The sections in your script book, of course, will be different than those shown in the previous chapter, which brought the savings and loan over $14 million dollars. You’ll probably have some similar sections, since nearly all of us in sales have to be able to skillfully deal with objections and stalls like, “I Want to Think About It,” and “I Need to Talk to Someone Else About It.” However, even though you might have some of the same sections, the exact scripts that work best for you will be different than those that work best for another company.
How to Strengthen Your Script Book
The reason script books are so effective is that they are totally customized. If you don’t sell real estate, your hypnotic script book will contain no lines or strategies on how to sell real estate. If you don’t sell computers, your script book will contain no lines on how to sell computers. It will only contain the best proven lines of top producers in your company or industry, boiled down to their essence.
To be effective, a script book must be based upon research. Sitting in your arm chair and dreaming up ways of handling objections and challenges may be fun, but it is unlikely to produce a high-quality sales script book. The reason that most canned or pre-packaged training programs lack long-term effectiveness is that they lack industry and company-specific sales scripts.
The best way to build your sales script book is to watch and, if possible, tape record your company’s sales superstars in action. Make a note of all the major questions, stalls, objections and resistances you encounter in your sales work, and then carefully study how your sales pros handle these potential stumbling blocks. When you have captured the hypnotic words of the sales superstars, you have something worth more than its weight in gold. Organize these scripts, and index them in your book. You will then be able to reproduce the proven techniques of top salespeople. Your sales script book will contain knowledge, insights and techniques not available in any book store or library.
It will take some time and energy to develop a strong sales script book. Be patient. The rewards, both financial and in terms of increased self-confidence, will be great. Remember: Even a brief, organized sales script book is better than none at all.
Sample Pages from a “Mastermind” Script Book
To aid you in building your own hypnotic sales script book, we will here present several pages of a “mastermind” sales script. By “mastermind,” we mean that these are some of the best lines of top salespeople we have worked with in a variety of industries. We are certain that after you have customized these scripts, they will also help you and your salespeople to become even more successful. The examples here show how lean and mean and bottom-line oriented a real sales script book is.
| 17.1 | There is no reason on earth why you should be interested in our product until I can show you how it can help you make money, increase productivity and solve some of your problems. CAN I SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN ACCOMPLISH THAT? |
| 17.2 | (Prospect’s name), 70 business executives have bought this product over the last 2 weeks and they all began by saying they were not interested. |
| They only bought because they found it would save them money and cut down on their headaches. | |
| Would you like to learn what they learned? | |
| 17.3 | May I ask you to consider your company’s interests for a moment? |
| I believe that my product will help you produce extra cash. | |
| I would appreciate your looking at the evidence and then I’ll leave it to your judgment, of course, to decide whether or not you want it. | |
| 17.4 | May I ask why? |
| 17.5 | This is a calculated call. |
| We just installed a system in a company like yours. | |
| They are now saving money and sleeping better at night. | |
| Isn’t your main interest in saving money? | |
| Can I show you how we help companies save money? | |
| 17.6 | I would be interested in your reasons why you aren’t interested. |
| Did I say something that offended you? | |
| 17.7 | You are not interested in making money??? |
| 17.8 | You are not interested?? |
| We very rarely hear that! | |
| Could you explain to me how you could not be interested in saving money and making money? | |
| I THOUGHT THAT IS WHY YOU WERE IN BUSINESS. |
“I ONLY BUY AMERICAN PRODUCTS”
| 14.1 | That’s exactly the reason why we recommend buying now, so that you will be able to meet the hard times head-on with increased productivity. |
| 14.2 |
If you were the captain of an ocean liner, you wouldn’t stop sailing just because you saw a little storm cloud on the horizon, would you? Well, your company is like that ocean liner. Are you going to stop leading and managing your company just because there might be some difficult times ahead? |
| 14.3 |
You know what they say about the success rate of economic forecasters? They accurately predicted nine of the last two recessions. (Say this with a smile in your voice.) Are you absolutely sure a depression is ahead? Even if there is, it may be smart to do what many of our clients do and give us a large order now to have materials on hand if times get tough. |
| 14.4 |
Hard times call for a harder look at lower costs and higher profits. Luckily, you’ll get both with our product. Why not place an order today? |
| 14.5 |
Is it just a matter of money? If so, I am certain we will be able to extend you credit to pay this off conveniently. Shall we look at our credit terms? |
| 14.6 |
Why do you expect hard times ahead? |
| 14.7 |
Who told you there will be hard times ahead? Does he really have a crystal ball? Can anyone, besides God, really predict the future?? |
Updating Your Script Book for Fast Action
Notice that there is an index tab on the side of each page which identifies which stall or objection is being handled. In an actual sales script book, you only have this index tab on the first page of each section. The tab enables you to immediately go to any section of the book you desire. Your very best hypnotic words are at your fingertips!
Whenever you have the opportunity to hear a sales superstar in your industry give a presentation, seize the chance. Take accurate notes on his or her most successful sentences. By adding these phrases to your script book, you will be acquiring the power of that sales superstar.
Start your script book by customizing and adding to the scripts we have provided for you here. Then, start new sections for the special objections you encounter in your industry. Have brain-storming sessions with your fellow top salespeople to get powerful new scripts. As your script book grows in completeness, your self-confidence and your sales will soar! You will fear no objection!
How is it possible that some salespeople are able to consistently earn $100,000, $200,000 or even more per year in personal income, while others selling the same product and working just as many hours flounder? What is the sales superstar an expert in?
He or she is not to be distinguished by product knowledge, as product knowledge is easy to come by. Any high-school kid can memorize product brochures. The sales superstar is distinguished by an expertise in people and an expertise in motivating people.
How does this “people expertise” show up? It shows up in the ways they use words to influence and persuade other human beings. It is their special skills in using words which makes them so richly successful. And, this is precisely what your sales script book contains.
When you are doing your sales work over the phone, leaf through your book for outstanding ways of handling any objections you hear. If you are hit with an objection or stall you can’t handle, it simply means it is time to start a new section of your book! As your book gets richer and more complete, you will find your closing ratio increasing dramatically. One of our clients recently invested 3 hours doing cold calls with his new hypnotic script book and had a 100% success rate in getting people to come in for a sales presentation!
Keeping Your Script Book Safe and Secure
Also as your script book gets stronger and more complete, you will want to protect it. After seeing how well it works for you, the last thing in the world you would want is for a competitor or another salesperson to get their hands on your very best lines and scripts. ALWAYS KNOW WHERE YOUR SCRIPT BOOK IS! A good script book is worth more than its weight in gold. With it, you can make enough sales to buy perhaps a hundred pounds of gold.
If one of your competitors got their hands on your finished sales script book, their sales could take off and yours might decline. It is the very effectiveness of the sales script book that leads many sales executives to have their script books numbered and registered. One of our corporate clients, a Vice President of Sales for a Fortune 500 company, knows where every one of the 41 copies of his division’s script books are at all times. Also, the dark red paper and black ink they are printed with comes out nearly black on most photocopying machines. It is no accident that his sales force has retained their #1 position in this highly competitive company for several years!
How to Find Script Book Writers
Just as very few companies today do all of their own legal work or advertising work, few would try to tackle a full-blown script book project. It is more expensive and more time-consuming to produce a comprehensive script book in-house than it is to delegate it to outside experts. Moreover, an in-house produced script book is usually not as effective as one produced by full-time sales scripting experts.
The only thing worse than having no script book at all for your sales team is having one that doesn’t work, or one that contains outmoded or ineffective lines. We have been called in numerous times to “clean-up” existing script books, and have found that, in most cases, it is wiser to start from scratch than to try to patch up a poorly-conceived and poorly-written script book.
In selecting writers or consultants to help you develop a script book, experience is all important. Check references carefully. Make certain your script book consultants have a library of at least 10 to 20 master sales script books to draw upon, because no matter how good your best people are, there will be ways of handling objections they have never thought of. These can only be gleaned from the master-mind script books of other sales superstars. That is why the script book library is so important.
Make sure that your script book developers study your top salespeople before they start writing the script book. They have to be willing to travel with your best salespeople to capture their most powerful ways of selling and of handling objections. They must be willing to meet with your top people in groups to brainstorm the script book. The consultants must be keen observers and listeners. They must be willing to work hard at the research. If they tell you they will write the scripts from their own home office, or “customize” an existing program, or if they tell you that research will be minimal or unnecessary, you should probably look for other script book writers. We have never seen a good sales script book that was not based on extensive research of sales superstars in action.
If you select the right sales script book developers, they will make the process of building a script book almost effortless for you. Once the script book is installed in your sales force and once your people are taught how to skillfully use it, your salespeople will become systematic sales geniuses. They will be able to quickly master all of the powerful forms of hypnotic salesmanship contained in this book because these forms of persuasion will be built-in to the scripts!
How Script Books Help Make Every Day a Great Sales Day
With a powerful sales script book to work from, your salespeople will no longer have “good days” and “bad days;” every day should be a great day. A strong sales script book is one of the greatest aids to “positive thinking” ever devised. Without a proven set of scripts, your salespeople have a right to be depressed. Depression is the appropriate mental state for an unprepared person doing a tough job. With a fine set of scripts, they can’t help but have a more positive outlook on the world and on the profession of selling.
At some point in the future, most of the companies in your industry may have sales script books. However, right now, only a fortunate few probably do, and they are likely to be profiting handsomely from the use of this scientific sales tool. Start building your script book today and have this advantage before one of your competitors gets it. If you are sincere about making more money by increasing your sales, developing a powerful sales script book is one of the quickest ways of achieving that goal. Hypnotic sales script books are working in many of the most successful companies in America, and they can work for you.