Don't Share This With Your Customer - EVER!

Customer: "Bad news. We won't get that PO in this week after all."

Sales person: "Oh really? What's going on?"

Customer: "It's stuck on the CEO's desk, and he's swamped. I just don't want to bother him. It should go through next week or the following at the latest."

Sales person: "Look, I'm going to give you it you straight. I really need that PO this week. I promised it to my boss, and he's counting on it for his forecast, and plus my bonus commission is depending on it. Is there anything you can do?"

Customer: "Uh, no. Nothing I can do." (Meanwhile thinking, "I couldn't care less about your commission. I'm sure you make more than I do anyway, and I'm not going out on a limb just so you can get your extra money and go on some cool trip.")

Don't lose trust with the customer by getting too personal. You might think they care about your life, but they don't. They don't care about:

❌ Your promises to your boss
❌ Your commissions
❌ Whether you win the incentive trip

They DO care about:

✅ Their installation timeline
✅ Efficient production lines that have correct estimates on parts that might be needed for big orders

If you need to move things along, focus on that, not on why you PERSONALLY need the PO this week.