We all have pet peeves. I have many.

The good news is that gives me lots of fodder to produce regular blogs for rAVe.

Today the pet peeve I’m going to zero in on is scripted sales calls.

Someone that I’ve known for years has recently moved into a professional sales position. Part of the support they’re provided is a lead-generation service that forwards leads to the sales team, whose job it is to follow up by phone and email, and convert prospects into customers.

It’s very well organized, and I approve of that.

Additionally, they’re provided with call scripts; what to say and how to say it.

I have more mixed feelings about that.

The biggest problem with sales scripts is that I don’t think they’ve very effective at making sales.

Why not? Because they lack authenticity.

When I get a call from someone who’s obviously reading from a script, I lose interest immediately. The caller isn’t making any real effort to build a connection with me, they’re just reading off of a sheet because that’s what they’re told to do.

Reviewing the sales scripts my friend was provided, I have genuine doubts that the people who wrote these scripts ever stress-tested them personally, by actually calling prospects and reading these to them.

The acid test of a sales script isn’t whether one brilliant salesperson who deserves an Oscar nomination can use them effectively, it’s whether anyone picked at random can use them to produce a closing ratio higher than zero.

Worst of all was the script they were given for a follow up voicemail to leave a prospect who hasn’t yet returned their call.

Seriously, it’s a four minute soliloquy that takes “Hi, this is So-and-So from XYZ Inc, and I’m sure you’re getting tired of hearing from me so please call me back!” and stretches it out to a teeth-grindingly uncomfortable length.

No one anywhere is going to listen to that entire voicemail, and no one anywhere is going to return that call.

If you must leave a voicemail, here’s the one that has the best chance of being returned: in pleasant tone of voice leave your full name, your company name and the number at which you can be reached.

Anything longer than that just gets deleted without being listened to all the way through.

Do you know when was the last time I read a sales script to a customer?

I was fourteen years old, and working as a telemarketer selling carpet cleaning.

That was my one and only experience working in a call center, and honestly it wasn’t very long, a couple of weeks if I recall.

Not that I haven’t spent a lot of time on the phone in the years that followed, talking to customers and prospective customers.

And if I may say so, I’m pretty good at not getting hung up on.

Why? Because I’m authentic, and I actually listen to what people tell me.

If you’re a sales professional and reaching out to prospective customers is part of your job, don’t read from a script, be yourself.