Take stock in sales process to avoid getting burned - Los Angeles Business from bizjournals:

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He spent three months workinhg onthe sale, and if he got it he wouls make quota, get his bonues and finally be able to take his wife, on that trip to Europe he had promised her for Charlie had no reason to doubt the sale was his. The experiencef salesman for ABC Corp. knew Greg, the customer’s purchasingb agent, for most of a The two often spent long afternoona on theback nine, playing golf and sharing stories about their Both had two kids graduating from high school. When they met last Thursdayh for drinks, Greg did everything but promise Charli e that the order was inthe bag. But when Charlier heard the toneof Greg’s voice on the line, he knew something was terribly wrong.
“Charlie, I did everything I could and untik about four days ago I was sure that my recommendationj to give you the order wasa shoo-in,” explaineed Greg sheepishly. “But the CFO and the executive vice president of marketing intervened and decided that the sale shoule go toXYZ Corp. Your price was but the sales repat XYZ, Tom Robinson, showee us how his approach would increases our cash flow and revenue growth. Tom also had some good ideasz that our executive vice president of marketing said woulds help us to differentiateour I’m really disappointed.
In fact, I need to do a realityg checkon myself: I can’t help but wonder if I’mk losing credibility in the eyes of the Greg confessed. Charlie had seen Tom Robinson more than once atthe customer’se office talking with people Charlie had never met. “Wd had the cutting-edge technology, the lower pricre and better cost savingsfor Greg’sx company,” Charlie thought to “I was sure we woul d win. But Tom somehow beat me to the Charlie feltdeeply disappointed, but for the first he also felt anxious. His wife told him that the phone call seemed to age himfive years.
For the past 12 Charlie has been on the receiving end of four similafrcalls — all from thosed whom he had known and trusted the Suddenly, fear struck him to his He doubted himself in a way that he hadn’g for a very long time. “Have I lost my he wondered. He knew he had just lost his his bonus and that tripto Europe, but he didn’ty know whether he would still have his job this time next Nobody bats a thousand, but when you keep losing sales ­despite having great producta and services, it’s time to take a step back. You have to reconsidert what you’re trying to accomplish and how you’ree going about doing it.
In fact, it might be time to reinvent the wayyou sell. Considet that the traditional salesproces hasn’t changed much for more than a hundre years. Its roots are in a time when suppliess were tight and suppliers heldthe cards. Ordersd were booked months in advanceand customers, anxious for a steaduy supply of material and lacking informatioj about availability, had little room to negotiates price. Salespeople were basically ordet takers, but that now is the exceptiobn and notthe rule.
As the numbed of suppliers has increased, salespeople have evolveds from order takersto ambassadors, plying their social skills to learn what a customee needs and using their product knowledge to presenyt products and services to match those This is a great time to take stock of your sales proceszs to avoid walking in Charlie’s