Ditch the Scripts: Authenticity Is Key
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 10:23 am
You know, another 10 or 20% of them, no matter what you did, they’re going to starve to death because there’s no way they’re going to do it. Then the rest of the people in the middle, if they have good leadership and they have someone working with them, they will, but without leadership or without a culture that demands that you do some level of prospecting, they’re simply gonna take the path of least resistance. And that’s to wait for the phone to ring or the email to buzz.
AP: Right. So going back to a comment you made about the guatemala telegram data dangers of being overly scripted. And you’re talking about stupid scripts, I think is what you said. So what’s your thought about how scripted inside sales reps should be when they’re out making dials?
JB: They should be unscripted. They should be authentic. The people that write scripts and organizations, and I’m going to get on my soap box for a second, are typically people in marketing who have never made an outbound call before in their entire life. And they write dumb scripts that make people sound like they’re plastic robots and they don’t work.
They create resistance because they sound so scripted, and that resistance creates a situation or a feedback loop to the rep that says, “This is really uncomfortable, don’t do it.” And so the key really with outbound prospecting is understanding first: what’s your objective. So for example, with this case study, we just had the objective to set an appointment and, and for most B2B sales reps, that’s the key, to set an appointment.
Now my sales reps next door, we’re much more transactional. We’re selling a subscription to post your sales jobs on Sales Gravy. If you have an opening right now, we’re going to try to close you right on the spot. We set some appointments, but our core objective is to interrupt your day, get past the initial brush off, and to move you directly into the sales cycle. In some cases, your call is simply to get information because you’re trying to qualify to understand what the buying window is.
AP: Right. So going back to a comment you made about the guatemala telegram data dangers of being overly scripted. And you’re talking about stupid scripts, I think is what you said. So what’s your thought about how scripted inside sales reps should be when they’re out making dials?
JB: They should be unscripted. They should be authentic. The people that write scripts and organizations, and I’m going to get on my soap box for a second, are typically people in marketing who have never made an outbound call before in their entire life. And they write dumb scripts that make people sound like they’re plastic robots and they don’t work.
They create resistance because they sound so scripted, and that resistance creates a situation or a feedback loop to the rep that says, “This is really uncomfortable, don’t do it.” And so the key really with outbound prospecting is understanding first: what’s your objective. So for example, with this case study, we just had the objective to set an appointment and, and for most B2B sales reps, that’s the key, to set an appointment.
Now my sales reps next door, we’re much more transactional. We’re selling a subscription to post your sales jobs on Sales Gravy. If you have an opening right now, we’re going to try to close you right on the spot. We set some appointments, but our core objective is to interrupt your day, get past the initial brush off, and to move you directly into the sales cycle. In some cases, your call is simply to get information because you’re trying to qualify to understand what the buying window is.