I go through this horse manure 3x per year -- any suggestions?...

TW, in all honesty, you're trying to script something that should be much more natural and spontaneous. You're not establishing a FRIENDLY relationship with your prospect and that is probably what's killing their interest in responding. People need to relate and respond to you and your personality. Until you show a GENUINE interest in them, they could care less about your goals or product.

Years ago the telephone company tried scripting everything and it came off very stilted and inappropriate. Customers complained loudly (as did the reps, as I well know). It just doesn't work. Try relaxing and responding to each individual as an interesting and unique person in their own right and stop pigeonholing people.

You play the part of the customer and have someone read what you wrote in your script as their response to your inquiry and you'll (hopefully) see what I mean.

You might consider getting some good sales training or reading some top notch books on salesmanship. I'm not talking the 'hail fellow well met' and 'I'm the greatest' type either...avoid them like the plague they are. You might try to find a copy of "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie in your library or through their lending library system for a starter. Other good ones are anything written by Harvey MacKay or Zig Ziglar.

Just relax a bit and be yourself and let people respond to you and you to them. Nothing in life is perfect and that's okay. Perfection is for the Gods, not for human beings (tho' it's great to strive for perfection). Striving too hard to put everything into a cubby hole is self-defeating. Relax!

Good luck!
Sandi Bowman