Good Morning. It’s the last week of the month, so you’ve got 4 days to hit October quota. Meanwhile, Anthropic just filed for what could be the biggest IPO in history, Halloween is this Saturday, and Christmas is somehow only 59 days away. A lot going on! But quota always comes first. Now, let’s get into today’s Follow Up. (:

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About 20 years ago, Denise Turner was chasing one of the biggest deals of her career.

Her company was competing against two other manufacturers to supply equipment to a major cable provider. Winning the contract could help her sales team hit its $1 billion quota and earn bonuses worth more than their annual salaries.

But of course, there was a big hairy problem. (Because there’s always a problem in sales…)

The equipment she was trying to sell didn't work.

And to make it even worse, her own VP had already told the customer not to buy it.

So yeah… you could say she had a big problem to figure out.

Here's how she managed to turn things around, and why winning the deal wasn't exactly the happy ending you'd expect.

At the time, Denise worked for a telecom equipment manufacturer that had recently moved production of a new product to a factory in Mexico.

Unfortunately, the transition hadn't gone very well.

When Denise asked an engineer to inspect the equipment, he gave her a pretty straightforward assessment.

"Denise, this is just a box of sh*t."

And he wasn't exaggerating.

The factory had been assembling the equipment incorrectly. Workers hadn't received proper training, documentation wasn't available in Spanish, and quality control was practically nonexistent.

The equipment was so poorly assembled that some units wouldn't function at all.

And trying to sell telecom equipment that doesn't work is a bit like trying to sell a car that won't start. Except this car costs millions of dollars, and your boss is telling the buyer to shop somewhere else.

The company sent an engineer to the factory to fix the manufacturing problems, and eventually got the equipment working.

But fixing the product was only half the battle.

Before the equipment was fixed, Denise's VP had already told the prospective customer not to buy it. Which is weird, right?

According to Denise, he didn't believe the product could compete, and he didn't think her team had the experience to sell it.

She also suspected he didn't want to pay the enormous bonuses her team would earn if they hit their sales target.

Whatever his reasoning, Denise wasn't ready to walk away.

She knew her company had something its competitors couldn't easily replicate: years of relationships with people inside the customer's organization.

Her team had sold other equipment to the same customer before, and those relationships had earned them some credibility.

So Denise asked the customer's testing team for a chance.

She wasn't asking them to commit to a purchase. She just wanted them to test the equipment once the manufacturing problems were fixed.

And they agreed.

Once the equipment was repaired, the customer put it through testing.

This time, it worked.

Better yet, Denise's company could offer it at a significantly lower price than its competitors.

Combined with the company's previous track record, that was enough to change the customer's mind.

Denise's company went from being the least-favored option to becoming the customer's top supplier.

The same company whose equipment didn't work just won the deal.

And those relationships Denise had built long before this opportunity came along played a big part in making it happen.

There's a lesson here for anyone selling to existing accounts.

The work you do on a smaller deal today might be the reason a customer gives you a shot at something much bigger down the road.

Because sometimes, just getting a chance to compete is half the battle.

Remember those enormous bonuses Denise's team was supposed to earn?

Well, nobody got one.

After winning the contract, the manufacturer was acquired by one of the competitors it had just beaten.

The company claimed the acquisition made the bonus agreement null and void.

To make matters worse, Denise and several of her teammates were fired.

Not exactly the celebration you'd expect after helping your company win a massive contract.

But Denise still considered the experience a win.

And as for losing her job? Luckily, she had a new job lined up the next day.

Today’s newsletter was written by Nic Conley