When I was about 17, I used to do telemarketing training, essentially training new recruits and updating the skills of existing customer service representatives at a large call centre.
And one of the bones of contention people always had was using scripts.
"It doesn't sound natural" some people would say.
"It feels contrived."
"I prefer to take the call by gut feeling."
I would always then step people through and explain that the script is the base and provides a foundation which allows them to handle the call.
And that they can adapt the script based on what occurred in the call... the customers tone... etc.
But just like anything else in life (like the art of getting more customers) you've got to master that script.
Some would argue that they wanted to be spontaneous... that they couldn't be bothered getting their head around the script.
How ridiculous.
Imagine if you saw any professional in any other industry and they told you that.
For instance, let's say you were booked in for heart surgery.
What education do you have surgeon? What's your track record?
Surgeon: I don't worry about all of that nonsense. I just prefer to be spontaneous and rely on my gut feeling.
WHAT?
You wouldn't be using that surgeon, would you?
But that is essentially the way many people write their ads.
I think this looks pretty. Yeah, we will go with that. They pass the ad around to all of their friends and family who know absolutely nothing about advertising or marketing.
Their friends, family and staff tell them which one is the best.
And then the ad flops.
It's the equivalent to the heart surgeon asking his friends and family which nerves he should cut and which knife she should use.
How the heck would they know without the years of training.
It's the same with advertising - some business owners waste tens of thousands of dollars relying on gut feeling instead of taking a scientific approach.
That's crazy, especially when getting educated is so cheap.
You simply don't get results like these by doing that.
It doesn't matter what you are doing...
If you're building a web site you need to get educated.
If you're trying to boost the results of your existing web site you need to get educated.
And if you want to get more customers you need to get educated.
So forget about spontaneity. It doesn't work. And it's not a shortcut.
The only shortcut is education. It allows you to tap into years of experience in a matter of hours.
And one of the bones of contention people always had was using scripts.
"It doesn't sound natural" some people would say.
"It feels contrived."
"I prefer to take the call by gut feeling."
I would always then step people through and explain that the script is the base and provides a foundation which allows them to handle the call.
And that they can adapt the script based on what occurred in the call... the customers tone... etc.
But just like anything else in life (like the art of getting more customers) you've got to master that script.
Some would argue that they wanted to be spontaneous... that they couldn't be bothered getting their head around the script.
How ridiculous.
Imagine if you saw any professional in any other industry and they told you that.
For instance, let's say you were booked in for heart surgery.
What education do you have surgeon? What's your track record?
Surgeon: I don't worry about all of that nonsense. I just prefer to be spontaneous and rely on my gut feeling.
WHAT?
You wouldn't be using that surgeon, would you?
But that is essentially the way many people write their ads.
I think this looks pretty. Yeah, we will go with that. They pass the ad around to all of their friends and family who know absolutely nothing about advertising or marketing.
Their friends, family and staff tell them which one is the best.
And then the ad flops.
It's the equivalent to the heart surgeon asking his friends and family which nerves he should cut and which knife she should use.
How the heck would they know without the years of training.
It's the same with advertising - some business owners waste tens of thousands of dollars relying on gut feeling instead of taking a scientific approach.
That's crazy, especially when getting educated is so cheap.
You simply don't get results like these by doing that.
It doesn't matter what you are doing...
If you're building a web site you need to get educated.
If you're trying to boost the results of your existing web site you need to get educated.
And if you want to get more customers you need to get educated.
So forget about spontaneity. It doesn't work. And it's not a shortcut.
The only shortcut is education. It allows you to tap into years of experience in a matter of hours.
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