1. Opening (“Did I catch you at a bad time?”) and Introduction 2. Discuss prospect's current business situation (authentic curiosity) 3. Probe for prospect's needs (and confirm understanding of the needs) 4. Position solution to meet those specific needs 5. Handle objections 6. Next steps You don’t need fancy scripts to help salespeople make effective calls. They can be useful during training, but don’t let people get dependent on them and lose their own authentic voice. Use more role-playing training and fewer scripts to teach them how to think on their feet and have more natural conversations. Leaving Voicemails Since email is the primary way people communicate today, use voicemail as a tool to increase response rates from emails rather than to attempt to get people to call you back (especially when targeting large companies; i.e., small business people are more likely to return voicemails). Leave voicemails with the same demeanor you would use with a friend or family member. You want to be disarming and warm, not sales-y, sounding like a jackass or “corporate” (no personality). You should: State your name AND number at the beginning and end of the voicemail. This way, if they repeat the voicemail to get your phone number to call you back, they don’t have to listen to it the whole way through to get to your number. Speak slowly and clearly. S-p-e-a-k s-l-o-w-l-y a-n-d c-l-e-a-r-l-y. Remember it can be hard to understand phone messages, especially if someone is calling into their messages through their cell phone. Explain in one or two sentences why you’re calling them and at a minimum, imply a reason for why they should respond and how: “Responding to your email,” “Saw you visited our website,” “Wanted to ask for the courtesy of a response to the email I sent you”….