Actors, speakers, trainers, and sales professionals all utilize scripts because of their effectiveness. We recommend incorporating six key elements into your scripts, as they can lead to impressive results when executed well.

Key Components of a Script:

• Attention Statement: Captures the listener’s interest.
• Identification Statement: Introduces who you are and establishes context.
• People-Respond-in-Kind Attitude: Encourages a positive and reciprocal interaction.
• Reason-for-This-Call Statement: Clearly explains the purpose of your call.
• Request for an Appointment: Politely asks for a follow-up meeting.
• Response to Objections: Prepares you to address any concerns raised by the prospect.

At this stage, the goal isn’t to convert the prospect into a customer immediately. You’re just initiating contact and gathering information about the person on the other end of the line. If they express disinterest or the call does not yield results, it’s important to disengage politely and move on. However, it’s also essential to make a genuine effort to overcome any natural resistance that individuals may have when speaking with a salesperson.

It’s important to remember that receiving a “no” is a normal part of the sales process, and it’s crucial not to take it personally. Avoid wasting time trying to change a “no” into a “yes.”

Now, let’s examine each of the six elements of a cold call to see how we can make them easier to implement and more effective.

The Attention Statement

This initial greeting serves as your verbal handshake, and it’s important to make it both professional and friendly. This is the prospect’s first impression of you and your company. Keep your attention statement concise: simply say, “Hello, Mr. Jones” or “Good morning, Ms. Hendrix.”

The key is to be courteous, use the person’s name, and smoothly transition to the next part of your call. People tend to pay more attention when addressed by their name, so ensure you’ve done your research to pronounce it correctly. This can be challenging, especially if you’re feeling nervous, so practicing beforehand can help.

Mispronouncing a name can be difficult to recover from, so accuracy is crucial.

You might also consider adding, “Is this a good time to talk for a few minutes?” This additional courtesy acknowledges that you are interrupting their day and helps maintain a positive rapport.

The Identification Statement

This is where you tell the person you’ve called who you are and where you are calling from. Practice speaking slowly, clearly, and confidently. This statement is another single sentence that gets the job done for you. The person on the other end of the line can tell that you are purposeful, poised, and goal-oriented.

Example: “My name is Judy Thomson and I work for Thomson Printing.”

A People-Respond-In-Kind Attitude

Remember that the attitude you project is reciprocal in nature. If it sounds like what you are offering a prospective client has value and may be mutually beneficial to them as well as to you, they will be asking themselves, “What’s this all about?”

Don’t waste their time at this point with idle conversation. Tell them who you are, what company you work for and then move on to “The Reason-for-this-Call” statement.

The Reason-For-This-Call Statement

You don’t have a lot of time to convince the prospect that you do have something of interest to offer them; you have two well-worded sentences and that’s about it. You want to focus on the potential benefit of what you have to offer and point out how your product or service has worked out well for another company, preferably one your prospect will have heard of. (Make sure you speak of a benefit, not a feature.)

Examples:

• “We are offering a special deal on flyers this month, and I think our prices could save you a lot of money. Telmark, just down the street from you, are getting us to print the flyers for their new outlet in Bayer’s Lake.”
• “We are introducing a new one-day workshop on Selling by Telephone and I thought you might find this useful training for your sales staff. We’ve just completed a workshop for Thomson Printing, and they feel they can increase their sales by at least 20% in the next month.”

A Request for an Appointment

This is what the call is all about if you do face-to-face selling. You’ve got the other person’s attention. They know who you are and who you work for. Now you’d like to set up an appointment to talk with the person about the company, their challenges, and how you can help them. Don’t even think of trying to close the sale at this point. It’s way too soon.

Examples:

• “I’d really like to talk to you about what we are offering. Would you be free on Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m.?”
• “I’d like to tell you more about this workshop and how it can help your staff. Would Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m. work for you?”

Your Response to Objections

First, take note of the objections you encounter. Did any of your current clients express similar concerns before they started working with you?

Chances are they did. If that’s the case, consider taking a risk and saying something like, “That’s similar to what other companies mentioned before they partnered with us and experienced the benefits of our

.”

After you’ve made that initial effort to show that you’ve successfully addressed similar objections in the past, you can follow up with a question. A common strategy is to inquire about what the company is currently using or doing. This approach tends to be more effective if you prefacing it with, “I’m just curious.”

Example: “I’m just curious, Ms. Jones, what type of printing services are you using right now?”

Focusing on what they are currently doing or plan to do is usually far more effective than reciting all the benefits of your product or service.

Summary

This type of script is short and it’s simple. It gets right to the point and it doesn’t require much tailoring. Perhaps that is why it works so well. It ensures that you haven’t wasted their time and you haven’t wasted your time.