Scripts Don't Sell But People Do!

If I had fifty bucks for every time someone has asked me to write a telemarketing script, I'd be wealthier than Bill Gates.

Ok, maybe not that wealthy.

I would think that readers of my best-selling books, You Can Sell Anything By Telephone! and Reach Out & Sell Someone®, could do it for themselves; at least a rough draft.

Anyway, what I've told these script seekers is scripts are next to worthless, if you don't know how to bring them to life. You need instruction in how to use them.

Today, I trained a telemarketer at one of my coaching clients' sites, and he is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. He's a typical READER.

What I mean by this is he sounds flat, bored, canned, and robotic. Isn't this how most of us sounded in English classes when we were forced to recite poems that we had to memorize?

(Longfellow may have been a great poet, but that experience taught me to hate the word, daffodils, ever since!)

My point is this: three things need to come together for a script to succeed:

(1) Text

(2) Tone &

(3) Timing.

I call this, no surprise here, The Three T's.

Leave out one T, and your script fails.

Of course the fourth T, the one that gets the other three into action, stands for Training.

People need training in precisely how to use a script, and this includes specific instruction in where and how long to pause. Hint: It's NOT at the punctuation marks!

You could have a wonderful script, but without the training in delivery it can fail, miserably; while excellent training with a mediocre script can support at least passable success.

So, please don't overvalue words on a page or a computer screen. In the final analysis, they do not and cannot sell for us; only we can!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

What Most People Think About a Raw Food Diet

There are a lot of misconceptions about the raw foods diet. It sounds like such a radical departure from the average person's intake of food, that people make some crazy assumptions about what it means to eat raw. Here are some of the reactions you're likely to come across, and some information to counter that well-intentioned ignorance with.

"Nothing but raw foods? That must cost you a fortune!"

This is probably the reaction you're going to hear the most. There is this conception in our culture that you can eat for very little money, as long as your diet consists of nothing but foods with the words "nuggets" or "super sized" in them somewhere. And for the average sort who wants something a little healthier, you can throw a few of those expensive veggies on the side of the plate. But nothing but veggies must be expensive.

Ahh, but the raw foods diet is more than the sum of its parsley. Veggies and fruits alone do not a raw meal make and while fresh foods to tend to cost a little more than the canned and pre-cooked alternatives, it will actually be lower if you go with bulk produce, or about the same if you prefer higher end fresh food items. Oh, and don't forget to take into account the extra energy costs of running an oven!

"How do you ever find the time to do all of that prep work?"

Another common and frightening thought for most people. We are all so busy in our daily lives, that the idea of spending even one extra moment of our precious free time in the kitchen is abhorrent.

But when you stop to really think about it, how would a raw diet possibly mean more work in the kitchen? If you're not cooking anything, you have just dropped a very large step out of the preparation time of every single meal. The occasional blending and dehydration times will never compare to the cooking time on the stovetop or in the oven.

"That's fine for the short term, but you know you aren't getting all the nutrients you need, right? I mean, do you know about protein?"

It's amazing how many people, who know so little about good nutrition, will tell you so much about the unavoidable benefits of meat protein. Surely, a raw food diet will short-change you on a lot, right? Well, yes. A raw food diet means you will have a deficit of carcinogenic charring, fattening frying oils, and all the rich and varied sugars available in almost every single processed food item.

Yuri Elkaim is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and author of the raw food diet book Eating for Energy. Visit http://www.eatingforenergy.ca to get started with his FREE "Energy Secrets" e-course and discover what your diet has been missing.