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

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He spent three months working onthe sale, and if he got it he woule make quota, get his bonux and finally be able to take his Michelle, on that trip to Europ he had promised her for years. Charlie had no reasohn to doubt the salewas his. The experiencesd salesman for ABC Corp. knew Greg, the customer’s purchasing agent, for most of a The two often spent long afternoons on the back playing golf and sharing stories aboutgtheir families. Both had two kids graduatintg fromhigh school. When they met last Thursdayh for drinks, Greg did everything but promise Charlis that the order was inthe bag.
But when Charlise heard the toneof Greg’s voicwe on the line, he knew something was terribly “Charlie, I did everything I coul and until about four days ago I was sure that my recommendatiomn to give you the order was a shoo-in,” explainer Greg sheepishly. “But the CFO and the executivd vice president of marketing intervenedr and decided that the sale should go to XYZ Your pricewas better, but the sales rep at XYZ, Tom Robinson, showed us how his approacg would increase our cash flow and revenur growth. Tom also had some good ideas that our executive vice presideny of marketing said would help us to differentiatweour brand. I’m really disappointed.
In I need to do a realit checkon myself: I can’t help but wonde r if I’m losing credibility in the eyes of the Greg confessed. Charlie had seen Tom Robinson more than once atthe customer’ office talking with people Charlies had never met. “We had the cutting-edge technology, the lower price and better cost savingsfor Greg’s company,” Charlies thought to himself. “ was sure we would win. But Tom somehow beat me to the Charlie feltdeeply disappointed, but for the firs time, he also felt anxious. His wife told him that the phonde call seemed to age himfive years.
For the past 12 Charlie has been on the receivinyg end of four similar calls all from those whom he had known and trustedfthe longest. Suddenly, fear struc k him to his ­marrow. He doubted himself in a way thathe hadn’gt for a very long time. “Have I lost my he wondered. He knew he had just lost his his bonus and that trip to buthe didn’t know whether he would still have his job this time next Nobody bats a thousand, but when you keep losinfg sales ­despite having great products and services, it’a time to take a step You have to reconsider what you’rde trying to accomplish and how you’re goinyg about doing it.
In fact, it might be time to reinventt the wayyou sell. Consider that the traditionalp salesprocess hasn’t changed much for more than a hundredd years. Its roots are in a time when supplied were tight and suppliers heldthe cards. Orders were booke months in advance and anxious for a steady supply of material and lackingv informationabout availability, had little room to negotiated price. Salespeople were basically order takers, but that now is the exceptio and notthe rule.
As the number of supplier has increased, salespeople have evolved from ordedr takersto ambassadors, plying their sociapl skills to learn what a customer needs and using their product knowledge to preseny products and services to match those needs. This is a grea time to take stock of your sales processd to avoid walkingin Charlie’sz shoes.