I believe in the expression, Let a thousand flowers bloom.

Last Spring, it literally got me into trouble, because I planted a zillion wildflowers in the back yard, to have my own version of a Monet garden.

It worked, too well! I had a riot of color, but my stepping-stones and walking paths were obscured, and the job of removing the dead stems, was tedious and nasty.

Still, the chaos was beautiful and worth it.

When it comes to sales presentations, Im also a believer in letting a thousand scripts bloom. Theoretically, there are multiple pathways to sales. My script may be better than yours, for me, but the words that naturally flow from my lips can sound silly coming from yours, and vice versa.

But as a practical matter, when I hand a rep a script, I want him to use it. It is going to be more effective than having him wing-it from call to call. His improvisations will never add up to my carefully crafted persuasive prose, unless hes an utter genius, but theyre rare.

Happily there is an alternative to the My way or the highway! approach to script enforcement. Lets say you have a small call center, with ten desks.

Its totally cool with me to hear ten different presentations going on. Please note, I said ten, not twenty, and not 2,000.

Ten.

If each rep wants to write down his text, and to stick to that, providing it produces results for us, Im supportive of that idea.

My ego doesnt count. I dont need to hear MY WORDS echoing back to me. I just need CONSISTENT words in operation, call after call--words that are proven to work.

Try this approach, and I think youll find that it sends the right message, a mature one to reps.

It says, structure works. Moreover, we in management arent the only repositories of wisdom. You can be creative.

But once you have planned your script, work that script!