So a few years ago I was on a business development team for an internal company. After a series of hiring new execs, we found ourselves to be the recipients of an ongoing training and overall initiative to really do the “challenger” sales approach.
Now, I got real good at this approach. I was already consistently top of my team, and with this initiative I helped our department write call scripts, I wrote copy for an email and ams campaign, and overall I went full tilt into it.
Well, 6 months go by, and I've proved I'm kicking ass. So then, amidst a few changes in our department, including our manager going to another department, I decided to go full Challenger sales approach on these execs to push for a promotion.
And, oh man, it was actually hilarious! I had prepped every rebuttal I could think of, and had a polished, tactical response to any and every objective I actually did encounter.
Come time for the first of 3 one hour meetings I scored with these flabby assed, middle aged execs, I made my move, and was relentless. My favorite point this exec made was “I don't make major changes to pay for any employee until the end of the fiscal year.”
To which I was like, “that's trash and you god damned know it. I've brought in over $500,000 of closed business over the last 6 months alone. So, you're welcome for me providing enough funding to solve your problem, and I expect now you'll see that this is the perfect time to invest in a person that has brought in over 1.2 mil in closed business over my time here.”
And there finally was a point when it just shut down, and I got the whole “you know, I had big plans for you, but now I see you're not the team player I thought you were.”
To which I just thought, go big or go home. “Ma'am, I could not be more of a team player. Hell, you've weaponized me into being the biggest badass in my department. But, business is business, and your free trial is up. So, what's it going to be? Do you have the audacity to disrupt the corporate sales space and show that you invest in value, or are you going to be just as scared as most of the client's I sell to everyday?”
And yeah, I got the shit can by the end of it. But it was fucking awesome going out.
And, I talked my way into a much larger, still dog shit, but larger severance than anyone else on my team I'd heard of over my time there.