In all honesty, most busy executives will forget what you said a few days after you hang up the phone. Wait a week and they will not only forget what you said, they will forget you too. A good script can help to reduce "executive amnesia," but it remains an ever-present challenge.
In their desperation to get as much out of a first contact as possible before executive amnesia sets in, some scriptwriters commit the following sins:
1. Aim too high
2. Mix objectives
3. Over-Sizzle
Asking for a commitment in time and money (time is money, after all) from the prospect before establishing a relationship and proving value might be an example of aiming too high.
Combining list scrubbing, surveys, and lead generation is a typical example of mixed objectives. This camel-by-committee often comes about when several departments combine budgets for the campaign.
"Sell the sizzle," standard sales dogma teaches us. Concerned with only having one chance to make an impression, some take this idea too far and try to cram in as much marketing-speak as possible. This leads to uncomfortable conversations for the annoyed prospects and embarrassed telemarketers.
CLIMBING THE LADDER ONE RUNG AT A TIME
Success is a relative term in the sales process- changing depending on the stage of the relationship. At first success could mean securing an in-office presentation. Later it could mean closing the deal.
Regard success as the final rung in a ladder to the next stage and ask yourself where you need to start the climb. For an in-person meeting, for example, some early rungs might be getting permission to e-mail information or setting a telephone appointment.
Correctly mapping out the journey from prospect to customer requires you to put yourself in your prospect's shoes. Just because you think it should go from A to B to C does not mean your prospects feel the same way. Talk to your sales agents but do not neglect primary research. Salespeople often do not update their sales playbooks to adjust to changing realities. What may have worked selling into one industry a year ago, may not work this year or for another industry. What may have worked selling to the CEO, may not work when selling to the CFO. What may have worked for one product, may not work for another.
By breaking down your sales steps this way, you will always know what you can ask for without seeming outlandish. Push the boundaries slightly, but regard a progression to any of the intervening rungs as a successful outcome.
Occasionally, when reaching for the top rung, you will get it. By aiming higher, you give chance an opportunity to work in your favor.
As you clearly map out the selling steps suitable to your prospects, you develop a better sense for where telemarketing fits in and if it is worth the investment. By building the script around sensible expectations, the telemarketing agents will remain motivated and your sales agents will not come to you complaining their leads were not sales on a silver platter.
Gene Gerwin is the founder of CCI Telemarketing, a provider of B2B telemarketing services since 1993. Learn more at http://www.cci-telemarketing.com