Sales scripts. Algorithms for creating and example scripts for incoming calls

An indispensable condition for fruitful, long-term commercial relationships is a well-built connection between business partners (for example, the seller and buyer of a product or service). The ideal option would be a conclusion after the first acquaintance, but, unfortunately, in practice such cases almost never occur - and given the ever-increasing competition, they are unlikely to become more common in the future. In reality, the seller has to put in a lot of effort to induce a potential buyer to at least consider the offer, and in this case he has to influence on all fronts.

One of the methods of persuasion received in Lately Particular recognition is the use of telephone sales scripts. What is it, how scripts differ from scripts, how to correctly compose them and use them in real negotiations - read below.

Sales script structure

Let's start with terms. A telephone sales script is a set of pre-prepared remarks (interchangeable excerpts of a conversation) used by a manager to attract and secure the attention of a potential client at the beginning of a conversation, and later to create a desire in the latter to order (purchase) the product or service offered.

Important: in the practice of telephone sales, inexperienced negotiators often confuse the concepts of “script” and “scenario”. Both of these terms relate to the field of calls and have fundamental similarities, but there is also a difference: a script is a ready-made, unchangeable (with the exception of predefined variables) set of phrases compiled by a competent marketer; it covers all possible situations - from delight to sharp rejection of a potential buyer. A script is a more flexible, but also obviously incomplete structure, giving much greater scope for imagination to the telephone sales manager. In this case, the ending of the conversation depends at least half on his personal talents, while the unsuccessful use of the script is 80% on the conscience of its compiler.

In other words, the task of a manager using a script is to select and pronounce the necessary phrases in a timely manner based on the context of the situation; using the conversation script - improvise using existing “blanks”.

Developing a truly high-quality telephone sales script (as well as a script) is a rather complex process; the finished text will cost the customer several thousand dollars. In addition, in some cases you will have to look for employees who can adequately voice phrases. That is why a novice entrepreneur, who does not yet have enough funds at his disposal and does not have a staff of specialists, will probably have to look for other options to attract clients - for example, you can either advertise in traditional or digital media.

Important: It is impossible to use the same telephone sales script with equal efficiency to sell different products or services. In order to maximize the number of concluded cooperation or purchase and sale agreements, it is imperative to apply an individualized approach not only to each category of products sold, but sometimes also to each specific situation - in particular, making “cold” and “hot” calls. Therefore, for a company manager interested in increasing sales, it would be wiser to order a text from a professional rather than download ready-made sample scripts on the Internet. Many of them are really good, but they are aimed at talking to a different target audience, which means they will not have the desired impact if used for other purposes.

You can develop a telephone conversation script yourself, focusing on the positive experience of competitors and the best ones posted on open access examples. In this case, it makes sense to allow the manager to deviate slightly from the list of remarks and diversify the conversation; this will allow you to update the script from time to time with the “findings” of the dialogue participants.

• sale of goods and services through “cold” and “hot” calls is the main activity of the company;
• at least three managers work in the telephone sales department (if there are fewer of them, it will be easier and faster to send them to advanced training courses or independently teach them the basics of conducting dialogue without scripts);
• At present, the effectiveness of the sales department cannot be called satisfactory (it is strongly recommended that the best effective managers freedom of action, otherwise their personal effectiveness may decrease).

Next most important factor when writing a telephone sales script (even if it’s advertising) - determining its focus on a “cold” or “warm” (“hot”) audience:

1. Warm call is made to a potential client who already knows about the company and the services it offers. In most cases, we are talking about one-time or irregular orders (purchases), during one of which the buyer left his contact information, registered on the organization’s website, or otherwise showed readiness for further cooperation. The goal of a sales manager is to remind a person about the existence of the company, offer him new services or products and (ideally) turn him into a regular customer. Usually, to achieve a positive result, provided that a high-quality script or scenario is used, one conversation is enough; Do not be afraid of the client's request to call back later: it may well happen that he is currently really busy or simply wants to carefully consider the offer.
2. Cold call carried out to a potential client, be it an individual or the head of a large company, who either has not heard of the organization represented by the manager or has very little knowledge about it general idea. In this case, the goal of the sales department employee is to explain as clearly as possible what exactly his company does and why it can be useful, or even become the main business partner for the interlocutor. The number of positive responses when making “cold” calls is an order of magnitude lower - both due to insufficient targeting (especially if these are targeted offers to buy a new food processor or another unique decoration), and due to the impossibility of drawing up a single comprehensive script: the diversity of the target audience is too great. The last factor makes you think about using scripts instead of scripts, however, such a solution is associated with a number of difficulties, and the outcome of the conversation will depend even more on the personal qualities of the manager, which is not entirely convenient in the conditions of unification.

Important: the most important condition when drawing up and using any sales script is respect for the potential client. The interlocutor should feel like the main character responsible for making final decision. The manager conducting the conversation on the phone is assigned the role of a consultant - no more and no less. In no case should you openly put pressure on a person or force a conversation on him if he turns away from her: it is better to call back convenient time and acquire a regular client, rather than insist on continuing the dialogue and be left with nothing.

As already mentioned, a telephone sales script is a set of interconnected replicas. Below we will discuss the main components of any script - from the greeting to the final part - depending on the type of call: “cold” or “warm”.

Greeting the client

Like every adequate conversation, a call to sell a product or service using a script should begin with a greeting addressed to the client - sufficiently polite (do not make it too prim), official and friendly (there is also no need to go overboard with this, deviating into familiarity ).

It is most logical to combine a greeting with an introduction: the manager should identify himself and indicate which company he represents. This is a mandatory condition: it is fundamentally important for the person on the other end of the line to know who he is talking to and what they initially want from him.

Standard greeting phrases for “warm” and “cold” calls are the same:

• "Hello!";
• "Good afternoon!";
• "Good morning!";
• "Good evening!";
• “We are glad to welcome you!”

• "Good day!";
• "Greetings!";
• "Hello!";
• “Let me say hello to you” and so on.

Important: during a “warm” conversation, immediately after the greeting, you should use the name (or first and patronymic) of the potential client, indicated by him when registering on the site or similar conditions. Doing the same when making a “cold” call is highly discouraged: it will most likely strain the interlocutor, who still has no idea who wants to talk to him and why. With a high probability, upon hearing his name, especially pronounced in an overly formal tone, he will simply refuse to continue the conversation. In addition, it is impossible (based on the same considerations) to use the subscriber’s last name when greeting: it is usually considered as much more confidential information, and its excessive mention will cause hostility or fear rather than trust. However, if the manager has already spoken with the client before and knows about his preferences, using the last name is quite acceptable.

When making a “warm” or “cold” call, you can introduce yourself as follows:

• My name is (optional - surname; then - first name and preferably patronymic), I represent a company (firm, organization, limited liability company, national corporation) (full or, if available, abbreviated official name);
• I am an employee of (organization name) (last name, first name, patronymic);
• I hold a position (job title) at a company (company name); my name is (last name, first name, patronymic) - and so on.

Important: if the call is “cold”, that is, made to an unprepared subscriber, after the introduction it is necessary to very briefly, in a few words, explain what the company does and, if necessary, mention the presence of social initiatives (for example, studying).

The final part of the greeting during a “cold” call is the question of how you can address the interlocutor (the most correct form is “How can / how can I contact you?”). Having received the answer, the manager can move on to the next part of the telephone sales script.

Advice: if the interlocutor states his name (or first and patronymic), this in itself indicates his readiness to continue the conversation. In the future, it may weaken, but the initiative should be encouraged until the very end. The received data must be recorded on paper or on a computer in order to avoid making mistakes in the future, and ideally, to include the subscriber in the client base. If the person who answered the phone refuses to introduce himself already at the greeting stage, the manager can, depending on the aggressiveness of his behavior, either try to continue the conversation without forcing the interlocutor to provide information, or, if this is obviously futile, say goodbye as correctly as possible.

The question of whether, after a clear and energetic refusal from a potential client, you should make a follow-up call to sell a product or service remains open. If the sales department employee has strong nerves and calmly endures biased remarks, the experiment can be repeated; if not, you should either delete the ungrateful subscriber from the database, or entrust the matter to a less sensitive manager.

Finding out the circumstances

Moving on to the second part of the script, you need to clarify whether the potential client can communicate right now.

The phrases for “warm” and “cold” calls in this case are the same:

• “Can I talk to you?”;
• “Can I tell you about our proposal?”;
• “Do you have time to listen to our proposal?”;
• “Are you comfortable talking now?”;
• “Can you spare me a few minutes?”;
• “Do you have the opportunity to spend ten minutes to hear our proposal?” etc.

If the client refuses, you need to clarify when you can call back:

• “When can I call you back?”;
• “Can you listen to me later?”;
• “When will it be convenient for you to talk?”;
• “Can I contact you (call you back) during the day?”

Advice: Under no circumstances should you insist on continuing the conversation if the client is not ready for it and openly declares this. It is quite possible that he has objective reasons; maybe he just doesn't feel this moment desire to communicate with the manager. Increased persistence of a sales employee will simply scare away or anger the subscriber; It is much wiser to find out when he will be able to continue the conversation, or, if the interlocutor hangs up, to call back yourself in a few hours. Possible communication interference should also be taken into account: it may turn out that the connection was terminated unwillingly or even against the will of the subscriber.

Clarifying questions

From this moment you can move on to the essence of the conversation. But since, according to the principles of using sales scripts, the recipient of the call should feel like the main person, it is necessary to make sure that he himself describes his problem. Of course, you shouldn’t just ask for it: it’s at least impolite, and in general it’s likely to lead to a premature end to the conversation; Why should a subscriber talk about his immediate needs to an unfamiliar or completely unfamiliar interlocutor? You need to act more subtly, using correct phrases that do not evoke negative emotions.

When making a “warm” call, you can use the following constructions:

• “Did you like the product (name) you recently purchased?”;
• “Are you satisfied with the quality of services provided to you (name)?”;
• “You recently visited our online store. Did you find what you were looking for?";
• "On last week you made a purchase in our store. Did she meet your needs?” - etc.

It is a little more difficult to start a dialogue on business with a potential buyer during a “cold” call. In this situation, it is necessary to first define the boundaries of the problem, and only then ask whether the subscriber wants to get rid of it.

The key phrases will look something like this:

• “Have you ever encountered (description of problem)?”;
• “Has (description of the situation) happened to you?”;
• “Do you often have to (the essence of the question)?”;
• “Have you thought about how to deal with this problem?”;
• “Would you like to have the opportunity to get rid of (description of the situation)?”;
• “We can offer a way out. Would you like to listen?";
• “We have a solution. Can I tell you briefly about it?”;
• “We know how to help you. If you allow, I will inform you about our new product (name, description).”

Important: at the stage of identifying the problem, you should not linger too long on discussing the most unpleasant situation. If a client likes to complain, the manager runs the risk of spending several hours on an exciting (and usually not very) conversation, as a result of “processing” one potential buyer for the entire working day. If, on the contrary, the subscriber is not inclined to talk about the difficulties arising in his life, after some time he will simply withdraw into himself, and it will become almost impossible to continue a constructive dialogue; the manager will have to either take a long time to “pull” the client out of his stupor, or say goodbye to him, having to reschedule the call for another day. Both solutions, although they do not imply the exclusion of the subscriber from the client base, but significantly reduce productivity and, therefore, affect financial well-being the manager himself.

Indication of the purpose of the call

Now, having set the potential client in the right mood, you can proceed to presenting the product or service offered by the company. If the call is “warm”, it is necessary to mention previous purchases made by him and outline the advantages of the new offer compared to previous ones. If it’s “cold”, simply tell the subscriber what exactly he has the fortunate opportunity to meet.

Examples of sentence phrases for “warm” calls:

• “Not long ago you bought (name of product) from us. Now we have the opportunity to offer you an improved modification with the following advantages...”;
• “Last week you used our service (name). Since then, we have introduced several innovative solutions and are pleased to offer you...”;
• “A month ago you ordered (name of product) from our company’s online store. Since then, our range has expanded significantly, and you can purchase it at a reasonable price...”;
• “You are our regular customer. Your preferred product (name) has acquired a new, improved modification, which I am ready to tell you about”;
• “Are you ready to purchase our product from the updated line?” - etc.

Designs for cold calling:

• “We are glad to offer you our innovative product (name)”;
• “Let me tell you about the advantages of the service we offer (name, description)”;
• “Would you like to order from us a new, unproduced product (name, signs of uniqueness)?” - etc.

Important: already at this stage, if the listener agrees, you can proceed to concluding a contract or placing an order. At the same time, it is enough to simply obtain verbal permission from a regular client to process the application, while from a new client (during a “cold” call) you will have to first find out personal and contact information (phone number, virtual Mailbox and postal address). If a potential client refuses to “cooperate,” the manager should smoothly lead him to the next stage - working with objections. You cannot do this too harshly and aggressively: such behavior is fraught with the termination of the conversation and the loss of the buyer.

Elaboration of objections

It should be immediately clarified: the goal of the sales department employee is not to gain the upper hand over the client in a dispute (this is pleasant, but unproductive), but to listen to him as carefully as possible and offer his counterarguments, soft, but objective and convincing. Deliberate deception and pressure on a potential buyer are excluded by default: this is more likely to result in a scandal than to help establish a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with the subscriber.

The most common customer objections and possible answers to them:

1. “I don’t need such a product" Since the subscriber has already agreed that the specified problem is not alien to him, it makes sense to convince him of the need for a purchase:
   • “The product we offer (name of product or service) will best solve your problem”;
   • “Our product will help you feel more confident in (the situations described earlier)”;
   • “We guarantee that our innovative proposal will help you overcome (problem description)”;
   • “Just try (name) and see how easy and fast it is.”
2. “I’m already shopping elsewhere”. The most serious mistake in this case is to start criticizing competitors instead of continuing to praise your product. Such behavior by the manager is unlikely to arouse the sympathy of the listener and, most likely, will be regarded as incorrect. Best counterargument phrases:
   1. “Our offer will only expand the range of your possibilities”;
   2. "You did great choice, but our product (name) will allow you, in addition to (description of a competitor’s product), also (list of unique product functions)...";
   3. “Your solution is almost perfect, but we can offer new features that are not available in the products you purchase”;
   4. “We do not propose to replace your suppliers, but simply want to expand your capabilities with our offer (description of product or service).
3. "I don't have time to talk". Here, taking into account the possibility of a real problem arising, you should proceed as before: clarify when you can call the subscriber back, and politely say goodbye.
4. "It's too expensive". If the recipient of the call makes such an argument, it means that he is, in principle, interested in the product and is ready to consider reasonable offers. You should answer with the following phrases:
   • “Our product does cost a little more, but it has additional functions(list the most important ones)”;
   • “Only during this week we are ready to offer a discount (discount amount and other conditions)”;
   • “If you purchase two products from our new catalog, you will get the third one for half price (free)”;
   • “We are ready to provide a discount on the first order (discount amount).”

If the manager is persistent and polite enough, he will eventually be able to convince the client to agree to purchase the product or service - or at least arrange for a repeat call, which in itself is the key to future success. Now, having achieved the result, you can say goodbye to the buyer, leaving him in anticipation of receiving the product or service.

Ending a conversation

The farewell should be as polite as the greeting; Under no circumstances should it be delayed - this will further tire the already slightly overloaded subscriber with information.

The best phrases for ending a conversation during “warm” and “cold” calls:

• “Thank you for your time!”;
• “Thank you for the conversation, I hope for further cooperation”;
• “We will be glad to receive any of your requests”;
• “Our specialist will call you back to clarify the details”;
• “Thank you for the pleasant conversation!”;
• "Goodbye!";
• "Best wishes!".

Important: when saying goodbye, especially after a successfully completed conversation, the manager may deviate slightly from the sales script and use his own final formula - the main thing is that it is not too dry or, on the contrary, familiar.

Sample telephone sales scripts

Below are three telephone sales scripts for the most common cases: the client immediately meets halfway (a “warm” call); initially refuses dialogue (“cold” call); considers the offer too expensive.

Sample No. 1

Manager (M.): Good afternoon, Nikolai Petrovich! Let me introduce myself, my name is Elena, I am the manager of the “Prosto Obuv” company.

Client (K.): Hello.

M.: Is it convenient for you to talk now? Our conversation will take you no more than fifteen minutes.

K: Yes, I have ten minutes.

M.: Two weeks ago you ordered “Family” galoshes from the new “Autumn 2018” collection from our online store. Are you satisfied with the quality of the purchased product?

K.: Yes, very pleased. Thanks to the increased size, they fit the foot perfectly and do not get wet. Thanks! Great product.

M.: Great! Now we have a new offer for you - “Family Plus” galoshes. They are not only comfortable to wear and do not get wet, but also have a water-repellent effect, which will give your movement through puddles even more elegance. Now even in the most difficult situation your galoshes will shine as if they had just come from a display case. Can I offer you a pair from the updated collection at a price of 7,500 rubles?

K.: Water-repellent effect? Very interesting, but, unfortunately, after purchasing your galoshes from the last collection, I cannot afford a new pair. I still need to pay the rent and feed the aquarium fish.

M.: Only today we are offering you wonderful water-repellent overshoes “Family Plus” with an attractive discount: 30% for each pair. Plus, if you order two pairs, you'll receive a free tube of our shoe polish.

K.: 30% discount? Then it comes out even cheaper than I ordered the previous ones. Moreover, an extra pair definitely won’t hurt me. Okay, thanks, I agree. Place your order.

M: Great, thank you for your time. You will soon receive an SMS notifying you that your order has been dispatched. Goodbye, Nikolai Petrovich!

K.: See you soon!

Sample No. 2

M.: Hello! My name is Pavel Nikolaevich, I am a representative of the SpetsBeton trust, we supply cement to all corners of the country. How can I contact you?

K.: Hello. No, I'm not interested.

M.: Then let me tell you a little about our unique offer? Do you have literally ten minutes?

K: Okay, let's go.

M.: Have you ever poured a foundation with low-quality mortar and then experienced aesthetic agony at the sight of cracks and irregularities?

K.: No, never.

M.: But do you have a plot of land?

K.: Yes, I’m thinking about what to plant there this year.

M.: Don’t plant anything, it’s better to build a house. First, lay a good foundation. Use our cement or ready-made mortar - as research by our experts shows, it is 20% more reliable than others and sets three times faster. You will receive a dense, uniform pillow literally on the same day.

K.: Continue, I'm interested. How much it costs?

M.: Due to the outstanding quality, we charge 50 rubles for each liter of solution, but only for the next year and a half there is a limited offer: only 20 rubles per liter. Work is at the expense of the organization.

K.: No, it’s still a bit expensive.

M.: Yes, you are right, our solution is a little more expensive than our competitors. But you can be sure that your house will not be washed away by the spring flood, and the foundation will last for decades!

K.: Okay, let's place an order.

M.: Please state your last name, first name, patronymic, telephone number and postal address.

K.: Leonid Zakharovich, +7912345678, Moscow, Penkovskoe highway, building 15, entrance on the left.

M.: Great, thank you for your attention! Our manager will contact you in the coming days to clarify details and send your order. Best wishes!

K.: Goodbye.

Sample No. 3

M.: Greetings! My name is Porfiry Gennadievich, I am a customer service manager at RosSerga. May I know how to contact you?

K.: Klava. Hello.

M.: Good evening, Claudia! Can you spare a few minutes to talk?

K.: Yes, I can. But not for long.

M.: Of course. Tell me, do you like wearing earrings? Or do you prefer to wear bracelets?

K.: No, you know, I prefer earrings.

M.: Then let me recommend you our new offer: a unique piece of jewelry made of gold, coated with a thin layer of platinum, with several natural “Rowan” rubies. The price of this jewelry, designed by the most famous Mordovian jewelers, is only 22 thousand rubles.

K.: How much?! No, too expensive, thanks, goodbye!

M.: Don’t rush to refuse. Only today can I give you a discount on your order. By purchasing these earrings, you will pay only 18 thousand rubles.

K.: No, it’s a little expensive. Sorry.

M.: And as a gift you will receive an elegant bag for storing a product made of pure velvet. Usually it costs 3 thousand rubles, but for our new clients it is free. Think: today you can save 7 thousand rubles!

K.: As many as 7 thousand? Well, what can I do, I’ll take it. Let's order it.

M.: Thank you for your agreement. In a few minutes, our manager from the orders department will contact you and clarify the details. Good evening, Claudia!

K.: All the best.

Now, having an idea of ​​how sales scripts are actually compiled and work, an entrepreneur can start writing his own - or order a text from a professional, and then check it for compliance with the points listed above.

How to make 10 sales out of 10 calls - video tutorial

Let's sum it up

A telephone sales script helps automate the work of managers with potential clients, as well as increase business efficiency. At the same time, especially talented employees can be freed from the obligation to adhere to the algorithm, giving them greater freedom of choice. The main thing is to get the result as a result, and not to force the entire department to repeat unchangeable text.

Any script must be correctly written, compiled in accordance with general structure sales conversation and provide the potential customer with enough opportunities for dialogue. The future client should play the leading role in the conversation, and the specialist who called him is only a consultant. Throughout the communication, the manager should maintain restraint and presence of mind - only then can one count on productive and long-term communication with the new buyer.

One of the main ingredients good sales This is a quality script. Despite the fact that most companies work with different target audiences and sell completely different products and services, the rules of communication are the same for everyone. Most companies undertake to make scripts themselves and after managers do not produce results they come to the conclusion that the managers or the product are bad, but, often, the problem is precisely in the script. Today we will give an example of a universal script template that fits most projects. When used correctly, conversion can increase significantly.

1) Secretary bypass block

In our company, we have a rule by which you can instantly determine the quality of a script. If a secretary bypass block is specified in the script, the script is bad. It's simple - to get around the secretary, you can't be a salesman. If you start explaining to the secretary all the benefits of your product, you have lost. The secretary, who receives 137 calls every day, has his own laconic script: “Thank you. All offers are sent to the email address indicated on the website.” If management needs to buy something, the secretary looks for it himself. He absolutely doesn’t care what benefits you bring and what benefits you promise. So just look for a way not to lie, but also not to show your intentions to sell. Break the pattern in any way until you are sure that you are communicating with the decision maker* (decision maker).

Example: Selling our sales outsourcing services

Manager: - Hello, hello. Secretary: - Hello, Prostonyashino company, how can I help you? Manager: - You have a vacancy at HeadHuntere. Position sales manager. With whom can I clarify the terms of employment? Secretary: - Just a second, I’m connecting.

They bypassed the system, hacked the password, our people are in the enemy camp.

2) Greeting

Manager: - Good afternoon, *COMPANY NAME*, *MANAGER NAME*. How can I contact you? Possible decision maker: - Valery. Manager: - Tell me, are you responsible in the company for *insert what you need* Confirmed decision maker: - Yes, what did you want?

It is very important in the first seconds to confirm that the decision maker is the decision maker and find out his name. Otherwise, at the end, when contact has been established and he agrees to cooperate, it will be awkward to ask.

3) Confirm demand and determine if there is a problem

It is necessary to confirm the demand, and not to convey the supply. Even before you start offering something, you need to block the person’s access to the opportunity to refuse and establish primary contact with him. All this must be done exclusively by ASKING QUESTIONS. The questions should be simple ones that you know can only be answered yes. You need to confirm with the person that he needs your product that solves his problem. 2-3 questions are enough, the first of which is from “Captain Obvious”.

Example when selling a pen:

Manager: - Tell me, do you write with a pen? Decision maker: - Yes. Manager: - Do you write with a pen quite often or occasionally? Decision maker: - Often, what do you want to offer? Manager: - If you write with a pen, it means you have it periodically runs out, and you need to go and buy a new one? Decision maker: - Right, what did you want?

I think everything is clear here, but for those who don’t, call us and we’ll explain)

4) Offer a solution to the problem

Based on the questions, you smoothly move on to the essence of the proposal that helps solve the problem, the presence of which the person has already confirmed. No one will ever admit that they lied, so your interlocutor can no longer deny the fact that they need to solve the problem. This means that the proposal will not face the objection “we don’t need anything” and you will be listened to. The main thing to remember here is that brevity is the sister of talent. So your proposal should be as short as possible and explain exactly how it solves the problem. You can read more about how to properly prepare a proposal in ours.

5) Promotion/special. offer

To make an offer effective here and now, use leverage. Classic examples work well here: the opportunity to try a product before paying, a 50% discount valid for only a couple of days, etc. By creating urgency and limiting time, we speed up the decision-making process, otherwise it could drag on for a long time, and we really don’t want that.

A similar technique was actively used in landing pages, installing stock counters (and some people still install them), but lately this has hardly worked on landing pages.

6) Re-confirmation of demand

It is necessary to remind the decision maker of his own words. The fact that at the beginning of the conversation he himself confirmed the existence of a problem now gives us a serious trump card. You ask the same questions again and get the same answers again. In fact, you are forcing him to admit that he needs what you offered him.

If in point 3 we asked questions about interest in purchasing at a better price and they confirmed it to us. Then, after announcing the action, we ask something like this:

"You said that you are more interested in profitable terms shopping, right?"

Think at your leisure how you would “dodge” such a phrase and offer something of your own.

7) Dealing with objections

The last window through which a client can get out is working with objections. Model all the nuances and prescribe answers to the client’s possible questions to the manager in advance. This part depends solely on knowledge of the hardware and on the manager having the right arguments.

8) Manager

Even the most Best offer, aimed at a specific target audience may not bring any results if the manager does not know how to present it correctly. If you want to kill a beast, you need a hunter, not a shepherd. One competent salesperson will bring you more profit than 10 students working for results. You can raise a professional, but it requires effort, money and time. Or you can hire someone who is ready to outsource. Here you choose between what you really want - save more or earn more;)

And finally, an example of a complete script for cold calling and offering services to our company (forgive me those who do not like the text formatting, the functionality here is far from Word):

Secretary's rounds

Good afternoon I found an advertisement on the Internet for a vacancy for a sales manager. Who can you talk to about the vacancy and clarify the terms of employment?

Switches to decision maker

Good afternoon, my name is Konstantin, Seurus company. How can I contact you?*

Client response

(It is necessary to confirm that his managers are not ideal. What can be better. At the same time, one cannot say that they are bad) Do you have sales managers? Do you think your sales managers are doing their best or can they do even better?

Client response

Would you like your sales managers to work for results? OUR COMPANY is engaged in hiring remote sales managers who are already trained and experienced in various products and services. Are you satisfied with the quality of your sales managers? Do your managers work for a salary or results?

Client response

We work on a balance payment system. 35,000 rubles balance, which is spent in three areas:

FIRST: Creating a database: that is, searching for companies from the target audience on the Internet 10-20 rubles. for contact. SECOND: Creation of a project 15,000 rubles. Writing a sales script, training a manager, identifying an effective target audience. THIRD: The result is a client interested in purchasing. That is, we will find out from you who is a hot client and assign a reward for him. In the future work in progress solely for the result. No salaries or living expenses. Sales only. Only hardcore. If payment is received this month, we are ready to launch your project in 2 days.

Client response

You yourself said that you can sell better. We are ready to demonstrate this to you. Our managers are the best in their field and have extensive experience in this area. Let me send you the contract and you take a closer look at the conditions. Will I call you back tomorrow and answer all your questions?

Client consent

Work with objections

We have our own managers, everything suits us!

Everything is relative. Do you think that it is impossible to sell better than your managers and your company gets maximum profit?

My managers sell perfectly and profits are at their maximum!

Well let your managers handle the interested clients we bring! After all, they know your product in detail, and we will bring hot customers - ready to buy.

We have a specific product!

We sell everything: from website development to diesel generators! If we sold equipment for water utilities, then we can sell your product. The main thing for you is to confirm interest in your product. You can tell us about your product without us. Our task is to interest you!

How many calls can you make per day?

It all depends on the project! On average 100 calls, you yourself understand that selling honey is different from selling real estate.

*If interest is confirmed, transfer the contact to a supervisor for further processing.*

That's basically all! On the one hand, everything is simple, but on the other, it’s not quite) Don’t listen to “armchair experts,” and if you’re not sure whether you’re doing everything right, it’s better to call Seurus! - seurus.com

May profit be with you!

Sales scripts– one of my favorite destinations. And not only because they are expensive and relatively easy to write. This is perhaps the only direction in copywriting where you can see the result of your work in real time. Moreover, only here you can check the performance of certain modules yourself by communicating directly with the target audience.

That thrill when you pick up the phone in anticipation of the first phone call. The face and ears turn red, the pulse quickens, the hands become clammy, and the adrenaline goes through the roof. Honestly, sometimes it seems that it’s easier to slide down an extreme slide at a water park a la “kamikaze” than to make the first cold call using a developed script. However, over time you get used to it and the feelings dull. But that's not the point.

This is a kamikaze slide at the Brazilian water park Insano. And sometimes it seems that moving out is easier than making a scripted phone call... At least until you go upstairs.

With this article I want to solemnly open a new section on the blog dedicated to telephone sales scripts (and not only). In it, I will share my experiences and approaches to “programming” managers so that they call and sell products, services or ideas more effectively.

What are sales scripts for calls?

Telephone sales scripts(or, their other name is speech modules) are pre-prepared phrases that the manager uses in a conversation with the client. In other words, this is a kind of program, an algorithm for the manager, what and how to say to the client in all possible situations and in response to any of the latter’s remarks. If you regularly read my blog, you've probably noticed that I often compare copywriting to engineering. One of the most illustrative examples here is pure programming. Only the performers are not computers, but people. Living people.

Sales scripts– verbatim written remarks with marked intonations and explanations. This type is usually used by call centers or inexperienced sales managers.

Writing scripts is not a cheap pleasure. And this good news for a copywriter. The average cost of a set of speech modules, depending on the goals and objectives, varies from 60 to 600 thousand rubles ($1000-$10,000).

However, it is important to understand that this money is not paid for nothing. And despite all the seemingly simplicity of development, a scriptographer (as copywriters who write custom scripts are sometimes called) requires real sales skills. Without them, it is almost impossible to write a working script the first time.

Where are sales scripts used?

Yes everywhere. Where there is communication, there are sales scripts everywhere. And this applies not only to business, but also Everyday life. Almost every person before an important meeting (no matter whether it is meeting the parents of the future spouse or an interview for new job) creates in the imagination intellectual models of future interlocutors and plays out certain conversational situations in the mind. That's why everyone creates scripts all the time, regardless of whether they get paid for it or not. Another thing is that not everyone develops this skill and monetizes it.

If we are talking about scripts for business (for which the copywriter is paid), then we can distinguish two main areas.

Scripts for incoming telephone conversations. The simplest option, because the manager working according to the script is the “receiving party”. Those. it’s people calling him and they need something from him (information, goods, services, etc.). In other words, the manager has a strong position here, and communication is easier.

Scripts for outgoing telephone conversations. The most difficult option, because the manager is in the weak position of the “asker”. They weren’t expecting him, and he’s “calling here for some reason” and “offering something.” It is more difficult to communicate from such a position. Especially if you have no experience.

The approaches to developing scripts in both cases are very different, both in strategy and logic. In particular, the main difference lies in the sequence of conversation stages. In the case of incoming calls, the client is already at least warmed up, and the stage of processing objections begins immediately. In the case of outgoing calls, there are certain “preludes”: going around the secretary, contacting the decision maker, calling for interest, etc. More on this below.

How to write a sales script: “golden rule”

Do you know what I like most about scripts? This is an absolutely unpredictable direction in which there are no rules. Actually, this can be called the only, and therefore “golden” rule. You can write a script exactly following the experts' proven recommendations, and the script may fail miserably. Or worse.

A good example. I have a friend. He is a business consultant. One of his clients had scripts compiled by professional scriptographers according to all the canons. And their main tragedy was that they consistently failed at the first stage - bypassing the secretary. No matter how hard the scriptographers tried, nothing worked. And so, my friend comes to consult this company. Naturally, they immediately complain to him that there are scripts for cold calling, compiled according to all the rules, but... They don’t work!

My friend takes it, looks at the scripts, sighs and says:

- So, who is the toughest secretary you have here?
- Here in this company N - there is a beast there!
“Okay, look: I’ll show you a trick.”

- So, quickly, she connected me with the boss!!!

The secretary is shocked and starts to say something into the phone, but he doesn’t wait, interrupts rudely and begins to raise his voice even more:

- What are you telling me?! I didn't ask if he was busy or free! Quickly took it and connected it! Why should I waste my time on you?

The secretary, under such pressure, tried to simultaneously resist, dampen the conflict, and get at least some information. But this only made the situation worse. My friend got into character and interrupted her every remark, with increasing rage and some kind of angry breath in his voice:

- What do you mean, who is speaking?! Ivanov says. I-va-nov. So tell the boss. And if you make me wait one more minute...

After this, the secretary apparently realized that the lesser evil was to connect the interlocutor with the boss (out of harm’s way), and then getting the boss himself interested was only a matter of technique.

Why am I saying this? Moreover, sales and communication using scripts (or without them) is a game without rules. Moreover, 99% of novice managers will not be able to repeat my friend’s trick. And, alas, I am no exception. What is needed here is character, experience, charisma, assertiveness and unconditional self-confidence, which are transmitted through a non-verbal channel. Plus, emotional intelligence plays a huge role here, to which I also plan to devote a separate article. Subscribe to blog updates so you don't miss anything.

Two key principles when writing a sales script

Despite the fact that there are no rules as such when developing scripts, there are two principles, knowledge of which significantly increases the chances of success.

1. Initiative

In any conversation there is always someone who leads the conversation and someone who follows. As a rule, the initiative in a conversation always remains with the one who asks the questions. Unfortunately, in most companies, the manager’s conversation with the client is structured according to the scheme below. Please note that the conversation is incoming when the client calls the company himself, and the manager initially has a stronger position.

Client: Hello, hello!
Manager: Hello!
Client:
Manager: 15,000 rubles.
Client: How long does development take?
Manager: 1-2 weeks.
Client: Do you give discounts?
Manager: Yes, when ordering more than 5 CP.
Client: What if it doesn't work?
Manager: This is a risk, and it is always there.
Client: Okay, thanks, I'll think about it and call you back if anything happens.
Manager: Yes, of course, call! All the best!

Do you see? In this example, the conversation is completely controlled by the client because he is asking questions. Managers who conduct conversations according to this principle never sell. They just sit on the shipment in the hope that the client will call and say:

And here he is like this:

- Take it!

And everyone seems to be fine. And it would be good if the manager worked for a monopoly company. But in practice there are many competitors, and such managers simply drain potential clients that they could “close in a deal.” It is for them that sales scripts are written.

A good specialist always takes the initiative. If the manager is weak, then the interception of initiative must be provided for in the script. See how this is done using the same example.

Client: Hello, hello!
Manager: Hello! How can I help you?
Client: Tell me, how much does it cost you to develop a commercial proposal?
Manager: Are you interested or have a commercial offer?
Client: Um... What's the difference?
Manager: Cold is when you send an offer in bulk. Hot - after a preliminary call. They differ in the principle of operation, volume, price and timing. I can guide you more precisely. Tell us what you sell, to whom and how the sales process is currently structured?
Client: Well, we are a manufacturer, we sell gas silicate blocks. First, we call and ask for a commercial offer. We tried to draw up our own, but it doesn’t work well, there are few contracts...

In this example, the manager seizes the initiative and begins to establish rapport ( emotional connection) with the client. He begins to control the conversation and ask questions. With the help of questions, the manager gets to know the client, his business and problems better, which means it’s easier for him to advise something substantive, inspire trust and handle objections (“expensive”, “I’ll think about it”, “I’m not sure if this will suit us”, “no”) money”, etc.).

It would seem that in both cases both the client and the manager are the same, but how strikingly the dialogue differs, depending on whose hands the initiative is. If we abstract from the topic of the conversation and pay attention to the initiative, then the conversation between the manager and the client is somewhat reminiscent of a game of table tennis. The one who has the initiative always plays on the offensive, and the one who does not have the initiative is forced to play on defense.

A scripted telephone conversation is somewhat reminiscent of table tennis. It is easier for the one who has the initiative to win.

2. Consistency

This principle is very simple, but also very important. Many people discount it, for good reason. The essence of the principle is that you break the conversation into simple steps, and track how effectively it flows from one to the next. For example, a conversation may have the following stages.

1. Performance
2. Output to (DM)
3. Arousing interest
4. Getting the point across
5. Objection processing
6. Transfer to the next stage (compredator, meeting, presentation, etc.)

Managers often do not take into account the sequence and lose clients already at the stage of initial communication:

- Hello, hello! We offer wood at a price of XXX rubles per cubic meter. Interested?
- No.
- Well, excuse me then.

There are, of course, exceptions, and direct sales are successful. But only when the manager immediately gets to the decision-maker, and when the “head-on” proposal itself is strong. For example, if the price is the lowest on the market. In other cases, the results are disastrous. On average, it is believed that the effectiveness of cold calling is 2% - this is a very good result. Although, in my opinion, this is a total fiasco. Just imagine: 98 potential clients out of 100 refuse. Tough.

When you build a conversation according to sequence, you always know what stage you are at and where the main “drain” occurs. For example, if you successfully contacted a decision maker, but he doesn’t even want to listen to you, then there was a failure at the stage of generating interest, and the script needs to be adjusted. Or, even worse, if the manager cannot get around the secretary.

In any case, it is very important to know at what stage of the funnel there are problems and how critical they are. Then they can be easily eliminated. To track the effectiveness of promotion, you can enter a KPI, which is calculated using a simple formula: divide the number of stage closures by the number of conversations and multiply by 100%.

Progress of a telephone conversation using a sales script.

Another important point: when you have written a script and are testing it, it is important that the statistical sample is reliable.

Reliable sampling when testing a sales script- this is making a sufficient number of calls so that statistical patterns can be judged. For example, if you made 1 call and received 1 consent, this does not mean that your script is 100% effective. Although the numbers all add up.

Each specific case has its own reliable sample. You need to look individually. For example, in a mass market, 300-500 calls may be required, while in complex B2B markets, where potential customers can be counted on one hand, each call is worth its weight in gold.

And one more important point. When testing a sequence of scripts, it is extremely important to get the maximum feedback. I had a case when the script worked perfectly in the niche of selling PVC windows, but failed miserably in the niche of selling spare parts for special equipment. And the reason for the failure was identified only thanks to feedback (it was hidden in the specifics of processing applications).

Default Factors

It is believed that if a potential client calls you, then he is already initially interested in your products or services. This is in theory. In practice, everything is different. Therefore, when developing scripts, copywriters, as a rule, proceed from the “axiom worst evil" It sounds scary, but don't be scared. In other words, we create scripts based on the worst-case conversation scenario. So to speak, so that there are no disappointments. On the other hand, if the conversation doesn’t go according to the worst-case scenario, it’s better for us, the task is simplified! The worst case scenarios can be described something like this.

For incoming calls:

• The client is rather not interested in our products and in us as a seller.
• The client doesn't trust us. Moreover, he has no reason to believe us until we prove otherwise.
• The client is not going to buy anything from us.
• The client is skeptical or even hostile to everything we say until we win him over.
• The client trusts competitors more than us.
• The client intends to buy from a competitor, and calls us to once again make sure that his decision is correct.
• The client does not rule out manipulating us for his own purposes, for example, to reduce the price or “push” the current supplier.

For outgoing calls or meetings:

• The client doesn’t know us and can easily live without us for at least 100 years.
• The client does not need our goods and services, and he is not going to buy from us until we convince him otherwise.
• The client is completely uncomfortable talking now.
• The client does not want to listen to us, he is not interested in what we want to tell him until we prove otherwise.
• The client does not believe a single word we say.
• The client is convinced that the goal of cold calls is to “get in”, and therefore initially builds protection against any of our proposals.

In short, we develop a script based on the client’s worst psychotype and worst circumstances. If we solve a problem even in such harsh conditions, then we solve it even more so in simpler situations.

I remember when I developed scripts for one client and implemented it in the sales department, the managers were ready to kill me on the spot. I had to be such an inadequate bastard in simulated calls. But then, in practice, real sales were much easier. At the same time, they honestly told me that they had never met such inadequate clients. However, I am still convinced that it is better to play it safe, and what is hard in training is easy in battle.

Ready-made templates, samples and examples of sales scripts

There is one common misconception. Many business representatives believe that they can develop one ideal script (download, buy, highlight what is needed), and then adapt it to any niche. Just know - change the name of the company and the name of the decision maker and, voila! Everything works - the principles are the same, and the speech modules, therefore, too. And this seems to be true... But, again, only in theory. In practice, everything is different.

A little higher, I already told you about how the same script worked brilliantly in one niche and failed miserably in another. And this is far from an isolated case. The fact is that every business has its own specifics. And, yes, if companies are similar in type and business processes, then the same script can work well in both places (which does not negate testing). However, to do this you need to know where, what and how it works.

Yes, you can find ready-made samples, templates and example scripts on the Internet. You can even download them for free. They are positioned as universal, but when blindly copied, without adaptation, they are usually useless. For two reasons.

Reason #1: they do not take into account the specifics of the business

When you start selling over the phone or at a meeting, the interlocutor on the other end of the line always sees whether you are on topic or not. If you are not prepared, then at best they will tell you where your gaps are. At worst, they will point the way in a direction that is not entirely censorship.

Reason #2: they do not take into account the specifics of the target audience

A good example. Very often, the beginning of a conversation in scripts is based on the principles of SPIN sales. This is when four types of questions are asked in sequence:

1. Situational, allow you to determine the current state of affairs (for example, “ Do you provide contextual advertising?”)
2. Problematic, identify the relevance of the problem (for example, “ Does it happen that clients cheat on your budget?”)
3. Extractive, increase the scale of the problem, “put pressure on the callus” (for example, “ And how much money do you lose on such clicks per month?”)
4. Guides, connect the solution to the problem with what we offer (“ Do you want to protect yourself from clicks and loss of money?”)

So here it is. In some niches, this scheme is used with a bang. But try to use it when communicating with suppliers who make purchases on the stock exchange. You will learn a lot of new things about yourself. Therefore, templates can be used, but it is necessary to adapt them to the niche, target audience and specifics specific business. Plus, always remember to be consistent. As a rule, it is not described in script templates.

Information for writing a script

Good preparation is half the battle. And here's the good news. Most of the work is already behind you if you have done the basic marketing analysis that I already wrote about. You “sew” all this data into the script, and the more factual information you have on hand, the stronger the script.

Just in case, I will present the mind map here again. Use it to structure the data you have. At the same time, remember that the more you know about a potential client’s business, the greater your chances of hooking him.

Mind map of basic marketing analysis for writing a sales script (click to enlarge).

How to write a sales script: practical examples

I've been looking for a solution for writing scripts for a very long time. There was a time when I drew these block diagrams.

An example of a block design for a telephone sales script

But such a solution was completely unsuitable for large projects, where the scheme was inflated to several Whatman papers of A0 format, and the connections in it could confuse even a seasoned Stakhanovite spider. In short, at first glance everything looked quite impressive and expensive, but in practice it was extremely inconvenient to use.

There was a time when I used the Axure system to create interactive scripts in HTML format. I uploaded these scripts to my secret server, and everything seemed to be convenient and clear for the client. If not for one big “BUT”. Scripts in this format were very labor-intensive to develop. And I am silent about making changes to them. Even if I had mastered all the master layers, the work of creating the interactive model itself was labor-intensive and thankless. Plus, it was easy to get confused and there was no autosave. And if you forget to renew your hosting, then... In a word, it’s also not an optimal option.

Script fragment in HTML format

Finally, as an option, there is special services. They are also called SaaS platforms ( S ite a s a S service). But I don't trust such services. Firstly, the client pays money, and most often I sign an NDA (Non-disclosure agreement). And if the service leaks, and no SaaS system is immune from this, then I could have problems. In addition, any service may also be unavailable, becoming a victim hacker attack etc. Plus, not all services are ideal from a usability point of view. In a word, there were also some nuances here, so I also refused this option.

And quite by accident, somewhere (I don’t remember where) I spotted the ideal (in my opinion) option. It can be easily implemented in regular MS Word, Google Docs or any other text editor. The point is this.

You are drawing a table with two columns. In the left column, write what the manager says. On the right are the interlocutor’s possible answers or objections. All objections are made in the form of links. Links lead to anchors. Anchors are subheadings in the left column.

An example of a telephone sales script fragment in Google Docs.

For example, I have block A001, and the secretary’s remark “On what issue” leads to it? To set an anchor, simply select the subheading and style it as Heading 2, for example (if you are using Google Docs). By analogy, you can do it in MS Word.

If you insert a table of contents at the beginning of the script, you will get a rubricator of all possible remarks and objections of a potential client. Great, right? And just.

Finally, as you have already noticed, each replica is numbered with an alphabetic and digital index. Plus, there is a multi-colored fill in the fields. This is done in order to break the script into sequence steps. For example, the first stage for me is going around the secretary. Consequently, I number all the manager’s remarks at this stage under the letter A (A001, A002, A003, etc.) and mark them in sky blue to quickly find the desired stage in the document.

However, note that each stage of the script sequence has its own specific task. And a specific criterion for completing this task. For example, in the case of going around the secretary, your task is to get in touch with the decision-maker, and not “inform the secretary”, “get acquainted”, “clarify the data”, “tell about the company”, etc. And the criterion here is either we have come out and can communicate with the decision maker, or not. There is no third.

The same is true when talking with a decision maker. Your task is to solve a specific problem in your sequence - to transfer the person to the next stage. That's all. No more, no less. For example, if after communication you have to send a commercial proposal, then only the decision maker’s consent to send him a proposal is important. Everything else (“met”, “talked”, “discussed”, etc.) is considered a failure in the sales funnel and requires mandatory adjustment of the script.

Summary

As I already said, anyone can write a sales script. And every person does this on a non-profit basis. A single copywriting rule also applies here: the more scripts you write and test in practice, the stronger they become. In addition, it is important to understand that there are no perfect scripts the first time. Any script, one way or another, needs to be polished and adjusted after launch based on feedback from managers and clients. Plus, it is important to understand that as testing progresses, more and more new objections will appear, which also need to be added to the script. But I will tell you how to process these objections and select the replicas for the scripts in one of the following articles. Subscribe to blog updates so you don't miss anything.

And remember: you will succeed!

Ivan Kobelev, head of the customer support department of the 1PS.RU Service, spoke about how to improve the conversion of the sales department by 2 times by correcting only 8 errors in telephone conversations of managers.

It will increase the conversion of your website and bring you new customers. But it is very important to understand that the result of whether you close the deal or not very much depends on the managers of your sales department.

Huge efforts and budgets are spent on website promotion and advertising.

And when the transaction is literally just a phone call away, the sale does not happen or occurs only in 15% of cases.
Why is that? Why is this place in the sales funnel considered the narrowest and most vulnerable in many companies?
Most often the reason is the manager. Especially if this is a young specialist who does not have sufficient experience and knowledge.

Rule 1. “I don’t recognize you in makeup. Who are you?"

Often inexperienced specialists begin a telephone conversation with the words:
"Hello. Company “X”, you left a request with us. Tell…"
As a rule, a user submits a request to more than one company and not only on one particular topic. That is why it is so important to correctly say who you are, where you are from and for what specific reason you are calling, so that your potential client understands this immediately.
Otherwise, you start losing time and customer loyalty.
Therefore, make sure that managers are addressed by name and introduce themselves as clearly as possible:
“Hello, Ivan. My name is Peter, the company "Peretyazhka". We do furniture repairs. Today you left a request for reupholstery of a sofa from 1985 on our website sofa.rf.”
And they continued to clarify until the client said: “Yes, yes, I remember.”

Rule 2. “Politeness costs nothing, but brings a lot”

It’s right to start any conversation with the phrase:
“Are you comfortable talking now?”
If you don’t ask such a question, then in 3-4 minutes the client may say so himself and ask to call back, then he will have to repeat everything again.
Politeness, respect for the client’s time and saving your own are the key to high sales.
This rule does not always apply to cold calls; this type of conversation needs to be considered individually, depending on the type of business.

Rule 3. “Remember that for a person the sound of his name is the sweetest and most important sound of human speech”

A person’s name is a word that draws attention to the one who calls it.
A person begins to listen and perceive information better. Just call the client by name more often - this will save you from having to repeat the same information several times in a row. And who doesn’t like being addressed by their first name?

Rule 4. “Don’t use foul language”

Rule 5: “Exceed Expectations”

Rule 6. “The customer is always right”

The main rule for asking a question: if the client answers “not this or that,” then the manager asked the question incorrectly.
A competent employee asks questions in detail and as clearly as possible, without using terminology that is incomprehensible to the client.
Don't ask:
“What form of capture should you put on the site?”
Better to ask:
“Alexander, tell me which is more convenient for you: to immediately receive calls from clients or to first receive some information about the client and then call him? If you call yourself, it makes sense to add a form to the site with a “Submit Application” button.

Rule 7. “Understanding is the beginning of agreement”

If there is even the slightest doubt about whether you understand the client correctly, it is better to ask again. To do this, a good manager adds “do I understand correctly?” at the beginning or end of the phrase.
For example:
Client: “The main thing is that I want the apartment to be clean.”
Manager: “Ivan, that is, you need to install windows with increased protection from dust, dirt, noise, which are easy to clean, but not necessarily snow-white, do I understand correctly?”

At the end of the conversation, a competent manager will definitely ask:
“Do you have any questions left?”
Because they may exist, but for some reason the client may not ask them. And with this question we will encourage the client to ask his own.
If you don’t answer the question, several more questions may arise that will prevent the transaction from being completed. Or competitors will answer this question for the client, and the client will go to them.
At first glance, the advice may seem primitive, and everyone may think that it is elementary.
Yes, this is elementary, but, unfortunately, many managers do not pay attention to simple rules. Check that these are not your managers.

My favorite area among sales scripts is telephone communication. Since in the case of a telephone conversation everything is quite predictable and understandable.

You tell client A, he gives you B, C or D. All that remains is to take the telephone sales script, find B, C or D and read the answer.

But in order for everything to become so easy and wonderful, you need to learn how to write these scripts and understand what they are made of.

Basic moments

In our blog we have already written a sufficient number of articles on different topics according to scripts and this article is a kind of excerpt of all knowledge, so let’s briefly and to the point go over each topic of interest.

For a deeper study of the required area, you will see links to relevant materials throughout the article.

Let's start with the obvious, an explanation of the two strange words “sales script”. In other words, this is your ideal and standardized seller, implemented in the form of text instructions.

Such a miracle sample is written either by an outsourcing company (like us) or independently.

The most important thing is that these are written by actual salespeople, not theorists. Otherwise, besides putting the conversation script in a frame, it will no longer be useful.

Script from a theorist... Ugh

You can debate for a long time whether a company needs a sales script or not. I'll tell you what I need. And not because we develop them, but because it definitely won’t make anyone worse.

It will be useful for any sales manager. Those who sell poorly will be able to sell well with it, and those who sell well will do it perfectly.

I just beg you, there is no need to say that sales scripts are always heard. This is wrong. Unlearned scripts can be heard.

That's why I don't like all kinds of things so much. After all, it is from them that the manager reads the script and looks as robotic as possible. From all this the conclusion follows:

Important. Any script must be learned, and not read from a sheet or computer screen.

The right approach

Imagine an “apple”. Which apple did you imagine? Green? Red? Or even apple?

The same goes for a telephone sales script. As part of a script conversation on the phone, you can go in dozens of different directions.

Therefore, now we will look at what script you need and where to start. We looked at this in more detail in the article.

Script type

As I wrote above, there are dozens of different scenarios for talking with a client on the phone. Here is a list of the most popular orders in our company:

1. Cold calling scripts;
2. Scripts for incoming calls;
3. Scripts for processing an application from the site;
4. Scripts for calling back after measurement;
5. Client resuscitation scripts.

I have ranked them by priority. And now, with a greater degree of probability, I “want” that you came for point 1 or 2.

But my advice to you is to read this article not as instructions on how to write one of the scripts, but as a guide on how to write a sales script for any situation.

After all, increasing the effectiveness of all calls can easily increase your sales by 20-40%.

For those eager to receive specific instructions on writing an incoming and outgoing sales script, here are two of our materials, you can use them as a template. Everything is described in great detail and with examples:

Or immediately leave this task in the hands of professionals. We recommend ourselves as an advertisement :-)

Strategy and tactics

By default, for everyone, the goal of any conversation is a sale, or better yet, money in the cash register. But let's be realistic.

If your product is not an elixir of youth, then the client will go through certain stages before making the final decision.

This means you need to think over a strategy for communicating with the client, think conceptually about what you will offer and how to “enter”.

After all, now, in the same cold calls, calling and simply offering “mutually beneficial cooperation” will no longer work.

IN the best scenario They will hang up, at worst they will say everything they think about you. There are a lot of options for “entries”, for example:

1. In an incoming call, we guide you according to the price range and then sign up the client for a measurement, and only then during the measurement we tell you the exact cost.
2. In an outgoing call you can go like classical scheme- sending for services at the first contact, and it is more interesting, at the first contact, agree on free technical service for their company for a month.
3. When resuscitating a client, you can simply find out why they haven’t come to you for a long time. Or you can package this into a real show, where the director of the company calls and evaluates the work of his employees.

The more competitive your market is, the more original and unusual you need to be. Including, depending on the decision maker, the strategy may also change.

Because what is valuable to an engineer is not valuable to the owner. What is valuable to a woman over 40 is no longer valuable to a girl under 20.

Tactics

When you conceptually understand where to move and what you will do, you can move on to working out the stages.

With the classic strategy of filling out an application, there will be no problems with this task, everything is quite simple and logical. The main thing is not to forget about the stage of up-selling and identifying needs.

With complex strategies you will have to use your brain. For example, in one outgoing call we took a tricky route and our steps looked like this:

1. Greetings;
2. Offer head-on;
3. Agreement to send the CP;
4. Clarification of needs;
5. Presentation;
6. Closing for the meeting.

Looking at this sequence, it may seem that we understand nothing about the sales stages and have violated everything we could.

But this was all done deliberately and this scheme shows amazing results. Since it is not standard and the client does not expect such a course of events.

Therefore, before writing the script, decide on the tactics (stages), which will be the reference points, if missed, the manager will be punished, including exile to Siberia.

Techniques and tricks

Therefore, in this block I will tell you the basic rules, techniques and tricks when creating a telephone sales script.

Quick start

It’s great if the beginning of the conversation doesn’t start like everyone else’s. I'm not talking about going out and inventing a new bike.

I'm talking about the fact that you need to do 1-2 phrases/words, not like everyone else. These words can be either your position or a non-standard recognition of the opportunity to speak now.

For example, it’s not just Ekaterina who answers the phone, but specialist Ekaterina. Also, it is not the manager Vasily who calls, but the head of the department Vasily.

Or do you say not “Is it convenient to talk now?”, but “Take a couple of minutes, I’ll tell you about the purpose of the call. Fine?".

Seizing the initiative

My favorite topic, which I broadcast on everyone. Managers need to have conversations at all times.

They should be asking questions, not the client asking them. And if a client suddenly gets on the horse, you need to throw him off as quickly as possible, namely, seize the initiative. Rough, but honest.

This is done quite simply and quite naturally; your task is to close each answer with a question.

Moreover, it is advisable to make the answer as short as possible so that there is nothing to cling to.

For example, “Yes, we can do this. What volume are you interested in?” or “I’m calling to find out the need and save time, tell me, do you print more than 1000 documents a day?”

Name

Calling the client by name is a sales accordion. But in reality only a few do this.

Therefore, within the framework of a telephone conversation script, it is very important to insert “Client Name” throughout the entire structure. Moreover, this must be inserted not only at the beginning of each phrase, but also in the middle.

When making an outgoing call, calling your name at the beginning of the conversation helps to focus the interlocutor's attention on you.

Important. The telephone sales script needs to be learned, otherwise sales managers will foolishly read phrases like “Client’s name” out loud instead of substituting the name.

Objections

In addition to the dialogue itself, you must write . Without them, the script will not be complete and you will join the ranks of people saying “Scripts don’t work.”

Customers always object on the phone and that's normal. This is psychologically embedded in us from childhood, when we are accustomed to hearing from our parents one thing - yes, nine - no.

When creating objection exercises, there are a huge number of different techniques, you will see my favorite one in the video below.

And here the basic rules for selling services over the phone are supplemented with one more:

Never contradict a client. When talking on the phone with a client, you have very little credibility to prove that you are right.

https://youtu.be/VroCHagMBQY

Next step

Always! Listen! You always need to agree on the next step. Observing the scripts of different companies, I notice how most miss this point.

And it's very bad. You could say you've lost a client if you haven't agreed on the next step.

Next step = next stage. Therefore, if there are no tactics, then it means no next step. To fix it, you just need to add literally 1-2 phrases at the end of the conversation:

“- Nikita Vladimirovich, I will call you tomorrow at 15.00 to find out if you received everything and at the same time I will answer any questions that arise, if any.”

Short phrases (conversation)

Time is money. Especially if you are talking to owners of large corporations who earn more than 50,000 rubles per hour.

Therefore, learn to speak concisely and clearly. Everyone will love you for this. Although, there are clients who like to chat. But at the same time, they like to talk more rather than listen more.

Therefore, check your written script 3-4 times, with the goal of making it more concise each time without losing effectiveness. You need to cut the script, but do it wisely.

Briefly about the main thing

A telephone sales script is the most detailed sales script, especially if we compare it with a meeting script or a sales script.

Therefore, when creating it, you need to think through everything. All possible outcomes of events, since in 9 out of 10 cases they can all be predicted.

The most important thing is to start working according to the script. A banal phrase, but so vital. Because it is impossible to create a script that will work and be perfect the first time.

Even we, developers with extensive experience (on an advertising basis), always include in the package the development of the script for up to 2 months.

By the way, all of our company’s sales-related employees are scripted from head to toe.

In our case, the shoemaker is not just with boots, but with a whole wardrobe of shoes, because in practice we noticed how significantly sales increased after the implementation of the basic scripts.