According to the December 2009 CIO Economic Impact Survey, CIO budgets and capital spending are both increasing from the previous years levels. When asked the same question in May 2009 only 14% of respondents said their budgets would be increasing compared to 40% in December 2009.

While faux pas in the world of sales may not be as material as mismatching socks or flood pants, the implications of committing a sales faux pas are arguably more devastating. Committing these five “no-nos” will almost assuredly cost you the sale, or at the very least, will lengthen your sales cycle and hinder your ability to hit your quota.

Business drivers are the groundwork for starting a sale. Once you know what they are, you can determine if you should go after that account or move on to the next one. Don’t try to force your solution upon a company. You probably won’t get the sale. Even worse, if you do close the sale, the solution might not live up to their standards and won’t provide the ROI they were expecting. The best approach is to ask the right questions so you can better understand your prospect’s business drivers and get a clear picture of what they’re trying to accomplish before wasting any more of their (and YOUR) valuable time.

Having long, ineffective sales cycles is a major problem for any sales department. Sales reps want short sales cycles so they can increase their number of contracts, spend less time per sale and close a larger percentage of their opportunities.

Structure and continuity are extremely important in keeping a sales team functional and the sales process successful. Keeping things organized and requiring a specific progression of steps in the sales cycle ensures that corners are not cut, the prospect is well-qualified and well-nurtured, as well as making sure that no information is lost. The steps of the process must be clearly defined and simple to follow; the more you can avoid confusion and make this process visible, the more it will actually be followed.