"Whatcha Got For Me?"

The past week, like every week, I prepared for our weekly sales meeting with my team.  One of the topics of conversation was about the framework of the sales conversation and avoiding pitfalls and traps.  The example given was the everyday salesperson trap of “Whatcha got for me?”  In every sales team on any given day, this trap is laid by buyers and sellers fall into the abyss.  We take that bait like my dog attacking his noontime treat.  He snatches it from my hands and runs to the other room to devour it.  I think if he could talk, we would call it “precious.” As sellers, we can be guilty of the same thing.  The prospect or customer says that magic phrase and a trigger goes off in our brains.  The one that says we should automatically switch into our best Vince Offer (the Shamwow Pitchman) impersonation and tell them what we have.  It’s like the stage spotlight goes on, and it’s our cue to start the show.

As it was, this lesson came to pass.  The very next day, two of our team members went off to make a call on a business owner.  He, of course, was on the phone when our team arrived for the scheduled appointment.  He then proceeded to keep them waiting the appropriate amount of time to make it uncomfortable.  And with the flair of Jimmy Kimmel coming out for his nightly monologue, our prospect arrived on the scene and uttered the most predictable words on the sales planet.  He said, “Whatcha got for me?” 

We had talked about this at length in our Monday sales meeting.  We had talked about wow to handle the ultimate showstopper and keep yourself from becoming Vince Offer.  Our seller handled it with grace and poetry and rhythm.  She said, “I didn’t bring anything for you, I am here to talk about what you need and how I can help you.”  What would have happened if our seller had taken the bait?  This call would have unraveled as quickly as it began, and our team would have left at best with a tiny order, or nothing.  

Instead, our role play of this very scenario turned this potential nothing sandwich into real business at a real level, so the customer could have real success.  This is consultative selling at its best.  It is taking control of the conversation so as to never be spun by this age-old tactic, used by many customers, many prospects and many buyers.   When we are prepared for the scenarios we could encounter, it keeps basic human reactions in check. 

The Greek poet Archilochus wrote, “when the pressure is on, you don’t rise to the occasion – you fall to your highest level of preparation.” This was certainly true in this case, although our seller probably would have handled this with flying colors before our training session, the fact that we had it on Monday and the incident happened on Tuesday allows me to keep the house another week. 

Being well prepared for what happens next allows us to relax in any situation and let our natural instincts take over and manage the situation.  Otherwise, panic sets in and our default response is automatic.  “Whatcha got for me?” turns into a stage performance of package A, package B or package C.   And in those scenarios, we lose.  We are viewed, from then on, not as consultants but spot peddlers who are reduced to a commodity.  We negotiated away any conversational leverage by predictably responding, just like every other seller.

There is more to this story.  Our prospect continued with what may have been a well-rehearsed set up for buying low.  He kept talking about wanting to buy cheap and how little he spent in previous years to get a huge return. He came back to this topic more than once.  This is another red flag for all sellers, and something we train against in just about every sales meeting. Fortunately for my sales team, they know to ignore this kind of talk.  We charge real money for our services.  There are certain dollar figures I won’t even get out of bed for and those people that want to pay that, we can’t help.  And that is ok. 

We are not trying to sell everyone.  We are trying to help the right number of people achieve success.  Not cram a small dollar deal into our big idea solution and waste it on those that don’t have the intestinal fortitude to sit at the adult table at the holiday.   We charge real money for real ideas and expect our customers to meet us at the point of monetary exchange.  As Jack Nicholson’s character Costello says in The Departed, “No Ticky, No Laundry.”  And I say that often in our office.   It is one hundred percent reasonable to expect to be compensated by monetary exchange for your services. I am willing to bet our customers don’t give anything away, discount or bonus freebies for their services.

Much of what our customer was hinting at was that he was presented with the cheap package of the week in the past, and therefore was not only wanting to see it, but fully expected that to be our delivery.  When you change a sales culture over from transactional to consultative, it sometimes takes the customer base time to come to grips with a real business conversation.  Sometimes it takes your sellers an equal amount of time to make that same transition.  This does require some patience on the part of both management and ownership.  If we are playing the long game, then it is important that we all agree that is the game plan. 

Otherwise, managers, owners or both start yanking the leash way too soon and the culture never changes.  It reverts back to its highest level of preparation.  And Henry Ford issued a cautionary tale against this method, many moons ago by saying “If you always do what you have done, you’ll always get what you get.”  Agree on the game plan and stick to it.  Make sure everyone is on the train, if not take the train out of the station, leave the naysayers behind and get new passengers.  If we update Henry Ford we can say “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you will never get more than what you had.”  In fact, based on the average attrition rate, doing the same thing over and over again will leave us without customers in five years.

Turn your sales meetings into practice sessions for these common sales scenarios.  Get your team to list the top five or ten common phrases heard from customers.  Then plan your responses accordingly.  This will ensure that your level of preparation is far beyond the level your customer expects.  When you don’t follow the common sales script of predictability, you will get different responses, real conversations and you will uncover those customers who really want help growing their business footprint. 

It will separate the herd and bring you the type of prospects and customers that you deserve to work with, long term.  Those that have plans, vision, adventure, stability, intestinal fortitude and resources to work on growing their business and solving bona fide business problems.  Not those who keep you wanting in the lobby so they can spring the age-old sales trap of “Whatcha got for me?” on you.   Use your sales meeting to raise your level of training.  When you do that, you will be prepared for anything they throw at you.  You will keep control of the sales narrative.