A few years back, I was asked to help one of our retail partners with their sales team at the CNE in Toronto. At the time, I was the VP of Sales for a hot tub manufacturer, and although I could only attend for the first three days, I accepted the challenge. When I arrived, I met the team: three seasoned salespeople, each with over 30 years of experience. They were older, skeptical of me and my title, and weren’t thrilled that I was there. But I was there for the store owner, who had already warned me that his team was “old school”—rigid in their process. We kicked off the day with a sales meeting. I led with respect, acknowledging their experience and encouraging them to share their favorite features of our hot tubs. I was impressed with how they delivered product knowledge, and we were all enjoying the exchange—until some customers arrived. Mark, one of the salesmen, started talking with a customer, and I hung back, listening in. With his 30+ years of experience, he didn’t ask the customer a single question; instead, he launched straight into why these hot tubs were the best, telling the customer everything rather than inviting them into a conversation. Shortly after, another salesman, Larry, pulled me aside because his customer had asked a basic question: “Can these hot tubs be used in winter?” It’s an easy answer—yes, they’re built in Canada, for Canadians, and that’s one of our core selling points. We had even just reviewed it in our meeting, and it was in all our sales material. But Larry had been thrown off by the question, so I handled it and guided the customer toward a purchase. Feeling the thrill of closing the deal, I looked around for Larry, ready to hand it back to him. But he was nowhere to be found, so I gave the customer a little space while I organized an irresistible offer. Just as I was getting everything ready, Larry returned. Arms in the air, he started accusing me of “stealing” his customer right in front of them. Calmly, I reminded him that I wasn’t earning any commission that weekend—any sale would go to the salesperson working with the customer. I was simply helping him because he’d left to get help with the question. I suggested we focus on getting the sale and could talk afterward. But Larry ran over to the customer and abruptly said, “If I give you this hot tub for half price, would you take it right now?” I cringed. Statements like that throw away all the value and trust we’d built in the presentation, making him seem desperate. The customer looked at him and said, “We’ll think about it,” then left.