Marketing

As I moved from sales into management, I also moved from the sell side to the buy side of the proverbial “street.” And as a buyer I became involved in a strange ritual. At the end of each month my phone would ring incessantly as sales reps desperate for business eagerly tried to outdo each other offering me discounts.

Usually price had little or nothing to do with the fact that I was not ready to make a decision, but since these reps never bothered to ask, I felt no obligation to tell them. Instead I played along …