classic selling dialogue that the sales manager teachs you in training classes. Reasons to do business, facts & benefits and all of the clever play on words that make up the selling process. The dialogue is short & brief in the yellow page scripts, that’s probably all that a prospect can absorb during a prospecting call.
Convincing and persuading. - In a prospecting call or a sales call, Yellow page scripts means convincing and persuading. A good salesperson inspires a potential buyer to see the reasons and benefits as their own. It means convincing and persuading, and building credibility. The yellow pages section can be considered a “sales presentation” of you and your companies services and add up to “telling your story.” It’s the language of selling of reasons and benefits.
Use caution when you're selling. - It is neccessary to use caution when selling your product and in using a sales presentation. The topics and headings describe the things that all salespeople are required to use in the normal selling situation. The underlying idea of why we use the color "Yellow" is to use caution when using sales dialogue in a sales presentation. It doesn't give you permission to talk nonstop. You're not just selling, you're helping buyers make a choice. There's a difference.
Personalize a script that reflects you.
Write a prospecting script that reflects your personality. Always be yourself because everybody else it taken. You must personalize a sales script that sounds like the way you talk to be believable. Don't worry if your customization doesn't sound professional because prospecting is communicating and not like a telemarketer selling something.