Learn Your Lines It takes practice to sell successfully over the phone--and you need a stellar sales pitch to capture customers. We've got 8 steps to help you create one.

Have you or your sales reps ever experienced phone choke?It's a pernicious malady that strikes most sales reps at onetime or another. You know the symptoms: a quivering voice, a drymouth, shaky hands, and a brain that goes utterly blank whileyou're on the phone with a prospect. To inoculate your salesforce against phone choke, crafting a sales script may be theprescription. Scripts can put reps at ease and help them make itthrough a full menu of your service's features and benefitswith a willing prospect. Here are eight methods to help you createa killer sales script for your company:

1. Don't be toorigid. A natural script may sound like an oxymoron, but awell-sculpted script can flow organically. The reason a cannedscript sounds so stiff is because the salesperson delivering itdidn't write it. One way to beat wooden script delivery is tolet your reps customize their own scripts so they come across intheir unique voices. Provide a template, and plan to review andapprove each rep's version before it goes into circulation.

2. Get to thepoint. You have less than the time of a TV spot to establisha connection. George Ludwig, author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking theSales Code, says that, from the moment the buyer picks upthe phone, you have 20 seconds to "reduce tension and createinterest." Ludwig adds that the sales rep's number-one aimshould be to "rapidly create curiosity" to start rapportbuilding and lessen anxiety.

3. Be a moviestar. When you watch a good actor in a movie, you don'tthink of him reading lines. A talented actor nails his part; thewords sound natural, and there's no evidence of a scriptedperformance. "That's what sales superstars do, too,"explains Ludwig.

4. Learn it, live it,love it. Paul Kowal, president of KowalAssociates, says reps must "know the script cold" toprevent fumbling from point to point. Kowal, whose Bostonconsulting firm helps companies effectively interact with customersvia phone, adds that reps should practice reading the script aloud,rather than just to themselves, until it sounds like their ownstyle of speaking.

5. Don't askstupid questions. Research prospects in advance to avoidposing irrelevant questions. Ludwig relates the example of afinancial-services salesperson who called him with the opener"Would you like to protect your family's future?" Theline was an immediate rapport killer, because Ludwig is single.Asking a question that doesn't fit a prospect shows a lack ofpreparation and eradicates credibility.

6. Skip tritelanguage. Kowal advises against launching a conversationwith the threadbare "How are you doing today?" The phraseis clichéd, and everyone hears it as a signal for a salescall. Instead, Kowal suggests trying "Can you spare aminute?"

7. Look for businessbeyond the call. Closing is not the only goal of a salescall. "Sometimes, moving the relationship along a step so youcan be closer to closing on the next call is a better approach thantrying to close right away," says Kowal.

8. Hush up.Don't be in such a rush to deliver your message that theprospect cannot get a word in. Though you're working from ascript, a sales call is a dialogue, not a monologue. Kowalencourages scripts, or "call outlines," that areinteractive and give prospects the floor often. The more you learnabout a prospect's needs, the more you unearth salesopportunities.

Kimberly L. McCall ("MarketingAngel") is president of McCall Media & Marketing Inc.and author of Sell It, Baby! Marketing Angel's 37Down-to-Earth & Practical How-To's on Marketing, Branding& Sales.