10 Tips for Memorizing Your Sales Script

Most salespeople love presenting but feel most comfortable when we loosely know an outline and then wing it. When it comes to following the company presentation or memorizing a sales script, we can feel constrained.

I hear salespeople complain all the time that they’re “bad with names” or they can’t work from a script. I say, nonsense! You just need to train yourself that you can. The following ten tips are part of my toolkit for becoming a master of sales script memorization.

1. Read Things Aloud to Yourself

Reading aloud is always my first step. I repeat names aloud, I read scripts aloud, and I’m reading my final edit of this post aloud. This is key to helping you get comfortable with how things flow and how they sound coming from your mouth. If it feels strange or if there’s a word that you would never say, then you can make the necessary tweaks to help it feel authentic to your voice. You need to own the words to feel confident about them.

2. Learn One Concept or Paragraph at a Time

Instead of trying to digest the entire piece at once, take it in small chunks. When I’m working on a new script, I read one paragraph 10 times before moving to the next one. Then I read the second paragraph 10 times before I read paragraphs one and two together a few times. Only then do I move on to learning paragraph three. Wash, rinse, repeat.

3. Use an Unusual Font

When I’m working on a script that is new to me, I like to use a very unusual or difficult to read font. This helps with your concentration on the actual words, and that will help it stick.

4. Listen to a Recording

Every smartphone has a voice recording app. I’ll regularly record a script, then listen to it on repeat, repeat, repeat. The more you hear it, the more it will sink into your subconscious.

5. Give Each Paragraph a Trigger Word

Earlier in my sales career, I once memorized a sales script that was 29 pages long. Yes, you read that correctly. I gave each section a trigger word to jog my memory about the next section. If there are ten sections, I just need to remember a list of 10 trigger words that remind me of the next piece of the presentation.

6. Create an Acronym

Similarly to trigger words, creating an acronym using the first letter of each sentence (or trigger word) can give your brain a quick tip. Think back to elementary school; I bet you still remember some of them! (Every Good Boy Does Fine, anyone?)

7. Listen to Music While You’re Studying

Instrumental music or music that you’ve heard thousands of times is preferable for background noise. I have a playlist called “airplane music” that I listen to when I’m honing in my concentration.

There are several great “focus music” apps out there—I love the focus music included in the Calm meditation app. My husband, Shane, loves the focus@will app.

8. Walk Around While You’re Studying

Whenever you feel stagnant in your reading, get your brain and your body moving while you’re trying to learn something, and you’ll find it becomes a lot easier to recall later on.

9. Talk About the Script or Teach It to Someone Else

Whenever I’m creating new content, I teach it a few times to someone else. This helps me not only solidify it in my mind, but it also helps to work out the best way to phrase and present things.

10. Group Things Into Odd Numbers

Did you know the reason our phone numbers were originally 7 digits and our social security numbers are 9 digits because we can remember things more easily in odd numbers? So go with this protip rule and create “3 tips,” “5 ways,” or “7 tools,” etc. to make things easy for you and your listeners to remember what you’re sharing.

Wait, did I just create the 10th tip to create lists in odd numbers? Meh, call it 9 Tips + a bonus protip. You’re welcome.

So put some of these tips to work and get that big script or presentation committed to memory. Get rid of those excuses, put that big brain of yours to work, and start memorizing your sales script!

Until next time—go sell some stuff!