The 3 Acts of the Perfect Telephone Sales Call

The best salespeople don’t sell products or services, they sell a story. It’s a story that establishes the credibility of the players, confronts the audience with important questions leading to an exciting climax, and concludes by tying up all the loose ends to deliver a complete performance from beginning to end.

Nearly everyone is familiar with the common Three-Act Structure, the nearly ubiquitous storytelling model used in most plays, novels, films, and even music.

The Three-Act Structure is used to divide a story into three Acts:

The 1st Act (sometimes called the Setup) is used to establish the main characters, their relationships and the world they live in.

The 2nd Act (sometimes called Rising Action), typically depicts the character’s attempts at confronting a problem raised in the first act.

Finally, the 3rd Act features the resolution of the story and its subplots. Usually, the climax, or the most significant turning point in the story, is usually placed between the 2nd and the 3rd Act.

Using the 3-Act-System for Telephone Sales Calls

When communicating anything, it’s a good idea to align one’s message with universally-known conventions. We have found, after over of a decade of successful healthcare telephone training, that linking the telephone sales call with something as universally well-accepted as the 3-Act Structure makes sense to customers and to telephone sales people alike.

So, what does the 3-Act Telephone System Call look and sound like?

• Act 1: The Greeting. From answering the phone with an appropriate greeting, introducing the practice and oneself, getting important enquiry information, and initiating the first trial close, the Greeting aims to setup the call in the best possible way.
• Act 2: The Opening. The process of closing begins with opening and that involves asking open-ended questions that reveal the prospect’s perceived problems and pains, their dominant buying motives, their desired outcome, their criteria for choosing a provider, any concerns they may have, and their timing.
• Act 3: The Close. A great greeting and opening will lead to an easy close, where the prospect essentially sells themselves into booking an appointment with you. All that’s left is to gather the necessary details, process any deposits, and provide wrap-up instructions for the appointment.

Does the 3-Act Telephone Sales System work?