Have you already faced the problems while implementing phone scripts? I have faced them repeatedly. I will tell you a more detailed information about the kinds of problems I mean and how to overcome them in this article.
Problem 1: Navigation speed.
Earlier we designed scripts at first in MS Word (in flowcharts), then in XMind (in treelike mind maps). It is practically impossible to use this script at work. Because even if you type the script on paper, managers cannot find all the possible answer choices quickly, get confused, and make mistakes.
There is a script, the script is good but one cannot use it correctly without numerous trainings.
The solution is simple: one should design the scripts so that at each point in time a manager could see only the things he has to say to the client and also the buttons or links with the possible answer choices of the client.
If you refuse the block diagram, it is possible to do this in MS Word and in HTML, but it is inconvenient. This is the first reason why we decided to create Sales Script Prompter.
Problem 2: One should listen to the scripts
Even excellent scripts need to be listened to. I had a lot of cases when managers chose the wrong answers, and sometimes even fully ignored the script.
The system of phone calls recording does not help that much as well. I will be honest with you, listening is long, expensive, and one is usually too lazy to do that. The most important time is spent on selection of those calls which one has to listen to and the same amount of time is spent on listening to the beeps and “passing through the secretary”. In rare cases, separate “listeners” are distinguished, usually, however, the recording system is not used. The supervisor practically never finds time on listening.
This is the second reason why we decided to create Sales Script Prompter. After all, if the manager follows the script in the specialized program, the program always knows how many lines there were in the conversation and at which node the conversation ended.
In this way, the system of voice recording becomes unnecessary at all. The supervisor can get the answer regarding the work with the script in a matter of seconds, see and eliminate bottlenecks where the script breaks and is badly processed.
Problem 3: One should refine the scripts quickly
My colleague and friend, Dmitry Tkachenko, in his amazing book “The Sales Scripts” writes that not a single super duper expert guru can create a script that earns from the first time even he himself.
That is why, managers often say “Scripts do not work”. Yes, they are right about it, scripts do not work 100 %. But practically every script can be quickly brought to 95-98% of readiness.
The main thing is to refine scripts quickly, right away, during implementation and running-in period. Otherwise, managers will face the nonfunctional scripts, feel awkward not knowing how to figure a way out of the difficult situation (there are no hints in the script), and, in the end, sabotage the script work.
Even in a month, something that needs the refinement of the script can appear. And here arises the new problem: even the creator of the script himself cannot make sense of his script 7 days after the break!!!
The logic of the script is forgotten, the connections and transitions are confused, the doubles arise. Sometimes there is even no space to add some new phrases. The script refinement becomes a hell.
This is the third reason why we decided to create the convenient script designer Sales Script Prompter. To make the lives of designers easier, 3 tactics are used:
- Composition of the manager’s speech module into one node with various client’s answer choices (saves the space on the screen 5-10 times)
- Use of the technique “the ladder” for script design
- Search by nodes and constant work on improvement of the script designer ergonomics.
