Sales Coaching Sales Training Cold Calling

The Best Sales Call Script Examples for your Sales Team

Kushal Kakkar

Kushal Saini Kakkar
Marketing Director, Clari

Published

Updated

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Three payphones
Three payphones

Chances are that at some point in your life, you’ve had to make a speech. Maybe you were class valedictorian. Maybe it was at your wedding or a sibling’s wedding or a loved one’s funeral, or a colleague’s farewell. 

You probably felt what Eminem put into words in Lose Yourself: Your palms were sweaty, knees weak, arms were heavy.

Amidst all that anxiety, you very likely clutched your little deck of cue cards with trembling hands. You might not have remembered a word of the delightfully witty speech you penned down, but your cue cards got you through. 

A little breathlessly, perhaps, you got through the speech and maybe even enjoyed some applause by the end of it. 

What makes sales calls any different from public speaking? Here too, very often, you only get one shot to make an impression. 

A lot of sales reps will admit that cold calling, especially, gives them the same sweaty palms, weak knees, and nausea-nerviosa (yeah, we just made that up) that public speaking brings on.

Except that salespeople don’t exactly expect to be armed with a deck of cue cards every time they make a sales call.

But why not? 

If it can up your game, help you close deals, eliminate that dread in the pit of your stomach, and set the cash registers ringing - why not? 

In fact, lots of successful salespeople swear by sales scripts. 

Sales call scripts can help you to filter your sales strategy into the actual words that your sales reps use when communicating with customers.

We’ve rounded up a bunch of useful sales call scripts that can help salespeople pick up their success rate. These can also double up as email templates with a little modification. 

Before we dive in, a disclaimer: These scripts are intended to be an inspiration or a foundation for you to customize and build upon, rather than a word-for-word guide. When playing out these sales pitch examples, remember to personalize your script so that you can develop a human connection with the potential customer and avoid sounding like a deadpan sales robot.

Discovery call script

Here is a simple cold calling script to get you started on your first outreach to a decision-maker:

“Hello there [prospect name], I'd like to keep this brief because I know you're a busy person. I called to let you know that we specialize in [your product USPs] and can assist you with [best features of your product/service or pain points/ goals of the prospect in focus if you already know these].

“I would like to ask you a few questions if you have time to evaluate how our product can deliver maximum value to (company name). Are you okay giving me 3-4 minutes to understand your goals and pain points better?"

If the prospect keeps asking you to move ahead, you could ask the following qualifying questions:

  • “Are you using a similar product/ service?”
  • “If not, how do you manage your (related goals/ related pain points?” 
  • “If yes, do you have any complaints about your current product or service?”
  • “What are the top three problems with your existing service or product that you wish to fix as soon as possible?”
  • “Do these problems have an impact on your company? If yes, how so?”

This call script's objective is to get crucial data from your prospects. Don't count on this sales script to result in a conversion - the first time you speak to a prospect is always going to be more of a breaking ground kind of conversation.

 
PRO TIP
You can also modify this script to get a LinkedIn conversation going. Don’t send it all in one chunk, though. Use each portion as a separate message in a chat.

Demo offer script 

A majority of salespeople say that getting a prospect to sign up for a demo is half the battle won because it allows the decision-maker to experience the product’s value proposition first-hand.

Try this call script template to get your prospect to agree to a product demo: 

“Hello there (prospect's name), this is [your name] from [the name of your company]. I recently learned about your organization and discovered that it is one of the fastest-growing businesses in the [prospect's industry].

Is this a good time to speak? I'll try to keep it brief.

Many of our existing customers are from [prospect's industry name] and have achieved success in [specify/ customize according to your product] with [name of either the product/service you would like to pitch].

Why don't we organize a quick demo call next week so that you can see first-hand how our product will save your company time and money? I'm available next Monday and Tuesday. Does that suit you?

Voicemail script

There’s something so daunting about leaving a voice message that someone can go back and listen to, pause, and play again. They’ll hear all your heavy breathing and fumbling and words that come out funny because you’re nervous. And frustrated that they won't pick up.

Well, maybe you can avoid all those frustration- and nervousness-induced bloopers by creating a call script that you can turn to when you need to leave voicemails. Here you have it:

“Hello, [prospect’s name] This is [ your name] from [your organization’s name].

I'm calling to talk about our product [name] and how it can help you with your current problem [the challenge they're facing/ likely to be facing]. I wanted to schedule a phone call with you to discuss this further.”

“You can get in touch with me at - (phone number). I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks.”

This cold call script is similar to a cold outreach in the way that it instructs your prospect on how to contact you next and delivers your contact information to them so that they can pick a convenient time to hear you out. If you’re lucky, you could get a callback, but the chances are you might need to make a follow-up call. Either way, at least now they’ve heard your name and your company’s name. 

Consultant script 

Are you trying to position yourself as a reliable authority on a specific area of specialization? Here's one way to make an impression:

“Hello, [prospect's name]. I'm [your name] from [your company’s name]. Every day, it is my mission to assist one organization in its process of digital transformation. I believe I can help you find an answer to [the problem a prospect is facing]. Are you willing to look into it further?”

This sort of cold calling script can help you gain your prospect's trust and - because you haven’t offered an overload of details - spark interest in what you might have to offer.

Objection-handling script 

Your prospect could object to your product for various reasons and in fact, handling objections is part of nearly every sales process across both consumer and B2B sales. Here’s a script for dealing with the common objection “Not now.”

Here are some sales scripts that you can use to handle objections like a pro:

"I understand that this isn't high on your list of priorities right now.

However, we would like to request a short discussion with you.

This will allow you to understand more about our product and effectively assess your needs. I'd like to request five minutes of your precious time to explain this further."

But keep in mind that if the prospect still says "No," don't push them any further.

Another very common objection is “I’ve never heard of your company” or lack of trust, and it may be dealt with by saying: 

I understand how you may not want to jump into business with a stranger.

Allow me to help you get to know us better. Let me send you some testimonials, case studies, and reviews from existing customers. Also [names of companies/ people they may know] are on our list of happy customers in case you would like to find out more about us independently.

Budget or price-related objections can be managed with this script: 

“I understand your reservations. Can we offer a more flexible payment schedule/ can I also bundle in (mention freebies) to sweeten the deal? 

I do feel like this could be a worthy investment that saves you more in the long run (explain how it impacts profitability positively in the long run).” 

Opening line script

Have you ever thought about using a customized opening statement for cold calls?

Building rapport is often about finding common ground.

Here's an example of an opening sentence where you happen to know what university the prospect attended:

“My friend is a graduate of (prospect's university name). I've been to the university a few times and really enjoyed it. In what year did you receive your diploma?”

Or

“I lived in San Francisco a few years ago. Has the traffic gotten any better?” 

These cold calling scripts should help you pick up the phone with confidence and ace every sales conversation. You could also check out our cold calling strategies to level up your sales game.

Or

“I notice you have a Red Sox jersey in your picture. That last game! Wow” 

Anything that might help you to strike a chord. Once you strike a chord to graduate from annoying caller to actual human - now they’ll be more likely to listen.

Clari Copilot can help you make every cold call count.

Clari Copilot’s metrics and analytics provide a first-hand view of how your reps are performing so that you can customize training and gear them to get better results.

The tool’s call recordings feature helps sales managers to determine which conversational snippets have the most influence on their prospects - you can then share these with the whole team to improve the team’s overall success rate.

You can also get a clear picture of how your best-performing sales representatives handle customer objections and share these winning strategies with the rest of your team.

Best of all, Clari Copilot acts as an extension of you, providing real-time guidance in the form of live, in-call cues to guide conversations to success.

Schedule a demo today to discover how we can help you close more deals.