Salespeople get a tough rap. Mention the word salesman, and most minds automatically venture off into the seedy back lot of a used car dealership. Or even worse, link the term directly to the person at the other end of the solicitation call. The one that takes place right in the middle of your evening meal. Les Brigham wasn't like that. But at times he may have regretted that he wasn't. Those times that sales were down, people are holding off and trying to get by with less. Those slow times directly affected Les's income. Maybe he should have been more aggressive, and more demanding. A seasoned veteran in industrial sales, Les understood the trends. He also understood the customer and the industry. What Les struggled with was the communication with his own organization and dodging what appeared to be internal bullets coming at him.