Today, most people are nearly all of the way through the buying cycle before they contact sales. Ask any sales rep at any company and they will tell you it’s true. Most companies, however, still think they can personally lead prospects through the buying cycle; this was true 10 years ago, it’s not true now. The job of today’s sales rep is primarily to close the sale. The fact is, prospects have already been persuaded and just need to contact the supplier to finalize the proc