I enjoyed this piece though some of the anecdotes felt apocryphal. Some broad thoughts on enterprise sales (been doing it for 5 years with tremendous coaching f

I enjoyed this piece though some of the anecdotes felt apocryphal. Some broad thoughts on enterprise sales (been doing it for 5 years with tremendous coaching from my brother who has done it for 18): I love love love the enterprise sale. It's complicated, strategic, psychological, time intensive, stressful and so many other things. Cunning, patience and integrity are key attributes that lead to success here and when you win, you win big. The key is to ensure this type of sale aligns with your temperament. Years ago, a mentor gave me some advice (which I believe to be true): the key to selling to the enterprise is that you need to be known, liked and trusted. To be known, you need to be getting in front of the key decision makers and influencers and build a real relationship with the long term in mind. There are no short cuts and salesman should not be writing an intro email or going into meeting 1 or 2 thinking (and pitching) like they will get the commitment on the spot. Skip steps and you lose the sale. It's a relationship that must be cultivated even after initial rejections. I can't count how many customers said "not at this time" that eventually came around to become large accounts. To be liked, you need to be respectful, genuine and interested in them (not yourself). Find out who they are as people, what they value, what their goals are, their kids names. Ego is your enemy here. Read Dale Carnegie. Trust is about integrity. You must believe in the product and the benefits you market must be realizable (that's not to say the customer will necessary place much value on those benefits). The moment trust is compromised, it's over (and not just for you, the company). It takes a sentence (perhaps just a word) to destroy a personal and company reputation. Which goes back to the ultimate prerequisite (as mentioned in this article) of all enterprise solutions IMO - solve a problem that people care about.