Sales forecasts can be helpful for time management for sales reps, as they can highlight which accounts they should spend their valuable time selling to, and which accounts are not highly likely to buy.

Crafting rock-solid positioning statements is essential to qualifying and closing a sale. The statements should also incorporate your product’s value propositions; they must relate to the problem or opportunity you’re trying to solve for the company. Creating positioning statements can be very difficult if you don’t have correct knowledge about the account you’re trying to close. Utilizing sale intelligence resources and asking the right questions are the best ways you can collect information about a company.

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.

While you may not be able to gain insight into what the company’s buying cycle is from and earnings call transcript, at the very least you can formulate an idea of what their budget might be (based on if they state that they are attempting cost reductions or will be investing more) and also what kinds of business problems they are trying to solve within the company. Being sensitive to these issues and approaching a potential sale in a new account can only benefit from empathy and a pitch that is custom tailored toward easing their woes.