Before teleprospectors pick up their headsets and let the auto-dialer work its magic, most marketers will have conducted due diligence on their list of prospects to determine both the true buyers and the products or services that will best meet their needs.
But once that process is complete, don't let them put on their headsets just yet.
Dedicating sufficient time to crafting an effective script and giving your teleprospectors ample opportunity to practice, refine, and make the script their own are crucial steps to the teleprospectors' success and should be done before they start making calls.
Script writing, practice time, and verbal delivery of the content are the key components of tactical marketing messaging at its best. Words matter more during the teleprospecting stage than any other period of the sales process.
The way teleprospectors phrase their questions and emphasize key messaging within the content can be the difference between handing over a fully qualified lead to the sales team and hearing a dial tone.
But don't fall into the common trap of writing a script and trying to get everyone to follow it verbatim.
Realize that when you craft a script, you have less control than you think over what is ultimately actually said, and so you have to spend even more time thinking about what information you present to your teleprospectors. Yes, you'll need to put something good in front of your teleprospectors, but you have to allow them to make it their own. Position it as a guideline and make sure they know that they can tweak it accordingly to match their own communication styles.
Don't hammer script adherence down on your team members. Get them instead to understand your communication strategy and how they can follow it.
An effective teleprospecting communication strategy focuses on three things: your prospect's pain (vs. his function), decision-making authority, and willingness and ability to spend money.
1. Pain over function
You have no need tell your prospects what you know about their business and job function. Rather than waste their valuable time, identify their "pain" without addressing their function.
This approach should be the cornerstone of your teleprospecting communication strategy, and it should be stressed with your reps prior to the launch of every outbound campaign. Remind your reps that their job is to find out how a prospect's current situation affects performance (theirs and their company's) and what cost is associated with that effect on performance.
