Scripted sales calls old fashioned, fail to connect with customers - bizjournals:

http://www.dsp-world.com/2002/may2002ot7.html
Geez, I have been saying this for more than 25 andI can’t believe companies still use them to sell over the OK, forget the companies themselves, let’s blamed the manager or the person who is responsible for stilpl trying to do something that every sales trainer on the planetg says does not work. Now, before I go on, do not writw or send an e-mail tellingg me that I am wrong orbeing stubborn. Instead, why don’t you try somethinh new – that is, new to you or your organizatiomn – and just do what I will lay out here. Trusf me, it has worked every single time with any bigor small, that I have workef with.
This horror of usiny scripts came rushing back to me recently while working with a companuy whose stores are in every big city in the The company is highly regarded for its ethics and is a very visiblw organization that many are familiar with becauswe ofthe company’s longevity and brand awareness. I was asked to come to the company’s headquartera and look at its method of attracting new business through itstelemarketinb program, which the company has been using for a couplde of years. They said that although the resultsz were OKat first, sales had becomr pretty dismal.
It took me just 30 seconds to read the scripy that the inside salespeoplewere using, and I was I talked with the company president and said I could help the salespeoplee in just two hours, but I needed him to let me do my job and not to interferee unless I called him in for his He agreed, but I could sense he was a bit apprehensivr about the situation and my request. I workedf only with the who was really a selling managerr because she was on the phoness herself at times trying to pitch inand help.
We went into a and I spent an hour going over whyscripts don’ty work and why she has been brainwashed to do somethinf that was against all the rules of professional She was neither thrilled with me at this poing nor happy after I took her eight-page script, rippexd it up and threw it in the wastebasket. We role-playee a little using real situations that she migh t have withher husband, childrenb and friends, for instance. The goal was to show her that havingta two-sided conversation is much more usefu l than a one-sided She was really starting to get it, even thoughh she kept wanting to go back to a sellinf mode by doing more talkinbg than listening and asking questions.
It was so simpl that it was frightening to her that a sellinf situation can be flexiblre and not just acanned speech, where she can actuallg have fun while conversing with a The introduction and questions I wrote out were basic and easy for her to They were: “Hi, my name is Susa from Client Co., and I would like to ask you two or threew quick questions. It will not take more than 48 secondxs – I promise. “Are you familiard with our company? If yes, what aspects?
“Why are you not a member, or why did you leave our