Move Beyond Call Scripts to Call Plans When Prospecting

One of the most important ways to differentiate your company’s product or solution is to utilize call plans instead of call scripts when prospecting.

Prospects do not want to feel like they are just another number your salesperson dialed today. And, that’s how most prospects feel when encountering a sales development representative who is obviously working from a call script. To convert prospects into new customers, the strategy has to change. That’s why ProSales Connection recommends call plans when talking to prospects to engage real people in real conversations.

What Is Scripted in a Call Plan?

The ProSales Connection approach is scripting the beginning and end of the phone call, but not the middle.

You want to position your company a certain way at the beginning of the call when reaching out to a prospect. That should include a unique feel to the conversation when a prospect first encounters the sales development team.

You also want to close the conversation with a clear understanding of the next steps in the process. After unlocking fit and interest, this “button-up” process includes reviewing relevant details in the call, identifying other parties who may need to be involved in the decision-making process, and confirming a meeting date.

These two aspects of the prospecting call need to be consistently executed. But, what happens between the opening and close is what differentiates call plans from call scripts.

What Happens Between the Beginning and Ending?

Call scripts try to control the conversation in the beginning, middle, and end. This robotic and inflexible approach leaves little room for authentic exchanges.

ProSales Connection strongly encourages sales development representatives (SDRs) to have a real conversation with prospects as part of the call plan. It’s not just to make the prospect feel valued, though. There are tangible benefits to engaging the prospect in this manner.

Our recommended method is using a bulleted list of talking points to emphasize the value proposition of what you are offering. Then, leverage the responses from the prospect to explain why your product or solution should be valuable to them and address a concern or opportunity they are facing.

This process also allows the sales team to unlock fit and interest by asking the prospect authentic profiling questions weaving the talking points into a real conversation. SDRs can then evaluate what they learned:

• During the conversation, did you determine whether the prospect is a fit for the product or solution?
• If fit is confirmed, does the prospect qualify for need? Or, are they locked into a product or solution from a competitor that already meets their need?

Ideally, the prospect is a fit and they qualify for interest or need, leading to the next phase in the process: setting a meeting to discuss the product or solution.

That’s where scripting comes into play again confirming the details of a future meeting and closing the conversation in a professional, uniform manner.

But, in order to get to that desired conclusion, you need to engage in authentic dialogue with the prospect. A well-trained, professional SDR team can achieve that objective by moving beyond outdated call scripts that leave little room for authentic conversations.

Send the Right Message About Your Brand by Moving Beyond Call Scripts

The question to ask yourself is how you want your brand to be perceived by prospects. Do you want them to feel like they are valued, or that they are simply another number to call?

B2B prospecting is about building long-lasting relationships. A prospecting call today may not lead to the initial sale you are looking for right now, but a positive experience could lead to a future sale. Or, a referral sale if the prospect you recently talked to recommends your product or solution to another company.

If a prospect walks away with a positive impression of your brand, that will pay off down the road. The key is having natural conversations within the framework of a call plan, not relying on a call script for your SDRs to mindlessly “smile and dial” through your prospect list.

Learn more about how ProSales Connection uses this process to generate real meetings with qualified prospects using our Sales Appointment Setting program!