Sales is a career that is full of adversity (I would submit most of it unfairly). Whether it is customers inherent lack of trust in anything you say, your managements assumption that you are "screwing them over", technology, finance, market conditions, the list of things that limit or prevent a sales person from earning "their due" is almost endless. Many reps look for positions where organizations limit the "sales prevention" challenge. Either through a powerful VP sales, CEO that comes from a sales background, or sales centered organization (ie. other departments are service organizations for sales). This tactic brings with it, its own challenges. Often such organizations are shark tanks with the only metric being sales success and heaven help you if there is any blood in the water.

I believe that it doesn't make sense to put sales at the center of the organization (I am sure some sales people out there are doing a double take).  In my humble opinion the customer needs to be at the center of the organization. The challenge with putting the customer at the center is, that not all agents of the organization are compensated to positively effect the customer, nor is it necessarily easy to make a direct connection to what all employees do to customer impacts.  Most organizations seek some balance between the customer and other stakeholders. From a sales person's perspective this will often present internal challenges to completing the sale. How do sales people deal with this hybrid?

1. Identify what are the internal issues you are going to face to get your deal through. This list is really important as this is your play book for navigating and executing on the sale. For example get the parameter from finance to extend trade credit, the ball park estimate from professional services for installation, or customization.

2. Who are the people who are responsible for those areas that can approve your activities. Wine and dine them. Make sure you have lots of favors banked for when you need them.

3. Don't make commitments to customers that you cant keep. Ensure that you have all your ducks in a row internally before you commit to anything with a customer. Failure to do so could at best case result in egg on your face, worst case some serious liability and burned bridges.

4. Know who are the "subject matter experts" in each of the areas that involve your customers. Make sure you informally consult them before making a pitch to the decision makers in two. They will feel a lot more comfortable approving something out of the box if they have someone on their teams already saying that it is possible and not going to cause negative effects for the company.

5. Always smile! Anger, frustration, etc almost never help, and will not get your deal closed if the going gets tough. Being a bull dozer will earn you no friends and though you might get what you want this time, leaving people with a bad taste in their mouths is going to hurt you in the long run.

6. Be a willow not an oak. Understand that things are going to change through the course of the deal. Move with the winds of change, be creative and accommodating. If you stand too firm on any given area you might find your roots in the air and your deal out the window.

Sales is tough enough with all the external things that can scuttle a deal. Be sure you know and can manage the internal process that will ensure that you get the financial benefit of all the hard work that you have done with the customer. You leave it to chance at your peril.

Moment of Zen
"Ego is your enemy..."- Rig Vedas

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