Businesses are run using a series of predetermined actions. 

Sales strategies, marketing campaigns, and hiring processes. The things that make successful businesses the well-oiled machines they are have a few things in common: they follow a defined course of action to be personalized for your business, implemented, evaluated, and optimized to ensure full effectiveness.

A perfect example is creating sales call scripts for customer outreach campaigns. If you tried to devise a fresh approach for every prospecting call, you would waste unthinkable amounts of time to reach the same place you would be in if you just used a template. 

It sounds lazy, but why fix it if it’s not broken?

 Several sales teams increasingly understand the need and importance of specialized tools like sales engagement software to streamline customer conversations from every channel. With these platforms, sales reps can refine the overall selling experience and optimize the customer's journey.

Sales call scripts make it easier for salespersons to engage potential customers identified through sales prospecting by effectively selling the product or service and establishing a rapport during a conventionally transactional conversation.

There aren’t enough hours to review every sales call approach you might follow when contacting a customer. While there will be times when customer similarities will bring about comparable conversations and buyer journeys, each customer will have their own needs, pain points, and company history — and it’s your job as a sales rep to recognize that. 

Below are some cold-calling script options for your sales team to use as inspiration, not as a word-for-word guide. When looking at these customer conversation examples, add the personal details necessary to connect with the buyer and avoid sounding like a monotone sales robot. You could also learn to record phone calls with sales intelligence tools, VoIP phone service and listen to yourself afterward to see where to improve.

Choose your approach carefully. Depending on your history with the business, the information you already have on them, and their place in the buyer journey, some scripts might prove more successful or appropriate than others.

When you want to offer options

Immediately overloading the prospect with a boatload of information, assuming they will retain it all, and expecting the go-ahead to move forward with the relationship isn’t a likely scenario.

A good way to avoid this is by offering options along the way and getting smaller, less important yeses than the big one that results in a purchase. No, it’s not the ultimate approval you want, but it’s a way to get them to invest in your message.

That sales call script might look something like this, assuming the prospect provides the engagement you want to carry the conversation along:

From there, you will tell them more, as promised, and then wrap up the call in hopes of scheduling another engagement.

If the conversation reached the endpoint above, the customer gave you a few yeses. And while they might not have been the big yes to making a purchase, they were engaged enough in the conversation regarding your solution to agree to move forward.

When you need to move around a gatekeeper

Depending on your ideal point of contact, you might encounter a gatekeeper during outbound calls.

A gatekeeper stands in the way of reps reaching the decision-maker. Examples of gatekeepers include office managers, receptionists, and administrative assistants. While gatekeepers offer a chance to create another meaningful connection with someone at the business you are contacting, they don’t hold any buying power. 

The worst way to approach a gatekeeper is by treating them as an obstacle instead of an opportunity. Don’t assume you have a right to connect directly with the person you want. Instead, work with the gatekeeper and do your best to help them understand the value you’re offering without directly selling to them.

It might look something like this:

“Hi [gatekeeper’s name], Mary Clare from G2. I was hoping to speak with [name of decision-maker]. What’s the best way for me to be connected with them?”

This way, instead of rudely trying to work your way around them, you show the gatekeeper that you need them to move forward. They still hold valuable positions and information in the business, and being disrespectful in your approach is a recipe for never reaching that decision-maker.

When you want to use your connections

Your common connections with a prospect are outbound-calling gold. Buyers trust their peers and often look to those connections for proof that you can help a business like theirs. 

Use social sites like LinkedIn or Twitter to see if you know anyone who could connect you and the prospect. Talk about your prospect and learn as much about them as possible, especially their pain points and how your business can relieve them. This is a great source of pre-call research.

When you’ve had a conversation with a mutual connection, use it with the prospect. Go about it like this:

From there, hopefully, you’ll be able to schedule an appointment to focus more on that prospect rather than the connection you have in common.

Answer any initial questions they might have, but also recommend that they speak to the connection that is one of your customers. You can only advocate for yourself for so long before prospects look elsewhere for the scoop on your business. And again, buyers look to their peers for advice. 

It’s important to note that the connection and your prospect have to have more than their random relationship in common. For this approach to work, they must have similar business models, work in the same industry, or sell comparative products. Otherwise, mentioning you helping them and doing the same for the prospect won’t necessarily apply.

When you need to leave a voicemail

You won’t always be connected with the decision-maker right away. You might not be connected with anyone. Whether you see this as a positive or negative, your call may be sent to voicemail. 

This is a situation you should always be prepared for. Make sure to do the same amount of preliminary research and practice what you will say. Leaving a voicemail offers salespeople the chance to have complete and total control over the phone call. 

If you need to leave a message after the beep, don’t worry. There's a voicemail script for that:

That call to action is arguably the most important part of the sales voicemail. You might blow the prospect away and intrigue them enough to make them want to speak with you again. But if you don’t clearly outline an action for them to take, they might not know exactly how to proceed. 

Other than that, keep it brief, don’t talk too fast, show a bit of that personality, and always always always come back to the value. Lost your place in your script? Go back to the value. Running a bit long? Close the voicemail with the value. Scared and panicked? Bring it right back to the value.

When you want to get personal

Your prospects offer a great business opportunity to your business, but at the end of the day, they are people just like you. There is value in mentioning a professional connection, but creating personal bonds with your prospects can also do the trick. 

This is another example of how LinkedIn, a place where personal information is shared in a professional context, can come in handy. Here are some one-liners you might present in the conversation to build that rapport with your prospect:

Notice how all of these examples of personal details are ones that still apply to their current job. There’s a time and place for more deeply personal details, and a preliminary sales phone call is not one of them. 

Before you decide which type of connection to bank on, read the room. Determine if the prospect likes to keep it strictly business or if a personal anecdote would warm them up.

When you want more information

When picking a sales call script, your customer’s place in the buyer journey is important. However, another determining factor should be your place in the sales process. 

After you’ve generated enough leads, the next step is to do a discovery call to determine which ones have the potential to offer your business the most value through lead qualification. Your preliminary research should provide some of the information you need to determine who’s more likely to buy, but it’s never a bad idea to go directly to the source. 

You should always have a script for your lead qualification customer conversations. In these calls, introduce yourself, your business, and the solution you have in mind for them, but then redirect the conversation to their business and their pain points. 

These are some of the questions you might ask to accomplish that: 

After that, ask if they would like to schedule a future engagement so you can chat about the solution in more detail. This will give you time to process the prospect’s answers to your questions and incorporate the information into your value demonstration for that particular customer. Make sure to use a CRM tool to keep track of all updated customer information.

When you want to sound familiar

In the digital age, where connections can be created on various platforms, sales reps aren’t relying solely on sales calls to contact their customers. A typical sales cadence will include multiple outreach channels, increasing prospect exposure. It’s a great way to sound familiar to your prospects rather than a stranger. 

When you want to sound familiar and have already reached out using another channel, mention it in your phone call. You don’t want it to dominate the conversation, but there’s a chance they remember you from your first form of outreach. 

Here’s what that might sound like:

From there, proceed into the value demonstration you normally give over the phone. In this situation, and plenty of others, your introduction will alter your approach. When you go with sounding familiar, the conversation seems less like a cold call and more like a warm chat.

When you need to follow up

It’s possible that your prospect was interested when you called but too busy to give you the time you needed to present your product fully. If this is the case, they might have asked if they could call you back, or vice versa. 

In this situation, you already told the prospect why you were calling in the first phone call, but if they were preoccupied, they could benefit from a refresher. 

Here’s a good way to go about a follow-up:

From that point, you can ask them qualifying questions, go right into your value demonstration, or try to schedule a future engagement. Whatever you want to accomplish with the call, do it after that quick refresher on your name, company, and what you’re offering. Again, your approach is mostly differentiated by the first few sentences. 

Another note: it’s not a bad idea to send a confirmation for your scheduled call (if it was properly scheduled). This way, the prospect will again have the chance to realize they might be busy and reschedule the call.

This might be frustrating for you as a sales rep, but it’s better to wait for the opportunity for the prospect to be as engaged as possible.

When you need to follow up with a voicemail

While a promising conversation with a prospect is the best-case scenario for a sales rep, the customer might still be busy, sending you a voicemail. No problem at all. Again, sales voicemails offer you, the seller, complete control over the phone call with the customer. 

Here’s a script for when you’re trying to follow up but you get sent to voicemail:

Remember, with voicemails, that call to action is extremely important to get a callback.

When you're trying to generate referrals

Say you’ve closed the deal and want to start fresh with brand-new leads. Don’t immediately throw that new deal into the done pile.

While our brand new customers have given us the immediate value of purchasing, there is still more they can offer your business. Customers can keep giving by offering social proof to skeptical buyers, leaving you positive reviews, and helping you generate referrals. But let’s focus on that last one for now. 

Your customers have experienced the positive benefits of your solution firsthand, and it’s possible they know of other businesses looking for the same thing. They might not immediately tell you that, so you need to ask. 

Here’s how to go about it:

You might also want to consider offering something in return, like a promo code or money off their monthly subscription.

When you want to appeal to a specific role

Every business's overarching mission applies to its other goals and objectives. While each department works to support that mission, that will look different for each team.

Sales reps need to close deals to generate revenue. Marketers need to raise awareness and establish a brand image. Customer service reps want to keep buyers as happy as possible. 

The result is that each department within a business will rely more on certain tools. As a sales rep, it’s your job to keep that in mind and highlight your solution's benefits to that particular role.

It’ll sound something like this:

“Hi [prospect’s name], it’s Mary Clare with G2. I’m calling to tell you about our new buyer intent data. As a sales rep, I’m sure you’re constantly researching, and trying to understand your buyers better. And that’s exactly what this tool can do for you. Is that something you would be interested in learning more about?”

When you want to be super brief

It’s nice to put significant effort into every customer interaction, but sometimes, time isn’t on your side. Or anybody’s side, for that matter. 

Throughout your sales outreach, you will run into situations where all you or the prospect have time for is a one-sentence value proposition. Offering a brief introduction to your solution is also a good way to be sure you’re not overwhelming the prospect with information. However, to still be fruitful, your one-sentence value proposition must be a killer one. 

When using this approach, don’t just be brief. Point it out. Show the prospect that you don’t want to waste anyone’s time by explicitly stating it. 

It might go like this:

Think of this as an elevator pitch. If they say yes, move on to ask them your qualifying questions and shape the rest of the conversation to revolve around their pain points. 

If your current approach to calling customers revolves around quantity, consider implementing an autodialer into your strategy.

More than just a script

No matter your experience level in the sales field, it’s always nice to have a point of reference when calling your customers. Sales call scripts to offer that peace of mind for reps as they call phone number after phone number. And the best part is they can be mastered over time. 

Now that you’ve got the scripts, you need the tips. Explore some cold-calling best practices to move customers down the sales funnel.

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This article was originally published in 2020. It has been updated with new information.