Correct Protocols

The labyrinthine machinations of buyers’ systems can scupper many a well-meaning salesperson’s ambitions.

I have been reminded recently that there are typically two major times when they can obstruct selling plans; at the very beginning and the very end of a campaign.

Almost before you start, lurking in the background there may well be an approval procedure to either confirm you as a possible supplier, or to verify that the project itself actually can exist.

And when you are expecting that final green light, the number of forms that need to be signed with the requisite signatories can also derail many hours, days, weeks or months of hard work.

It’s just a fact of selling life that many a rep tries to pull a fast one around such processes. Whatever stories you may hear, you should be driven by the code that short-cuts do not work. Getting any and all such stipulations out in the open as early as possible is I’m afraid to say the percentage-game way of ensuring that you never have egg (or for that matter a rampaging boss) all over your face.