Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1444975 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 292 pages

Synopsis
The hero of the book is a stalwart, battle-hardened software salesman who, accompanied by his naive, idealistic, but loyal sales engineer, sallies forth everyday in pursuit of that elusive Grail pursued by every member of every sales force worldwide: his "number" (know more prosaically to most of us as a quota). Standing in our heroes' path are a Dickensian cast of characters who include psychotic MIS types, evil CEOs, clueless customers, compulsively foul-mouthed members of upper management, dreamy-eyed engineers, parasitic ne'er do wells from business development and an arch villain from a rival firm, an unscrupulous, sell-your-mother-type sales pustule who will say or do anything to get your signature on that purchase order. (You know, like the guy who was in your office last week.)

Customer Reviews

Nineties software industry, a herald of the dot-coms?
A story of the software industry in the late 90s. By all accounts, and as far as can be seen, an accurate and interesting portrayal of the events at a semi-startup software company making and selling products to industry and their internal and external interactions. Was supposed to be part of a series, but the rest appear to have vanished.

It would be an excellent cautionary tale for many people in the startup software industry, but I fear the ones who would most benefit probably don't realise it applies to them and the cycle repeats. In the particular the parallels between the 90s software industry and the even-more-disconnected from revenue reality of the dot-com boom are startling.

Couldn't put it down.
I picked up the book with skepticism after a recommendation from a friend. Once through the first chapter I was hooked.

The fast pace and writing style (exposing the thoughts of the characters throughout) was highly entertaining and very to the point. As someone who works in a high tech sales environment I could relate to the storyline and got the feeling that the auther has been there or is connected with people who have. To this end I have recommended it to my sales team as an interesting read.

Fantastic book, well worth the effort. My only dissapointment was that it had to end. I would have loved to have seen how InUnison battled through their next round of venture financing!