They total hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of dollars. And by God, they were glorious.
I had the receptionist in the palm of my hand...I wowed the assistant to the assistant to the Vice President of the company...I was one voicemail away from getting them to "put it in their budget the next go-around." So many sales I almost made...
One will always stick out in my mind: It was a mail order house in Tulare, California. Their lease on their mailing system was up, and all I had to do was to go in, sell the new lease payment, upgrade some system components, and meet my quota for the month. For good measure, my sales manager and former Top 10 songwriter Jim "Rock-n-Roll" Holvay came along for the ride in my 1985 Monte Carlo SS.
We spent about an hour in their office. We met with the two owners. We discussed, argued, agreed, questioned and generally did a great job of selling if I do say so myself. The order changed so many times in that hour that I had gone through about five different contracts, re-writing each one and re-calculating lease costs and taxes and all of the stuff that goes along with selling any kind of equipment.
When the dust had settled, and the agreement was finally done, we walked out. Jim had a saying, all in good fun of course, that once you got the sale you should get out of the place and "ride off like bandits in the night". Since it was almost night when we got into the car, that saying fit.
We started to drive. I can't remember, but I think he offered to take me out to a celebratory dinner or something. But I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Something wasn't right. 
I pulled out the paperwork that we had just fought to get signed. Sure enough, I had blown it. Made a BIG calculation error that changed the lease price by about $120 a month too little. Yikes. (I didn't use that word at that time, but this is a family blog).
"Should we go back?" asked Jim.
"We have to", I said. "I can't turn it in like this and I don't want to sit around the whole weekend wondering if they'll do it or not." So, we drove back.
To make a long story short, after explaining the error the owner said, "We'll talk it over and get back to you. Thanks." In my gut, I knew it was over. I was toast.
They may have talked it over, but they never called back. One and a half month's commission down the toilet.
Ah yes, the sales that I almost made...(did I mention earlier that they were glorious?)
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