According to that oft-quoted compendium of bizarre statistics, The Book of Lists, people rank their fear of public speaking higher than their fear of death.

The Book of Lists missed an opportunity because it didn’t have people rank their fear of writing. Granted, it’s less obvious and not nearly as traumatic as having to deliver a speech, but still, a lot of folks suffer from it.

You can see it in the stiffness of their emails and the stodgy formality of their memos and business letters. It also creeps into their selling scripts.

If you ask most salespeople whether they want to use a call script, they’ll say no, and one of the reasons they’ll cite is that it sounds canned. In a different article, I’ve discussed how to bring a script to life through nuances of vocal delivery.

But let me point out that poor delivery is only one reason that scripts sound canned. A more significant reason is that they’re very, very poorly written.

They’re not conversational because they are writings, primarily, and not “talkings.” Most people who compose sales scripts don’t capture the sound of real talk.

For example, I’ve drafted numerous sales and customer service scripts and I’ll seed them with words and phrases that say, “I’m speaking to you, off the cuff—-this is the real me you’re communicating with!”

Let’s say you need a script to help complaining customers with a buggy software program. You can listen to their complaint and respond, “I’m sorry that happened.”

It’s not bad, but it can be “conversationalized.”

Instead, try, “Gee, I’m sorry that happened.”

“Gee” communicates many things. First, it implies that this is a surprise, that your software program isn’t known for screwing-up. Your credibility is preserved.

Second, “Gee” says I’m being spontaneous, a real person.

In the law, we’d call this an “excited utterance,” and judges give it special significance because it is blurted out without thought. It’s a window into the person’s genuine feelings and thoughts.

“Gee” actually says, “I’m not scripted!”

Therefore, scripting it is that much more powerful.

I’m just offering this as one example of how you can make your sales scripts sound genuine, while avoiding the perception that they’re canned.

There are many other ways, and if you give it thought, you can generate your own. The real secret is identifying how real talk sounds, and then putting that, imperfections and all, down on the page.

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. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.