We hear versions of “That’s a great word track, but I can’t deliver it like you or Tricia” more than you might think. We don’t have enchanted, honeyed voices and the scripts aren’t magic spells requiring exacting performance. This article begins a series on the four Cs which will make your scripts work.

As a new recruiter, your manager likely gave you a list of things to say in specific situations, a rebuttal book, objector, scripts, etc. We still give you those, and new ones to use as the market and attitudes change over time. To me, the script is just a checklist, and many of you are aware I “bullet” mine, because it’s more important I sound natural than say the exact words.

Likely, you have flown on a commercial airline, the pilot has a checklist too. If they came to you in seat 4A and told you to take the checklist and take over for the pilot, you’d probably have a panic attack. It’s because you have the Checklist but worry about the other four Cs….

Credibility, Confidence, Charisma and Community are more situational than generally considered.

•   Credibility- Why would they even believe me?
•   Confidence- What if that last placement was a fluke?
•   Charisma- What if I’m not charming enough?
•   Community- What if they don’t want to work with an outsider?

This week we are focusing on the first one: confidence.

Most “Confident” people would still have their stomach churn if suddenly asked to take over flying the 737. Confidence is your belief you know what to do in this situation. Many confident pilots would lose it if they had to do brain surgery. The brain surgeon would be intensely uncomfortable doing sales calls, but logically she can handle the intellectual rigors of dialing for dollars with a little practice.

Confidence is often backwards to reality. The Dunning-Kruger Effect is basically smart people thinking they aren’t, while everyone else overestimates their own abilities and knowledge. In a study from 2019, 12% of men thought they could score a point against 23-time Grand Slam champ Serena Williams. Presumably among them is the 6% of American men who felt they could win in an unarmed fight with a bear from a 2021 survey.

An offer which crumbles can likewise crumble your feeling of confidence. Even if the lesson has made you better at what you do. This is because confidence is BS; smart people are smart, failing can make you better, and the bear always wins.

Yet, without confidence we can’t do any job well, and no one wants to work with someone without it. Want a mechanic who’s not quite sure, or one who thinks they know exactly what to do? Our potential clients also want the mechanic who knows what to do. When it comes to creating confidence, I find it helps to remember how backwards it is. The young college graduate lacks the confidence of the 20 year veteran, yet is more likely to be armed with the latest and best techniques. Often it comes down to the belief that you are practiced with the skills to accomplish the task. Reality be damned.

You’ve likely heard of the 2008 study of basketball players who had to practice by visualizing throwing perfect free throws. They got better at the same rate as the players who practiced with a ball. Faster, because you can imagine shooting a hundred free throws faster than you can retrieve the ball 20 times! This shows both the importance of practicing your scripts, and the fact that they do not have to be practiced live in real time with another person for you to build your internal confidence.

Next week, I will share some thoughts on the next C needed for good script work: Credibility. It almost doesn’t matter how much you think you can do any task, if the person who is paying for it doesn’t believe you can.

Semi-related body language observation – we quickly assess someone else’s confidence in person by gauging the distance between their shoulders and ears. Stand in front of a mirror and bring your shoulders closer to your ears and introduce yourself, then push them as low as they can go and try again. Do you Zoom hunched forward or sitting back in full frame? -Learned from Vanessa Van Edwards