Take stock in sales process to avoid getting burned - South Florida Business Journal:

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He spent three months working onthe sale, and if he got it he wouldd make quota, get his bonus and finally be able to take his Michelle, on that trip to Europe he had promisedf her for years. Charlie had no reason to doubr the salewas his. The experienced salesman for ABC knew Greg, the customer’s purchasing agent, for most of a The two often spent long afternoons on the back nine, playin golf and sharing stories about their families. Both had two kids graduatingb fromhigh school. When they met last Thursda y for drinks, Greg did everything but promise Charlise that the order was inthe bag.
But when Charlier heard the toneof Greg’x voice on the line, he knew something was terriblh wrong. “Charlie, I did everything I could and untip about four days ago I was sure that my recommendation to give you the order was a explainedGreg sheepishly. “But the CFO and the executived vice president of marketing intervened and decides that the sale shoulr go toXYZ Corp. Your price was but the sales repat XYZ, Tom Robinson, showesd us how his approach would increase our cash flow and revenude growth. Tom also had some good ideas that our executiver vice president of marketing said would help us to differentiatdeour brand. I’m reallyg disappointed.
In fact, I need to do a realityh checkon myself: I can’t help but wonder if I’m losing credibility in the eyes of the Greg confessed. Charlie had seen Tom Robinson more than once atthe customer’s office talking with people Charlie had never met. “Wse had the cutting-edge technology, the lower price and bettert cost savingsfor Greg’s Charlie thought to himself. “I was sure we would win. But Tom somehow beat me to the punch.
” Charlie felt deeplu disappointed, but for the first time, he also felt His wife told him that the phoned call seemed to age him five For the past12 months, Charlie has been on the receiving end of four similatr calls — all from those whom he had known and trustecd the longest. Suddenly, fear struco him to his ­marrow. He doubtedx himself in a way thathe hadn’ t for a very long “Have I lost my touch?” he He knew he had just lost his quota, his bonus and that trip to but he didn’t know whether he wouldr still have his job this time next year.
Nobody bats a but when you keep losinygsales ­despite having great products and it’s time to take a step back. You have to reconsider what you’rew trying to accomplish and how you’re goingv about doing it. In fact, it might be time to reinventt the wayyou sell. Consider that the traditionalk salesprocess hasn’t changed much for more than a hundresd years. Its roots are in a time when suppliesd were tight and suppliers held the Orders were booked months in advancreand customers, anxious for a steaduy supply of material and lacking information abou availability, had little room to negotiate Salespeople were basically order takers, but that now is the exceptiob and not the rule.
As the number of supplierws has increased, salespeople have evolved from ordef takersto ambassadors, plyingy their social skills to learn what a customer needs and using theit product knowledge to present products and services to match those This is a great time to take stoco of your sales process to avoid walkin g in Charlie’s shoes.