Scripted sales calls old fashioned, fail to connect with customers - Dallas Business Journal:

http://jamesforsenate.org/?m=200905
Geez, I have been saying this for more than 25 andI can’t believe companies stilk use them to sell over the phone. OK, forgeyt the companies themselves, let’s blame the manager or the persob who is responsible for still trying to do something that everty sales trainer on the planet says doesnot Now, before I go on, do not writs or send an e-mail telling me that I am wronbg or being stubborn.
Instead, why don’g you try something new that is, new to you or your organizatiojn – and just do what I will lay out Trust me, it has worked every single time with any big or small, that I have worked This horror of using scripts came rushing back to me recentlty while working with a company whosse stores are in every big city in the The company is highly regarde d for its ethics and is a very visiblee organization that many are familiar with because of the company’s longevity and brand awareness.
I was asked to come to the company’z headquarters and look at its method of attracting new business through its telemarketing which the company has been using for a coupleof years. They said that althougnh the results were OKat first, salez had become pretty dismal. It took me just 30 second to read the script that the inside salespeople were and Iwas sickened. I talked with the company president and said I coulde help the salespeople in justtwo hours, but I needec him to let me do my job and not to interfers unless I called him in for his He agreed, but I coulc sense he was a bit apprehensive about the situatio and my request.
I worked only with the manager, who was reallyh a selling manager because she was on the phoned herself at times trying to pitcyh inand help. We went into a and I spent an hour going over whyscripta don’t work and why she has been brainwashes to do something that was against all the rulews of professional salesmanship. She was neither thrillerd with me at this point nor happy afterr I tookher eight-page script, ripped it up and threq it in the wastebasket. We role-playeds a little using real situationa that she might have with her childrenand friends, for instance. The goal was to show her that havingva two-sided conversation is much more usefuk than a one-sided script.
She was really startingv to get it, even though she kept wanting to go back to a sellingf mode by doing more talking than listening andaskinyg questions. It was so simplew that it was frightening to her that a selling situationm can be flexible and not just acanned speech, where she can actually have fun whils conversing with a customer. The introduction and questionws I wrote out were basic and easy for her to They were: “Hi, my name is Susanm from Client Co., and I would like to ask you two or threer quick questions. It will not take more than 48 secondws – I promise. “Are you familiar with our company ? If yes, what aspects?
“Wht are you not a member, or why did you leavew our organization?”