Sales Scripts



The sales script ensures that sales presentations and correspondence by sales representatives are persuasive, accurate, consistent with the marketing messages, and effectively differentiates the project from the competition.

The sales script is a strategically planned sales approach that is applied to all aspects of the site sales team’s correspondence from email to the sales center presentation.  The concept of the script is to ensure that the highest quality sales messages are consistently communicated to prospects in a manner that is highly personalized and leverages the personality traits of each sales representative.  While sales representatives will naturally personalize scripts, it is important that sales management continually works with the site sales team to keep their presentations timely, fresh, relevant, and on message.

The concept of following sales scripts is not new in the field of residential project sales.  Since the inception of new construction site sales methods, the planned presentation has been a fundamental precept.  Sales trainers have routinely taught site sales representatives how to use specific key phrases; even demonstrating intonation and body language.  The sales stories and examples of scripted presentations taught by top trainers are reinforced with methods such as sales representatives writing their scripted presentations in workbooks and role-playing sales exercises to help polish their presentations.

Every “touch” the site sales team has with a prospect must have an objective and accurately represent the project.  Starting with the very first email reply and phone greeting, the sales team’s communications will either reinforce and enhance the prospect’s impression of the project established by the marketing message or potentially lessen the prospect’s interest.  A well planned and effectively communicated script is important for the site sales team to establish a positive first step in the sales process.

The sales team’s initial communication objectives with prospects are to establish rapport, learn more about the prospect, reinforce the attributes of the project, and motivate the prospect to visit the sales center.  These objectives are actually basic to successful selling, yet far too often the sales team’s communications may stray from these primary objectives.  The sales script is an aide that helps sales representatives maintain focus and achieve their primary sales objectives.  A high quality sales script also helps elevate prospect’s perception of sales representatives by demonstrating a high level of professionalism and knowledge of the market and the project offering.   When the sales team establishes their value to the prospect they take an important step in building a relationship, which then nurtured over time with well-planned communications that are highly personalized to appeal to the prospects motivations and needs will positively impact sales performance.

The most effective method to develop sales scripts is through a collaborative process that includes site sales representatives, sales management, marketing, and the development team. Analysis and reports derived from primary and secondary market research; registrant responses in the project database; and website data collection improve the team’s understanding of consumer behavior and buying preferences, which in turn stimulates the collaborative process.  The result of data analysis and the team’s collaborative creativity will produced sales scripts that feel authentic and relate to consumers.  This process requires a team leader conversant in analytics and the creative process to guide group collaboration to establish a strategic sales strategy, tactics, and scripts that are aligned with consumer demand and meet prospect expectations.   

Scripted email and voice communication to prospects over time play an important role in nurturing initial prospect inquiries to an eventual visit to the sales center.  The prospect’s experience with their first visit may be the catalyst that ultimately results in a decision to buy, therefore the entire site sales team must always be at the ready to flip the switch to their “showtime” personas when a guest arrives.  Every element of the guest’s experience in the sales center needs to follow a plan and script starting with the visual impact in the arrival area and a warm greeting through the entire sales presentation.  The sales presentation is most effective when the sales representative’s script feels fresh and is interactive; transforming from a presentation into a dialogue.  Skilled site sales professionals naturally use closing techniques throughout their presentation; however, brining the prospect to the point of sale will normally require post-visit follow-up and repeat visits to the sales center.

Personalized correspondence from site sales representatives to each prospect with periodic targeted HTML messages, special events and other creative methods to maintain meaningful engagement with prospects are examples of effective post site visit follow up tactics.   Follow-up requires a strategic plan to ensure that the messages and follow-up tactics are positively perceived and valued by prospects.  Far too often follow-up methods do not recognize the importance of being timely and relevant to the prospect; the old “touching bases” form of follow-up is not valued by prospects and eventually leads to less engagement and the prospect’s loss of interest.

All communications with prospective buyers from the advertising message to site sales presentation form impressions in the mind of prospects about the value of the project, the reliability of the developer, quality of the product, and how their lives will improve if they purchase at home at the project.  Team collaboration to create scripts designed to optimize the value of all the project’s attributes and the collective discipline to adhere to and continue to refine scripts are the best assurance to maximize the return on marketing expenditures.