u/Fategfwhere

Been in the sales game a couple of months now. So far so good. Been learning how to overcome different situations in the industry. This recent one stomped me.
A prospect I’ve been working on for over a month now finally gave me a PO. Thought all was well and I sent over the e-docs to get signed. I immediately get called and asked “WTF are all these docs and why does he have to sign? I gave you a PO. That should be enough.” Having made a couple of sales now the docs have never been an issue. Maybe I have to remind a customer to get them signed in a timely manner, but that’s about it. I speak with my manager and he’s open to letting him redline anything he disagrees with and we’ll work with him. He still doesn’t like it. Gives me the rant about “back in my day we didn’t do this and that. A man’s word and a handshake were enough”. Honestly, I wasn’t too sure how to respond. I don’t see how in the big 2026 anybody buys anything without consenting to some kind of terms. He refused to redline anything and just wanted to cancel his PO. I told him I’d get with my internals to see what I could do, but it seems like we’ll just cut him loose. Still…. I feel like there’s someway I could’ve made this work? Any of you ever make it work with these old heads that want nothing to do with contracts or terms and conditions?

So I’m new to sales and I’ve started making my rounds with clients. It’s B2B in the manufacturing industry. While new businesses is encouraged we also have repeat customers. I’ve sent quotes to some customers of the company and I’m listing them at list price and if they ask for a discount I go a couple points down. A lot of them have been pushing back saying “X used to discount bigger discounts! Why aren’t you?”. Discounts were so big I had to see how he got them approved because we don’t really budge on price. The old rep was inflating the list price and discounting back to normal. Something I’ve been told in training that would cause muse immediate termination. So my question. Do I tell the customer they got duped? Or do I maintain the lie and just argue that markets have changed and we no longer can discount that much? What are your thoughts? P.S. this rep is no longer with the company.

Recently joined with a company in the manufacturing industry. We offer a range of products ranging from physical machines, to software, even consultations and technical support. Sale cycles can range from a couple of weeks to well over a year. It’s customer dependent.

I’ve been in the industry for years now on the customer side. After knowing the guys on this side for years through professional interactions they brought me on board when an opening came up.

I’ve done my product training, crm training, & other things. They gave me my metrics. Schedule demons at least twice a month, bring in about 2 mill a quarter, etc. I started visiting customers and interacting. Even got a couple POs in my first 2 months. However, I feel like I’m missing something. This is my first sales role, but I want to be at the top of leaderboards in my region. I’ve met the other sales guys and they all seem to be bonafide sales guys. Some of them never having been in manufacturing previously. How do I get there? What is it I need to do? Any resources? I’d appreciate any insight!