Sales is a tough, unpredictable business. Managers demand constant progress reports from their teams.

Sales professionals find ourselves explaining (or excusing) why a pursuit isn't further along, pipelines aren't growing more quickly, or new prospects haven't been approached. It's enough to make even the most confident people downright insecure.

Most salespeople aren't successful. It's not that they don't generate enough revenue to pull their own weight (most do), but in the eyes of their management the majority aren't making the cut.

Only a handful of "stars" blow away their quotas and win an invitation to the company's sales club vacation year after year. Everyone else slaves away in the trenches unrecognized. Not exactly fair, right?

When detailing the value of software for a prospect, I often run up against the objection: "That's not hard value. We don't count soft dollars."

We've identified how software could enable savings, but the prospect doesn't believe the benefits equate to clear changes in operating costs. They can't justify the investment.