5 Reasons Sales & Service Reps Don't Follow Scripts

You can lead a horse to water, but you can''t make him cold call, or follow a script to the letter, or stay at his desk allowing absolutely no distractions to intrude into his work process until an official break time arrives. How come? Why is it that the front lines in sales and service, the work-horses of business and industry- why is it that they bray and buck and perennially bite the hands that feed them? In other words, even when they''re shown a more effective way of handling conversations to produce higher sales volumes or more consistent customer satisfaction, why do they revert to indirect, seat-of-the-pants means? There are five reasons, according to the best-selling author of REACH OUT & SELL SOMEONE, YOU CAN SELL ANYTHING BY TELEPHONE! and MONITORING, MEASURING & MANAGING CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Let''s say your management team has already ?scripted success.? They know with 100% certainty that if reps will follow a given sales or service script, they''ll double their results. Why is it then, after being introduced to that winning script, most reps won''t agreeably or enthusiastically use it? There isn?t a single answer, but here are 5 reasons I''ve come up with as a manager and as a sales, telemarketing, and customer service consultant: (1) Immature people in business misunderstand money making routines.

They treat business as if it is a liberal arts essay exam where mere opinion, providing it is heartfelt, original, and spontaneous, is to be valued above rote regurgitation. These folks don?t get the fact that their betters have labored ceaselessly to discover and to codify a routine so they don?t have to use trial and error each time they want to earn a paycheck. All they have to do is punch in, do the job the official way, and then punch out, and they?ll be able to pay their bills.

(2) It takes effort and stamina and what my drama teacher in high school referred to as ?performance discipline? to put on a show and make it EXACTLY the same before each passing audience.

Outside of the military, the martial arts, a rigorous athletic program, or perhaps strict musical training, most people haven?t learned the necessity of self-discipline and its connection to competence and to mastery.

(3) The lines have blurred beyond recognition in distinguishing work from play.

Countless gurus and hucksters coming out of the ?Age of Aquarius? have touted fun and games as being the way to unleash human potential. Work should always be fun, they insist, otherwise something is wrong. If it?s always fun, believe me, something is out of whack, and that something will be corrected, probably by dark market forces before long. Those high-flying tech companies that were awash in Wall Street money because their founders wrote dazzling business plans with outrageous profit predictions came crashing to earth when sales never materialized. But until then, there was free pizza, massages at your desk, on site health clubs, and mixers and fire walking every weekend. Fun and funding go together.

(4) Managers are soft on enforcement.

I?ve known a mere handful of business owners and managers that have had the grit to MAKE PEOPLE STICK TO THEIR SCRIPTS, WORD FOR WORD. Most managers seem to want love and acceptance more than business results. A very famous tech company refused to make people follow brief scripts that were so successful that customers bought new products 50% of the time they were offered. Managers allowed their reps to freely choose whether to earn money for the company and its millions of shareholders. Soon enough, the stock price eroded, and this once shining star is today a mere dwarf.

(5) Nobody wants to start at the bottom.

Following directions, including those that are encoded into sales and service scripts, is something that the lowest of the low are required to do, or so many of today?s workers believe. Why have American phone jobs been outsourced to places like India and the Philippines and to Latin America? It?s not just a matter of a different standard of living. Recruitment and retention of a phone force in America is an incredibly arduous, Sisyphean task. Our workers see themselves as ?too good? to be on the phones, unless, of course they can feel more PROFESSIONAL about it, which they equate with choosing their own methods, or non-methods, if you will.

Just as there is no single reason for non-compliance with scripts, the solution isn?t a solitary one, either.

We have to address all of the issues above, and be especially creative and precise in our compensation schemes, as well.

I?ll develop these ?cures? in a future article.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books and more than a thousand articles. His seminars and training programs are sponsored internationally and he is a top-rated faculty member at more than 40 universities, including UCLA Extension, where he has taught since 1999. Dynamic, experienced, and lots of fun, Gary brings more than two decades of solid management and consulting experience to the table, along with the best academic preparation and credentials in the speaking and training industry. Holder of five degrees, including a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School For Communication at USC, an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management, and a law degree from Loyola, his clients include several Fortune 1000 companies along with successful family owned and operated firms across America. Much more than a ?talking head,? Gary is a top mind that you?ll enjoy working with and putting to use. He can be reached at: [e-mail]