I recently published an article claiming that “marketing scripts” can be written to answer customer questions in an informative, concise, and friendly manner. I’ve gotten several responses from people telling me they hate the idea of using “hyphens” to deliver information.
When I asked them why they had trouble with scripts, the universal response was that they “didn’t want to sound like a robotic-sounding telemarketer reading a ‘canned’ spiel.”
We’ve all heard “robots” trying to impress or sell, and their rigid, poorly practiced (or unpracticed) monologues have the opposite effect, turning the listener off. The people who responded to my article are right.
I offer this counterpoint in response:
When you turn on your TV to watch a drama or comedy show, do you feel like those actors are reading from a script? No, they sound like they’re speaking naturally, but we all know they’re not just making it up or “winging it”. They started with a script. That script was written by a group of writers. They then memorized their lines, and once they learned the script, they practiced their lines over and over again until they sounded like normal speech. They then practiced it on the other actors in the scene, and then performed it in front of their director, who probably tweaked it several times to get it right, finally sounding like they were speaking in a way appropriate to their scene. Those actors are certainly not speaking normally, it just sounds like that.
It’s the same way a customer-friendly company provides information over the phone, in an office or showroom, or at a trade show. There is a script created to respond, inform, extol the virtues and finally close the sale. That script is honed and practiced until it comes naturally. It sounds like natural speech, but it is the practical answer to a question.
A written and practiced response delivered in a friendly manner will better inform customers and build their knowledge and rapport. So start cataloging the questions or queries and develop short scripts as a basis for standardized responses. Practice them, think “Lights! Camera! Action!” and you will sound natural. Think of making the sale like winning an Oscar (“I’d like to thank my writer, my director, my acting coach, and my supporting cast”). You will look great on the red carpet!
