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I hate scripts, I suck at them.

by abbot Banned
15 replies
We're trying a new idea here for kicks and giggles...

I'm horrible with phone scripts, my assistant sent me this quick script he typed up.

I was hoping some of you guys could rip on it a little, as I'm sure it's far from decent.

The goal: building a list...something we as a company have neglected for a long time. So it's time to saddle up. Note that this is just one means of building the list, we're using many more. But I've wanted to try constant contact for a while.

It's using the give to get concept....

Anyway here's the script so far. Is it too much? Not enough? Think they'll be too weirded out to give up the address?

I'll test regardless, but just wondering thoughts

Critiques encouraged.


"Hey...I'm a little unsure who I should be speaking to here..."

"My name is _____________, I work with roofing contractors on getting you folks new customers.."

"Do you handle this?"

"The reason I'm calling you today is because I'm trying to expand my network of contractors, I have a cool little promotional video that I'd like to give to you..free of charge"

"with the video, I'll email over some info on how we've been using this same exact video to draw in new customers for roofing contractors just like you."

"I'm just wondering what a good email address is to send that over to right now?"

uhhh....yeah .... sure.....send it to myemail@gmail.com

"great thanks! I'm sending it over now....and what was your name again?"

"bob? ok great ... check your email when you get a chance, you'll see the video and how we have been using it to bring in new customers to roofers like yourself."
#hate #scripts
  • Profile picture of the author wsands
    I would bet that you get a lot of "what's this about?"s

    I would be a little more concise about the fact that the promotional video can be used to attract more customers and that you are giving that to them for free and you just need a good email to send that over to right now...

    Seems legit though
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    • Profile picture of the author abbot
      Banned
      Originally Posted by wsands View Post

      I would bet that you get a lot of "what's this about?"s

      I would be a little more concise about the fact that the promotional video can be used to attract more customers and that you are giving that to them for free and you just need a good email to send that over to right now...

      Seems legit though
      Yeah that's the first thing I thought of. I don't want to go into too much detail and make it a pitch. Because it's not...it's simply an exchange offer. Give me this and take this.

      But I know people are going to be shy. My hope is that someone will have a better way with words to make it click with them....? idk

      I don't want a long conversation. Just to bang the calls out and get as many addresses as possible.
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      • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
        Originally Posted by abbot View Post

        Yeah that's the first thing I thought of. I don't want to go into too much detail and make it a pitch. Because it's not...it's simply an exchange offer. Give me this and take this.

        But I know people are going to be shy. My hope is that someone will have a better way with words to make it click with them....? idk

        I don't want a long conversation. Just to bang the calls out and get as many addresses as possible.
        Please don't take this the wrong way.

        Banging out calls just to get email addresses is weak.

        You would have just as much success .. If not more getting emails
        if you just called up and said.

        Yo, whats the link to your website and what email do i send questions to.

        If your going to talk to them. Qualify them. Bond with them.
        Set an appointment with them ... sell them ... do something that
        makes it worth your while now ...

        anything less is just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.
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        Selling Ain't for Sissies!
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        • Profile picture of the author abbot
          Banned
          Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post

          Please don't take this the wrong way.

          Banging out calls just to get email addresses is weak.

          You would have just as much success .. If not more getting emails
          if you just called up and said.

          Yo, whats the link to your website and what email do i send questions to.

          If your going to talk to them. Qualify them. Bond with them.
          Set an appointment with them ... sell them ... do something that
          makes it worth your while now ...

          anything less is just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.
          Ok...understood. Point taken.

          I suppose I was thinking that once we had their email it would be an easy way to re-market to them with newsletters and industry news that was market related.

          You don't think that would be worth it?

          I did something similar with the hvac industry and it did turn up some clients. It took a while but they eventually turned into decent accounts.

          But you're right, it's a coin toss and doesn't get me a return on my time , now.

          I guess i was just looking at it as once I have the email, the rest is automated and that I could keep putting them through cycles. This would pay out due to high numbers over time. The goal would be a large list of emails. The first cycle of autoresponders would qualify them in or out i'd think.

          By the second cycle of buying emails they should be scrubbed and at least warm to the idea of our name popping up here and there.

          agh...you might be right. I feel like I'm on the right track but it's entirely possible I'm way off

          Thanks for the input. Don't worry about hurting my feelings. I'm tough...fire away
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  • Profile picture of the author palmvalley
    I would agree that it's not the most efficient way to get email addresses, but you should use the calls as a way to build relationships with these new contracting companies.

    You have to articulate the value of what you're going to give them. Don't call it a promotional video. Tell them you have a great video about how they can save time on putting together estimates (that's just a random example - make the video about whatever information they will find really valuable). Then later you use the email followup to give them more great free content, solidify the relationship, and introduce them to your products/services.

    Hope that helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author abbot
      Banned
      Originally Posted by palmvalley View Post

      I would agree that it's not the most efficient way to get email addresses, but you should use the calls as a way to build relationships with these new contracting companies.

      You have to articulate the value of what you're going to give them. Don't call it a promotional video. Tell them you have a great video about how they can save time on putting together estimates (that's just a random example - make the video about whatever information they will find really valuable). Then later you use the email followup to give them more great free content, solidify the relationship, and introduce them to your products/services.

      Hope that helps.
      Agreed. Good input.

      Promotional video does suck. I'll have to think of something else.

      Thanks for the responses so far!
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      • Profile picture of the author abbot
        Banned
        Today I had the assistant place calls until she had spoken to 100 people.

        Of that 100 people she spoke to, 59 gave up their emails.

        I know a couple said it's a waste of time but if I feel there's potential in the long run.

        I feel like many people probably gave up the emails to get her off the phone..and I'm sure there will be lots of opt-outs. But I'll never know until I try it.

        But I'm not going to complain about a 59% success rate.

        Maybe a well put together series of autoresponders can loosen up the leads.

        I'm trying to think long term....If I keep her on this for 30 days...making her speak to 100 people per day minimum

        That's a very rough 1770 people that subconsciously agreed to be marketed to.

        And just as a note: we DO cold call with full, verified scripts every day. I'm not one of these guys avoiding cold calling. I have 2 employees that call for 4 hours every day and do great. Just wanted to make it clear that this is strictly an experiment for building an email list.

        I know these guys do something very similar...calling to offer attorneys a full marketing pack for free. I played private investigator for a while and got some great ideas from them.

        Law Firms Marketing Provider. Law Firm Internet Marketing. Law Firm Marketing Plans

        He's killing it.
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        • Profile picture of the author misterme
          Originally Posted by abbot View Post

          That's a very rough 1770 people that subconsciously agreed to be marketed to.
          Hey abbot!

          Depends on how you look at it.

          I'd say it's more like a list of 1770 people who consciously blew you off by giving you their emails.

          I tell ya that experimental script of yours sure sounds like a scene in a Hugh Grant movie where it hurts to watch as he dismally attempts to ask a girl out.
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          • Profile picture of the author abbot
            Banned
            Originally Posted by misterme View Post

            Hey abbot!

            Depends on how you look at it.

            I'd say it's more like a list of 1770 people who consciously blew you off by giving you their emails.

            I tell ya that experimental script of yours sure sounds like a scene in a Hugh Grant movie where it hurts to watch as he dismally attempts to ask a girl out.
            Maybe so..

            But that's why I posted it here. However it seems there's more attention on the stupidity of the campaign its self which is why I went ahead and used it anyway.

            But it's alright. People have told me it wont work before
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          • Profile picture of the author nhantao20
            Originally Posted by misterme View Post

            Hey abbot!

            Depends on how you look at it.

            I'd say it's more like a list of 1770 people who consciously blew you off by giving you their emails.

            I tell ya that experimental script of yours sure sounds like a scene in a Hugh Grant movie where it hurts to watch as he dismally attempts to ask a girl out.
            I agree with this. thanks a lot.
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            • Profile picture of the author abbot
              Banned
              Made a sale yesterday. Mobile website, video with marketing, and when YP contract is up..a new website.

              $850 paid with CC
              $300/mo auto pay

              I'm not sure I can credit this campaign for it though...

              Contractor was cold called, offered the video via email...Gave email and asked what other services we offer...

              We're lucky we got the sale because my assistant (who shouldn't even be calling...i know) told prospect she was going to email over the video and have a rep call in 10 minutes. I couldn't repremand her because she didn't know to TRANSFER the call.

              Sent the email containing MY contact info (since this is an experiment I handle everything) prospect calls my phone..and sells himself.

              So though this sale came up because of this campaign I just don't feel i can credit it to the campaign...he could have been closed over the phone on the first call attempt.

              But I did say I would report so...

              On a different note...We're getting 65% open rate with 50% ctr...1 bounce so far and 0 unsubscribes. List is at about 120.

              As mentioned before...the key here will be the series of response emails. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with them. Maybe bring someone like ewen in for insight.

              It's to early to tell anything at all. But at least people are opening and reading the emails.

              One thing I'm sure about, is that what I'm giving away is quality. I'm taking a leap of faith on the "giving" part here. The big question will be...how can we show them that what they're getting is gold?
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              • Profile picture of the author misterme
                Originally Posted by abbot View Post

                As mentioned before...the key here will be the series of response emails. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with them. Maybe bring someone like ewen in for insight.

                It's to early to tell anything at all. But at least people are opening and reading the emails.

                One thing I'm sure about, is that what I'm giving away is quality. I'm taking a leap of faith on the "giving" part here. The big question will be...how can we show them that what they're getting is gold?
                Maybe that would be a good question to ask Ewen.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    Make sure you come back to report the sales.
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    • Profile picture of the author abbot
      Banned
      Originally Posted by misterme View Post

      Make sure you come back to report the sales.
      I'll make a report sink or swim
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  • Profile picture of the author wsands
    If you have a killer follow up then I would say that you aren't wasting your time here.

    If you are only going to email these suspects then you are going to have a very low response rate.

    How many hours did your assistant take to capture 59 emails? How many of those emails are real? How much did you pay your assistant for those emails?

    It has to be really worth your effort here. You've called them and initiated a relationship that you must now cultivate by more than just email.

    AFTER you get an email address, I would ask them to answer 3 quick questions. You need to guide the relationship to a sale as quickly as possible here.

    This scenario actually reminds me of two different methods I tested out.

    1. I would walk into a place, offer to make a quick 60 video tour of their place of business and then rank that video on google for a fairly specific keyword that was relevant to their business. (something easy to rank) for only $50 because I normally charge $250 for this service. This served me in a couple of ways. First I knew I was talking to the person who wrote the checks, second they have already done business with me so when I come back after ranking their video on page 1, whatever I say is gospel and there is no balking at price.

    2. For a while we would send out industry specific videos as part of our sales process that was basically us recording our screen as we scoped them out on the internet, and scoped out their competition. This allowed us to get another "touch"in between meetings. So, first meeting was basically a discovery of pain points and budget dance. Second "meeting" was our video, third meeting was check writing.

    I guess my response is a little off topic here, but the moral of the story is, email by itself is going to be a waste of time and effort, you have to cultivate a relationship of actions. The first contact was they gave you their email, next would be an online demo, next would be a personalized proposal/discovery, next is them writing a check. You can step up the level of action slowly over 4 touches or so.

    Then again this may be totally unnecessary depending on the price point of your product and your product type.
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