It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for another round of What Would You Do. If you’re new here, the format is simple: I lay out a real-world scrape from the field, and you sit with it for a second before deciding how you’d have played it.
Here’s today’s scenario.
You walk into a sandwich shop you’ve been circling for three weeks. Good location, busy lunch rush, owner’s name is Theo, and you finally caught him on a slow Tuesday between orders. You pull out the statement he agreed to let you look at, you run the numbers, and you find him real savings — not the made-up “save $400 a month” nonsense some rep probably promised him once, but actual, defensible savings from his actual effective rate.
You lay it all out. Theo’s nodding. Theo’s leaning in. Theo says, and I quote, “Man, this makes sense, let’s do it.”
And then, just as you’re sliding the tablet over for a signature, his current rep — different guy, different company, same industry — walks in. Apparently this happens every few months. Theo signs with whoever’s standing in front of him that day, then un-signs two weeks later when the next guy shows up with a sharper pencil.
The other rep doesn’t even acknowledge you. He just starts talking over you to Theo like you’re a customer waiting on a foot-long. And Theo, bless him, looks back and forth between you two like he’s watching a tennis match he didn’t ask to officiate.
So now you’ve got two choices playing out in real time, in front of your prospect, in front of his lunch rush, in front of God and the guy working the register.
What would you do?
A few ways I’ve seen this go, and a few ways I’d actually recommend.
Option one: the standoff. You hold your ground, you talk over the other rep right back, and now Theo’s sandwich shop has turned into a pitch-off nobody invited him to. This is the option that feels the most satisfying in the moment and is almost always the wrong move. Merchants don’t want to watch two salespeople fight over their business. They want to watch one of you act like you’ve got it together.
Option two: the graceful exit. You shake Theo’s hand, tell him you’ll follow up tomorrow once he’s had a chance to think it over without an audience, and you walk out without firing a single shot at the competition. This costs you the moment but buys you the relationship. Nine times out of ten, Theo remembers the rep who didn’t make him feel like a hostage negotiation.
Option three: the redirect. You stay calm, you turn to Theo — not the other rep — and you say something like, “Sounds like you’ve got options today. Take your time, compare the actual numbers side by side, and call whichever one of us makes more sense once the lunch rush is over.” Then you leave a card and go. You’re not competing for the loudest voice in the room. You’re competing for the one Theo trusts enough to call back.
My take: option three, every time. The merchants who flip processors every few months aren’t loyal to a company, they’re loyal to whoever made them feel the least like a transaction. Outlasting the noise is the whole game.
Now I want to hear it from you. Drop a comment or hit reply and tell me — have you ever lost a deal to a rep who literally walked in mid-signature? And more importantly, did you go back for round two?
Happy Selling,
David
