If you haven’t seen Star Wars, The Force Awakens I can assure you there is a high chance you will be very, very satisfied. After running our consulting business, The Harris Consulting Group, and being the Director of Sales Training and Consulting at Sales Hacker it dawned on us one of the most important lessons we have been teaching our clients over the last several years. The value of a sales script.

More often than not the word “script” is considered blasphemy and a 4-letter world in the inside sales team vocabulary. We’ve noticed it tends to come from newer sales people such as SDR (Sales Development Reps) or Lead Gen Teams. When pressed as to why people feel this way we get the same lame and meaningless excuses we used to use in our own sales careers; things like, “I am not a telemarketer.” or “I am not a Time Life Operator.” or our favorite “But I don’t want to sound like I am reading a script.”  Yeah we used these them too, but then we switch it around on them.

The good news is that in most cases after a few calm conversations people usually understand our point of view and are convinced that a sales script is not such a bad idea after all. Here is what we usually remind folks.

  1. If people don’t use sales scripts how come every inside sales person mimicks each other when they “hear something good”?  That’s a sales script.
  2. If you say “Hi, this is ______, and I am calling from ______.” That is a sales script. (Extra Hint: STOP saying this! You sould like everyone other inside sales person!)
  3. If your training has ever been to “Go listen to our best inside sales person and do what they do.” Then you are being told to just “follow the sales script” (See #1).

So you may be asking yourself, what exactly does this have to do with Star Wars – The Force Awakens. Well let me put it to you this way and tell me if it sounds familiar.

  1. Orhpaned hero(ine) on a desert planet.
  2. “Recruited” to help a resistance, unwillingly at first.
  3. A massive weapon the size of a planet or moon designed to destroy entire planets.
  4. A father (figure) killed by the dark side of the force.
  5. A hero who goes to a seedy bar to get safe passage.
  6. A cute little color character full of wisdom.

Yeah, we’ve all bought into this script about 3x now. And as you can see the value of a good script will always help you sell your story and please your prospects. If you we are wrong we have one name for you… Jar-Jar Binks.

So the next time someone suggests you “write it down” or “follow a script”, we would encourage you to consider the value of a good sales script. Work your script, role-play (rehearse) it, and do it over and over again until it no longer sounds like you are reading a script.  May The Force Be With You…Always.

Feel free to share your experiences with sales scripts.

If you need help writing or re-writing your sales script, feel free to contact us:

About The Author

Richard brings 20 Years of Technology and Saas sales experience and training tohis role as a consultant with The Harris Consulting Group and as the Director of Training and Consulting Services at Sales Hacker.  Clients ask Richard to help with definining, implementing, and measuring sales as it relates to The Four P’s: People, Performance, Planning, and Process.

Experience and clients include Mashery (acquired by Intel) Gainsight, PushPay, SocialChorus, TopOpps, Spanning (acquired by EMC), Outbound Engine, Udemy, and many others.

Learn more about The Harris Consulting Group by clicking here.

Learn more about Sales Hacker and Sales Training by clicking here.