Confidence, poise, and clarity can win trust and close deals faster. But developing these qualities across your sales team isn’t always simple. Strict sales scripts can make reps sound robotic, while too little guidance leads to rambling calls.
That’s where sales talk tracks come in—a flexible, effective middle ground.
So, what is a talk track, and how do you build one that your team will use? Let’s find out.
“I think of talk tracks like a cheat sheet for describing those complicated concepts, objections, or ideas,” says James Urie, Sr. Partnerships Manager at Close. “When sales reps take these, they come off as a confident expert, rather than getting stuck in the weeds or fumbling over their words.”
“Having a list of one-line sentences that cohesively describe the feature you’re highlighting is very effective,” adds Kate Petrone, Account Executive at Close. “Instead of running the risk of going on a tangent, these help keep you in check and ensure you’re not taking up most of the space in the conversation.”
As a sales manager, you can work with your team to see who has the best answer to common questions or who easily overcomes those tough objections. Then, compile the best-performing sales talk tracks into a central document that equips every rep to sound confident, persuasive, and consistent during calls.
Add this to your sales enablement content to level up your team.
Prospects can normally tell when they’re being fed a sales script. The conversation doesn’t feel natural or flow easily.
Sales talk tracks, on the other hand, feel natural and conversational, giving your team a confidence boost while improving the overall sales experience.
But just because we love talk tracks doesn’t mean we’re ready to abandon our sales scripts.
You can use both at the same time for different purposes on your sales team.
Here are some of the key differences:
Sales scripts:
Talk tracks:
So, how do you create your own talk tracks?
Get a head start by downloading this free talk track template based on the talk tracks that our team uses here at Close.
Here’s how to use this template:
Get this right from the start, and your whole team will be enabled to sound more confident on calls and answer questions and objections competently.
How is it done? Let’s talk through the six steps you can take to develop talk tracks for sales:
Your salespeople will always have some complex topic or technical concept that needs to be explained during the sales process. How are your reps currently handling those conversations, and where can targeted sales talk tracks improve clarity, persuasion, and conversion rates?
Take time to find out which of these is giving your sales reps the most headaches. Where are they struggling to explain something to prospects in a way that resonates with them?
There are generally four key areas where your team will benefit most from talk tracks:
Once you’ve identified the key points of the sales conversation where your reps would benefit most from a talk track, it’s time to start building.
If you’re a working sales manager involved in the day-to-day sales process, you probably have some talk tracks of your own—those simple one-liners that you use to answer common questions succinctly.
“Now, if you’re a sales manager and you’re not in the cockpit,” explains James, “you should rely on your senior reps. They’ll naturally have their own talk tracks they feel very confident about.”
These senior reps will have stronger or weaker talk tracks for different parts of the sales conversation. Collaborate with them to find the best tracks to share with the rest of the team.
Now it’s time to build a documented version of your sales talk tracks so the whole team can use them. This is as simple as setting up a Google Doc, like the talk track template we created just for you:
Here are the four key pieces you’ll want to create.
Common objections: Objection management is a key part of the sales process, and having a documented way to manage objections will help your reps overcome them confidently. Again, your reps know which objections come up most often, so get them involved in creating this documentation.
Frequently asked questions: Identify the key questions that sales representatives frequently encounter during conversations about your product, pricing, and other relevant topics. You might also ask your customer support team for the questions they commonly hear or see what people are asking on social media about your product or similar products. This will give you a good place to start to create clear, concise answers.
Qualifying call: When qualifying new leads, a talk track can help your reps make sure they’re asking all of the essential questions and qualifying correctly.
Product demo flow: How do your reps show off your product during a demo? Which features do they show, and how do they describe each of these features? Creating a talk track for your product demos will give reps the advantage of using pre-prepared one-lines that perfectly describe each aspect of your product rather than coming up with something new every time.
Of course, once you create these documents, you need to ensure that your sales team uses them.
Here at Close, we like to go against the flow. So, no, we won’t tell you to mandate the use of talk tracks on your team. They should want to use them because they find these talk tracks genuinely valuable for them as salespeople.
James Urie explains: “If you’ve collaborated with your team to curate those high-quality talk tracks, and you reiterate to them that this is a cheat sheet for making your job easier and making you look confident, there should be natural high-adoption.”
Show your reps that these talk tracks are their friends. They spend all day on demos and sales conversations and expend a lot of their time and energy trying to figure out the right language to explain the same concepts repeatedly.
When your talk tracks provide a simple foundation for these complex but repetitive conversations, your reps will be excited to use them and sound more confident on the phone.
One simple, yet key way to make your reps more likely to use the talk tracks you’ve created is to make sure they have easy access to them.
If you’re using a sales enablement tool like Showpad or Highspot, you can include these talk tracks as part of your training and onboarding experience.
“I think talk tracks are beneficial during onboarding for new reps who are still learning the product and navigating the sales cycle,” says Kate Petrone, Account Executive at Close.
“During my onboarding, James Urie and Nick Persico put together a Sales Qualifying doc that included a list of open-ended questions, plus where to take the conversation based on the prospect’s response. I still include most (if not all) of these questions during my initial calls.”
Another way to use tech to make your talk tracks more accessible is to include them where your reps work. For example, in Close, you can set up Custom Activities that can guide reps in different areas of the sales process.
“We have a Custom Activity for Sales Qualifying Calls in Close,” adds Kate. “I love this because it keeps me on track during my calls and ensures I gather all the information I need to determine whether a prospect is qualified or not.”
Once you’ve created your talk tracks and shared them with your team, you’ll want to keep checking in to ensure that they are bringing real value to your reps.
Start by talking to your reps. Do they feel more confident and comfortable in sales conversations? How are they currently using the talk tracks?
If you need to dig deeper, it may be time to start working with some analytics tools. Here are four conversation intelligence tools that can help you track the performance of your talk tracks:
These tools will help you see which talk tracks are working best, monitor adoption among your reps, and curate your talk tracks over time.
Want to make sure you’re getting the most out of your talk tracks? Let’s discuss four puzzle pieces for a genuinely stellar sales talk track.
While scripts follow a specific conversation flow, a real sales conversation often involves different topics. There’s not always that perfect sequential order we wish for.
Your talk tracks should accommodate this. Reps should be able to jump between different concepts or features while still flowing naturally from one topic to the next.
Use simple, adaptable one-line phrases in your talk tracks. With no strict introduction or conclusion to the topic, it’ll be easier to flow smoothly between topics.
This may seem obvious, but your talk tracks should explain concepts, thoughts, or recommendations in a simple, easy-to-understand way. Just like with sales battle cards, you want to keep things simple.
Talk tracks are meant to guide reps and help them stay on track during conversations. Since the point is to simplify their job, don’t make it hard for them to use or access these talk tracks.
As you create your sales talk track documents, remember that this is a foundation for a sales conversation, not something your reps must repeat verbatim. Each rep should be able to take these one-liners and insert their personality and voice into them.
At first, they may stick closer to the words on the page. But over time, you’ll notice that they introduce their personality as they use the talk tracks. Accommodate for those adjustments as you create them.
Don’t get too far in the weeds with your talk tracks that they become out-of-date every week or month.
Think of them as conversational building blocks that evolve, and keep them updated as time goes on.
Looking for a place to start? Here are four proven talk track examples our team has used over the years to overcome objections, explain key concepts, and qualify effectively.
Got prospects hounding you about pricing? Here’s a simple talk track example for pricing objections:
“Our platform has no hidden costs, setup or customization fees, add-ons, or other clever upsells. Plus, if you use it properly, you’ll generate more revenue per user than you pay.”
Why it works: This example spins the conversation away from price and focuses on value. Answer pricing objections by honing in on ROI, and you’ll have a powerful talk track for your reps to use.
Do your reps know how to explain the key features of your product? Here’s an example of a talk track used by our team to explain Close’s Inbox feature:
“With the Inbox, you have a single landing page with centralized information about all incoming communications and tasks assigned to you.”
Why it works: This succinct explanation helps reps give the right amount of detail without going off on a tangent.
Sometimes, prospects will object to what they consider ‘missing’ features in your product. Use this talk track example to overcome the objection effectively:
“We’d love to have that feature at some point in the future, but we want to do it right. So, it’s not in the immediate development horizon until we can fully commit the time and resources to make something that works seamlessly.”
You can also include questions in this talk track, such as:
Then, you can point them to an available workaround that will solve their problem.
Why it works: This talk track is sincere and helpful. It points the prospect to a solution that still fits their needs while validating their request.
Here’s a talk track example for cold calling prospects who signed up for a free trial:
“Hey [prospect name], this is [rep name] from [company]. You signed up for a free trial, so I wanted to reach out and see how your experience has been so far. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
If they answer “Yes,” pick your most important qualifying question and ask it. Then, you’ll know whether to schedule another call or demo or send them an email with what they need to get started.
If they do have time to talk, you can ask your main qualification questions, such as:
Why it works: This quick introduction sets a good tone for the call while asking permission gives you the opening you need to continue.
Are you ready to help your reps sound more confident, answer questions smoothly, and overcome objections like pros?
Then, it’s time to start using talk tracks.
Download the sales talk track template and get started today.