One of the biggest lessons I learned during my time at Alcatel-Lucent (now Nokia) was this, your champion (your lead client or point of contact) is your greatest ally, but you need to equip them to sell for you when you’re not in the room. It was a microwave network (it’s an alternative to fiber network) deal worth €40 million. A deal that could make or break our quarter. But as things stood, we were about to lose it. Our proposal was solid—packed with all the scope of work and specifications...