Whenever we hear the word “rule,” it has a negative connotation for most people. We imagine a stern principal, parent, or other authority figure from our childhood who was always enforcing the rules. Even as adults, we remember receiving a ticket from an unyielding police officer for breaking a traffic rule. The word “rule” for most people can be a put off.
After some research, I discovered that the word “rule” has its root in both Latin and Greek. The word comes from the Latin and Greek words for “trellis.” A trellis is a tool, a support system that enables a grapevine to get off the ground and grow upwards; as it grows, it becomes fruitful and productive. For a grapevine to produce fruit, it must have a trellis to support and guide its growth—or it will just slump to the ground. When this happens, the fruit tends to rot before it ripens. Even in the wild, grapevines will use just about anything as a trellis: a tree or even a rock.
Expanding on the concept of the trellis, a sales script is a rule that supports and guides our growth as salespeople. I believe the most successful medical device reps use scripts as trellises, a practice which enables them to fully focus on what the customer is saying while relaying a solid sales message.
The purpose of a sales script is not to be confining. A sales script ensures that you’re at the top of your game with each and every surgeon. We all have off days, and we all encounter stressful situations. On these days, we risk not putting our best foot forward (and thus blowing critical opportunities!) with our potential surgeons if we do not have a script.
Scripts have the added benefit of freeing your mind to focus on your message to your audience rather than on the actual words you use.
When you follow a script, you never have to worry about what to say; this means you can truly listen to your surgeons.
A script also prompts you to remember crucial pieces of your sales pitch, such as branding language.
Your sales script gives each surgeon a clear message about your product and also keeps your branding consistent. Branding is an important part of company culture, and it’s important that a territory manager on the west coast is saying the same thing that another salesperson is saying on the east coast.
Often when I stand in front of a group of salespeople and utter the word “script,” the idea is often met with resistance. Even with all the overwhelming evidence that scripts absolutely work for generating sales, many salespeople will still reject them. I hear all of the regular explanations, including “I don’t sound like myself when I use a script.” The fear of sounding canned is legitimate. If actors and politicians sounded canned, movies and television shows wouldn’t be entertaining, and speeches wouldn’t be believable. But that is exactly why actors, politicians, and top sales professionals have a practiced and polished script.
Scripts are a powerful way to manage your message, but they must be rehearsed, practiced, and memorized.
When salespeople complain that scripts make them sound canned, what I actually hear them saying is this: “I’m not willing to put in the effort” or “I don’t care enough about my own success to take time to practice my scripts.” These salespeople are willing to shoot from the hip and bet their quota and income on the roll of the dice. Sadly, this is the exact reason why the top 20% of sales professionals make 80% of the commissions. They are simply willing to do the things that average salespeople are unwilling to do.
A memorized sales script is a support system—a trellis that will enable a salesperson to climb to the top of the sales rankings, earn a great commission, and position himself or herself for the next promotion.
I hope I have convinced you that having a script is important, but it’s also imperative to practice our sales scripts until they are perfect. I look forward to exploring how to do this in next week’s post. Have a great week—and good selling!
