I was out on a closing appointment with a sales professional that had been in the industry for some time. As we were sitting across from the potential customer I noticed a competitors card sitting on his desk. My immediate gut feeling was that we were not going to win this deal after all. Chit chat and niceties prevailed but no one was getting to the point of this meeting. I couldn’t handle it anymore and simply asked the client if we were going to be awarded the deal. The customer unblinkingly said no. Looking at the salesman I could see shock and disbelief. Definitely an awkward moment.