Mari Anne Vanella
Off the Cuff Interview Question: “Give us 1 great rule (out of your 42) for cold calling executives.”
One of my favorite rules is rule # 17 “Use a Script, But Don’t Be Scripted”
When you gain access to a key stakeholder, it’s important that you’re as effective as possible and maximize every stage of that conversation. Ask yourself, how many times have you hung up the phone after a conversation and thought to yourself “I forgot to ask about…” or “I wish I would have mentioned…”
Whether you’re speaking live or on a voicemail it’s important to project the most precise, accurate, and confident message you can. The way to make sure that you’re doing that on every call is to script it. I’m not talking about the scripts that cause salespeople to get hung-up on, I’m talking about the very best version of YOU. By making sure you have all your key statements in front of you all the time, you’ll ensure all of your communication is accomplishing what you want.
The thing about my role, The Vanella Group, Inc. does outbound/sales development—but I’m also a CEO that a lot of companies want to sell “stuff” to….so I get tons of sales calls. I get at least 5 a day, most of them are pretty bad. Just last week, someone called and I gave them a minute to explain what they were doing but it took almost 10 minutes of dialog before it was even clear, it still isn’t 100% clear. That’s because the rep jumped around, wasn’t prepared for my questions, introduced the company in a very “cloudy” way that wasn’t concise. In the end, it was a waste of time on both ends and they are no closer to having me as a prospect. Had that rep known exactly what they would say, how to clearly state their value, who they are and what they do—the outcome could have been totally different.
A script shouldn’t be something you would never say, it should be EXACTLY what you would say on a perfect call.
When you write your script—write what YOU would say on that perfect call. This is your script..not a one-size-fits-all script. Keep it in front of you so if the conversation goes off topic, if the prospect asks a question, whatever may happen you are always ON and will be able to steer it right back on course instead of hanging up and wishing it went different.
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