Sales Presentation Script
Electrical · In-home sales presentationThis script is a training aid you must adapt to your own operation and your own legal advice. It is not legal advice and completing it is not evidence of compliance with any law. The federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule (16 CFR Part 429) is graded here from the current rule text; it turns on where the buyer signed and on the purchase price, and its exemptions are narrow. Many states impose their own right to cancel — often longer than three days, and often with their own notice wording — and none of those state variants are evaluated here. If any part of this script is used on outbound telephone calls, the Telemarketing Sales Rule (16 CFR Part 310) applies in addition. Have counsel in the state where you sell review your close, your contract and your Notice of Cancellation before either goes in front of a customer.
Enter the purchase price to grade this sale. At at the owner's home the rule attaches from $25.
1Your company & the script headerWhose script this is. The same details print on the Notice of Cancellation.
Company
Phone
Electrical licenseoptional
Script name
Version
Effective date
Script owneroptional
2The sale this script closesSets the verdictThe FTC Cooling-Off Rule reaches a sale made at a place other than the seller's place of business, at $25 or more when the sale is made at the buyer's residence and $130 or more at other locations. Sign at your own counter and the federal rule never attaches. Source: 16 CFR § 429.0(a). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.0Where the buyer signs and what it is worth. This is what decides whether the three-day right attaches.Rule does not attach
Where this script is usedChoosing outbound switches on the Telemarketing Sales Rule checks — prompt disclosure of who you are and that the purpose is to sell, the material terms before the customer agrees to pay, and the 8am-9pm calling window measured where the customer is. Source: 16 CFR §§ 310.3(a)(1), 310.4(c)-(d). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/310.4
Buyer signs atNot where the work happens — where the buyer's signature happens. A sale signed in your own showroom is outside the federal rule entirely; the same sale signed on the customer's counter is inside it. Source: 16 CFR § 429.0(a). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.0
Typical sale amount ($)The threshold is $25 at the buyer's residence and $130 anywhere else that is not your own premises. Enter what a typical ticket is worth — almost every contractor sale clears both. Source: 16 CFR § 429.0(a). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.0
Transaction dateoptionalA business day here is any calendar day except Sunday and federal holidays — so Saturday counts. A Friday sale runs out at midnight the following Tuesday. Enter a date and the builder computes the cancel-by date on that calendar. Source: 16 CFR § 429.0(f). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.0
Exclusions & the paperwork at the tableThese are exclusions from the DEFINITION of a door-to-door sale, so where one holds the rule never attaches at all. They are narrower than the trade believes — read what each actually requires before you pick it. Source: 16 CFR § 429.0(a)(1)-(5). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.0No exclusion claimed
Exclusion claimedThe default. Pick this unless you can point at the paragraph that excludes you.
Notice of Cancellation copies handed overThe rule requires a completed Notice of Cancellation form IN DUPLICATE, captioned "NOTICE OF RIGHT TO CANCEL" or "NOTICE OF CANCELLATION", both filled in with your name, your business address, the transaction date and the cancel-by date before you hand them over. Source: 16 CFR § 429.1(b)-(c). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.1
3Stage 1 — OpeningName, company, how long you need, and the three things you will do in that time.
Opening — agree the agenda before you touch anythingName, company, why you are standing on the doorstep, and how long you will be. If any version of this script is ever used on an outbound call, the seller identity, the fact the purpose is to sell, and the nature of what you are selling all have to come out promptly and clearly — that is a rule about the first fifteen seconds, not the pitch. Source: 16 CFR § 310.4(d). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/310.4
4Stage 2 — DiscoveryQuestions before diagnosis. The options in stage 4 have to answer these.8 questions
Discovery — questions before diagnosisQuestions before diagnosis. The whole reason a presentation outsells a quote is that the options are built from what the homeowner said, not from what is on the truck. Ask, write the answer down, and read it back before you price anything. Reason it is here: the options in stage 4 are only defensible if they answer stage 2.
5Stage 3 — Findings walkthroughFact, measurement, opinion — labelled, in that order, with the customer beside you.
Findings walkthrough — fact, measurement, opinionWhat you found, in the order you found it, with the customer standing next to you where possible. Say what is fact, what is a measurement, and what is your opinion — keeping those three apart is what stops a findings walkthrough turning into a scare tactic. Reason it is here: findings precede options, always.
6Stage 4 — Good, better, bestPresent all three scopes before any price. A tier with a price and no written scope is what a change-order argument is made of, and a sheet with one option is a quote — it invites a straight yes or no.Scope first, all three, before any of the three numbers.0 priced
Options — good, better, best (scope first)Good / better / best, priced, with the scope of each written out. Present all of them before you present any price. The tier that is not in scope for what the customer told you in discovery should not be on the sheet at all. Reason it is here: three priced options with written scope.
Good — Make it safe and code-compliantno price
Option name
Price
ScopeWhat is included AND what is not. This is the paragraph you will be read back to on the day someone disputes a change order.
Better — Panel replacementno price
Option name
Price
ScopeWhat is included AND what is not. This is the paragraph you will be read back to on the day someone disputes a change order.
Best — Service upgrade with capacity for what is nextno price
Option name
Price
ScopeWhat is included AND what is not. This is the paragraph you will be read back to on the day someone disputes a change order.
7Stage 5 — Price presentationAll three totals in one breath, then stop talking.
Price presentation — all three totals, then stop talkingOne number per option, delivered once, then stop talking. If this script is used on the phone, the total cost, the quantity, every material restriction or condition, and any no-refund policy have to be disclosed before the customer agrees to pay. Source: 16 CFR § 310.3(a)(1). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/310.3
8Stage 6 — Objection handlingWritten responses, because the improvised ones are where the cancellation right gets misdescribed.5 written
Objection handling — written responsesA written response to each of the objections you already know are coming. Written, because an improvised answer to "I need to think about it" is how a rep ends up saying something about the cancellation right that is not true — and misrepresenting the right to cancel is itself a violation. Source: 16 CFR § 429.1. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.1
I need to think about it.
They say
You sayNever talk a buyer out of the cancellation right to save a sale. Misrepresenting the buyer's right to cancel is itself a violation. Source: 16 CFR § 429.1. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.1
I need to talk to my wife / husband / partner.
They say
You sayNever talk a buyer out of the cancellation right to save a sale. Misrepresenting the buyer's right to cancel is itself a violation. Source: 16 CFR § 429.1. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.1
That is more than I expected.
They say
You sayNever talk a buyer out of the cancellation right to save a sale. Misrepresenting the buyer's right to cancel is itself a violation. Source: 16 CFR § 429.1. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.1
I am getting three quotes.
They say
You sayNever talk a buyer out of the cancellation right to save a sale. Misrepresenting the buyer's right to cancel is itself a violation. Source: 16 CFR § 429.1. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.1
Can this wait until next season?
They say
You sayNever talk a buyer out of the cancellation right to save a sale. Misrepresenting the buyer's right to cancel is itself a violation. Source: 16 CFR § 429.1. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.1
9Stage 7 — Close & the cancellation disclosureThe rule makes it an unfair practice to fail to inform each buyer ORALLY, at the time they sign, of the right to cancel. That is a duty on a person's mouth at a moment in a conversation — printing the same words in the contract does not discharge it, which is why it is graded in a script. Source: 16 CFR § 429.1(e). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.1Ask for the sale, then say the right to cancel out loud before the pen moves.Clears
Close — ask for the sale, then say the cancellation right out loudAsk for the sale — and, where the Cooling-Off Rule applies, say the cancellation right out loud at the moment of signing. The rule makes it an unfair practice to fail to inform each buyer ORALLY, at the time the buyer signs, of the right to cancel. Printing it in the contract does not discharge that duty; the sentence has to be in the script. Two completed copies of the Notice of Cancellation go with it, and the ten-point bold statement goes next to the signature line. Source: 16 CFR § 429.1(e), 16 CFR § 429.1(a)–(b). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/429.1
10Compliance reviewWorst first. Anything marked as blocking the close has to be fixed before this script is used.4 findings
Fix before you use it
0 priced optionsA good/better/best presentation needs at least two named, priced, scoped options on the sheet before the price stage. One option is a quote and it invites a straight yes or no. Source: Reason it is here: the tier structure is the template..
A good/better/best presentation needs at least two named, priced, scoped options on the sheet before the price stage. One option is a quote and it invites a straight yes or no.
Worth fixing
Enter the typical sale amount to grade the cooling-off ruleThe threshold is $25 for a sale at the buyer's residence and $130 for a sale anywhere else that is not your own place of business. Until an amount is entered nothing is graded against either. Source: 16 CFR § 429.0(a).
The threshold is $25 for a sale at the buyer's residence and $130 for a sale anywhere else that is not your own place of business. Until an amount is entered nothing is graded against either.
Worth fixing
No company nameThe company name prints on the script and, where the rule applies, has to appear on both copies of the Notice of Cancellation along with the address of your place of business. Source: 16 CFR § 429.1(c).
The company name prints on the script and, where the rule applies, has to appear on both copies of the Notice of Cancellation along with the address of your place of business.
For information
State right-to-cancel statutes not evaluated — check your state board. Only California, Florida and Texas advertising rules are verified in this builder.Many states give home-solicitation buyers their own right to cancel, sometimes longer than three days and often with their own required notice wording, and some give senior buyers longer still. None of those are graded here — only the federal rule is. Ask counsel in the state you sell in. Source: Not evaluated — federal rule only..
Many states give home-solicitation buyers their own right to cancel, sometimes longer than three days and often with their own required notice wording, and some give senior buyers longer still. None of those are graded here — only the federal rule is. Ask counsel in the state you sell in.