| When I write scripts for customer service and for | | | | universal, "May I tell him who's calling?" we shift the |
| selling, I test them, tweak them here and there, and | | | | dynamics, entirely. |
| then I deploy them at my clients' sites. | | | | "Hello, Gary Goodman, Customersatisfaction.com, for |
| Minimally, it's a systematic process of validation, and | | | | Bill Smith please, thank you." |
| once my scripts have been proven in dozens, | | | | I invite you to reverse engineer this winning gambit |
| hundreds, thousands and even millions of | | | | at your leisure, and you'll see many fascinating, |
| conversations, I can say, very authoritatively, that | | | | non-traditional facets to it. But for now, let me point |
| they work. | | | | out that a script needs 3 T's, and not one T, to |
| From my standpoint it is important to be as scientific | | | | succeed. |
| as possible, not only to be dispensing solutions that | | | | It needs the proper Text, Tone & Timing. |
| are assured of producing sales and customer | | | | (If the Three T's are new sounding, I forgive you. I |
| satisfaction, but to overcome the perennial cynicism | | | | invented them, along with THE NEW |
| that salespeople, customer service reps, and their | | | | TELEMARKETING (TM) that they are part of.) |
| managers bring to scripts. | | | | Let's just look at how one of the T's--Timing--affects |
| There is always the question, "Will this work?" but an | | | | the delivery of the screening line I provided. |
| even more pertinent one is, "Will it work for me?" | | | | Purposely, I don't pause before uttering the words, |
| And the answer is always the same: Unless you're an | | | | "Thank you," because I want those words to be |
| alien from a distant galaxy, of course it will work for | | | | FINAL, for the screener to fetch the person I'm |
| you! | | | | requesting. If I pause before saying thank you, the |
| But this isn't the whole story, as you might imagine. | | | | screener will interpret this as a relinquishing of the call |
| As a trainer, manager, and consultant I've seen that | | | | to her, and will encourage her to ask another |
| scripts are only part of the answer. They're helpful | | | | disqualifying question. |
| and even necessary ingredients of success, but we | | | | (You're unlikely to figure this out on your own |
| need more to succeed. | | | | because we normally pause at punctuation instead of |
| Specifically, we need DIRECTION in bringing them to | | | | talking through it.) |
| life. | | | | My first generation trainees, the ones whose |
| This is where mere vendors of scripts miss the mark. | | | | companies bring me in to speak, to consult, and to |
| They might advertise a script for getting insurance | | | | write scripts, receive this instruction, but their |
| appointments, but without the appropriate | | | | imitators don't. That's why those I haven't directed |
| instructions for breathing vitality into them, it's like | | | | sound canned and their scripts "aren't working," or so |
| showing words on a page to an 8 month old: they're | | | | they claim. |
| gibberish. | | | | To be accurate, they should say, the scripts aren't |
| Let me give you a quick example of a way of | | | | working FOR THEM. |
| getting through call screening that I invented that | | | | Again, scripts are essential to success in selling and in |
| should double the frequency with which you succeed. | | | | providing top customer service, but they need to be |
| Instead of asking, "Is Bill Smith in?" which launches | | | | accompanied by the proper direction and training so |
| secretarial countermeasures, starting with the | | | | reps can use them, effectively. |