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

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He spent three monthsd working onthe sale, and if he got it he wouled make quota, get his bonus and finally be able to take his Michelle, on that trip to Europe he had promised her for years. Charlis had no reason to douby the salewas his. The experienced salesman for ABC knew Greg, the customer’s purchasing agent, for most of a The two often spenf long afternoons on the back nine, playing golf and sharing stories about their families. Both had two kids graduatinhg fromhigh school. When they met last Thursday for Greg did everything but promise Charlise that the order was inthe bag.
But when Charlide heard the toneof Greg’s voice on the line, he knew somethin was terribly wrong. “Charlie, I did everything I coulr and until about four days ago I was sure that my recommendationm to give you the order wasa shoo-in,” explained Greg “But the CFO and the executive vice president of marketiny intervened and decided that the sale shouldr go to XYZ Corp. Your price was better, but the salesz rep at XYZ, Tom Robinson, showee us how his approach woulr increase our cash flow andrevenue growth. Tom also had some good ideads that our executive vice president of marketinvg said would help us to differentiatsour brand. I’m really disappointed.
In fact, I need to do a realituy checkon myself: I can’t help but wonderd 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 peopler Charlie had never met. “W had the cutting-edge technology, the lowere price and better cost savingxsfor Greg’s company,” Charlie thought to himself. “oI was sure we would 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 phoned call seemed to age himfive years.
For the past 12 Charlie has been on the receivinvg end of four similaercalls — all from those whom he had known and trusted the Suddenly, fear struck him to his He doubted himself in a way that he hadn’tf 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’tr know whether he would still have his job this time next Nobody bats a thousand, but when you keep losinbg sales ­despite having great productss and services, it’s time to take a step back. You have to reconsiderf what you’re trying to accomplish and how you’re goingv about doing it.
In fact, it might be time to reinvengt the wayyou sell. Consider that the traditionalp salesprocess hasn’t changed much for more than a hundrefd years. Its roots are in a time when supplies were tightf and suppliers held the Orders were booked monthw in advanceand customers, anxious for a steady supply of materiall and lacking information about availability, had little room to negotiate price.
Salespeople were basicallty order takers, but that now is the exception and not the As the number of supplierzhas increased, salespeople have evolved from order takers to plying their social skills to learn what a customere needs and using their product knowledge to present product s and services to match those needs. This is a grear time to take stock of your sales process to avoi d walkingin Charlie’s shoes.