Everyone works to move the sale up the ladder – here are 10 things that will take you right back down (in no particular order):
1. Kicking off with your PPT slide show
2. Beginning the meeting with obvious open-ended sales questions
3. Allowing their IT person to become the focal point of the meeting
4. Pushing to close the deal this month – quota being your primary motive
5. Focusing on product features
6. High-Tech jargon
7. Asking, “What keeps you up at night?”
8. Not having researched their company prior to the call. “So, what does your company do?”…duh.
9. Lack of confidence in front of executives
10. Poor presentation skills
© 2010, David Stelzl
High Tech Business Growth 
So true Dave.
Most times sales people don’t get that IT is acting on initiatives that are driven by stake holders in the organization seeking solutions not directly related to technology. Clear examples: Work flow improvement, Patient satisfaction (Health Care), regulatory compliance, security risks, etc. If you have an ineffective message these projects will be stalled or killed in budget process. Unless you are speaking directly to business unit benefits, you will be relegated to “vendor” status.
And I would add, many IT people don’t even understand the business benefits sought after by these initiatives. Great insight Brock!
And #11: Not understanding why your prospect NEEDS what you sell, or not making them understand it.
“Here, buy this” is MUCH more different than “Here is an answer to your problem.”
Very good – feel free to fill in more of these!