I see the posts all the time on LinkedIn. “Hey, can someone give me a great script for prospecting/presenting/closing/etc.”? Sometimes I even get asked the same question myself – and my answer is always the same. No. I can’t give you a great sales script, and no one else can. There’s no such thing.
Scripts are for actors and theater. In a script, everyone knows their lines and rehearses them, and the result is predictable – which is pretty much the opposite of selling, where your customer doesn’t know their lines and the result isn’t predictable. The key to selling is something that all the “scripters” don’t tell you.
The key to selling is authenticity. Here’s the thing – whether you are reading a script, or just memorizing and reciting it, your customers know. And as soon as you are perceived to be inauthentic, customers will RUN from you.
The desire for a ‘great script’ is obvious. It’s fear and insecurity. Salespeople believe that the right combination of magic words will get the result that they want, and that if someone smarter and more experienced than them builds that combination of words, then they’ll sell, right?
The truth is that the most important words in selling come not from YOU, but from the CUSTOMER. The real win in selling isn’t about the words you say, but the questions you ask – and even those have to be expressed in your own words and your own personality, or again, customers will perceive you as inauthentic and won’t buy from you.
So – how do you get an audience with your customers? Have an idea of how you can solve their problems and explain what that is in a concise sentence or two – the words depend on you and your personality.
Ask good questions that get at their needs, in your own words.
Present to those needs, again in your own words.
Ask for the business, naturally.
That’s it. Be YOURSELF. It’s okay to be the best version of yourself that you can be, but be yourself.
And if a sales trainer tells you that they will give you a “Script,” find yourself a new sales trainer.
