[geomark]

I have a technical background with many years in development but ended up working at a sales office late in my career. I worked with sales managers who did the "sales stuff" while I did the technical pitch. The very best sales people were not all that technical. But they were very good at understanding business needs, supply line management and handling mad customers. I was amazed more than once when we went into a meeting with senior management at an irate customer, took terrible abuse due to some failing in delivery or quality, and walked out with an even bigger order. One of the best sales managers was the nicest guy. He said that when you have a mad customer the worst thing you can do is avoid them. You have to stay in their face, let them beat you up until their anger is spent, and then proceed to solve their problems. I once saw him explain to a customer how they could recover from a major production line hiccup we had caused by rearranging some inventory and placing an earlier than planned order for additional pieces. He knew their production flow better than their own management. It was grueling and I thought we were done for sure at that customer. But we walked out with a huge order that more than made our office's sales quota for the quarter.