I was on a call with a sales coaching client this week, and I was asked about my biggest sales tips. I hit on several of the topics you'd expect, topics I've covered on Your Intermittent Lex at length... But I went deep on the importance of not sounding scripted.

Of course you have key points you want to hit. Of course there are features, qualities, selling points that you want to mention to every new prospect. But there's a difference between making sure you hit the key topics and behaving like a scripted robot.

Really, the key to success is being human, and we humans are typically unscripted the vast majority of the time.

Sidebar: I'm currently rehearsing for a production of the play Misery, based on the Stephen King novel and the Kathy Bates/James Caan film. The vast majority of the play features just two actors, of which I'm one. There's a lot of lines to memorize. We're not required to be "off book" until next week, but the actors involved are already working hard not to hold our scripts in our hands.

But we also don't have the script fully internalized yet, so we got a note this week from the director that certain scenes mostly sounded like we were remembering and reciting our lines, not that we were performing them.

In other words, we sounded scripted.

In a play, of course, you ARE scripted; that's how it goes. In meetings, you shouldn't be. Part of being human is that we all have the innate ability to tell when someone else is scripted.

I hate watching sales pitches where the prospect asks a question and the salesperson says something like, "Oh, I'll actually get to that (or get to that slide) in a few minutes, hang tight."

Nope!

Even if you're certain that the order you've structured your well-rehearsed pitch calls for that answer to come seven slides from now, it's time to call an audible: Your prospect asked a question; your job is to provide the answer. This is where being a human comes in. Chuck the script, and answer live.

You're improvising. But to be clear, in this case, improvising doesn't mean you need to make things up or deal with the unexpected. You should know the likely questions and topics that may arise, and be prepared to organically handle them as they arise. And if you're stumped by a question, don't panic; you simply say I don't know and promise to get back to them on that question later.

When you're scripted, you sound scripted. Your voice goes on autopilot. Your presentation gets flatter. Your listener gets bored.

Your job is to know what you want to say, but to give yourself freedom to say it all as humanly and naturally as possible. And to follow the flow of the conversation if new questions or topics arise that should naturally affect what you're talking about. Ditch the script. Just talk. You got this.