What’s Your Pick-up Line?

Movies and television shows often like to make fun of corny pick-up lines. One of my favourites is, “Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk past you again?”

It gets a laugh.

But what those funny nightclub scenes don’t reveal, however, is that there are some pick-up lines that actually work.

And if you use the right line — or “script” as I prefer to call it — at the right moment, you can get very good results.

Now, I don’t have a pick-up line for dating. (My wife doesn’t allow me to date.) But over the years, I have developed a repertoire of scripts and templates that have helped me build my business.

And in just a moment, I’m going to share one of my most effective scripts with you — one that you can use in your own freelance business.

But before I do, let me explain how all this began.

I learned the power of effective scripts and templates early on when I was selling industrial products to plant managers; my first career.

Those of you who have ever had a sales job know that the more appointments you make the more income you earn. So I tried to develop a cold calling script to help me do that.

My first scripts weren’t very good. They sounded canned and didn’t get results. After a few months of trial and error, however, I finally created one that actually worked.

Boy, did it ever!

In just a few weeks that “million dollar cold calling script” helped me land more appointments with more new prospects than any other salesperson in the company.

The script was simple. (Most good scripts are.) I would call a plant manager at a prospect company, introduce myself and, when the moment was right, ask, “Are you locked in with your present supplier? Or are you able to consider other alternatives?”

More often than not, the plant manager would say, “I’m not locked in with anyone! Come in and show me what you’ve got.”

Just like that, I would get an appointment!

A few years later, as I was building my freelance copywriting business, I developed several other scripts and templates. . . scripts for phone calls and meetings . . . templates for emails and letters . . . that consistently worked well in getting the results I needed.

For example, here’s a script I use when a potential client contacts me to ask for a quote or enquire about my services. When the moment is right, I ask: “Would it be helpful if I quickly explained how my copywriting services work for this type of project, and the results you can expect?”

Almost every time the prospect will say, “Yes, please do.” Then I simply segue into a persuasive 30-second description. (I did promise to keep it short!)

When I’m done, I ask another question: “Based on what I just described, is this the kind of copywriting service that would work best for your project?”

The answer is often, “Well, yes it is!”

Then I’m well on my way to getting that project.

Like me, you should build a repertoire of scripts and templates that you can use in various situations in your business. It may take you some trial and error to get them right, but the effort is worth it.

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Steve Slaunwhite is the creator of the popular course, Secrets Of Strategic Copywriting, which helps professionals learn copywriting while building their portfolios.