I flew into Milwaukee the prior night and had pork schnitzel for the first time. Having German heritage that may seem strange but I enjoyed it immensely. Crispy breading, tender cutlet, delicious! There's a mantra about a delicious last meal or fattening the stock before the slaughter. I arrived early the next morning at the customer site, Johnson Controls headquarters. An impressive, understated building and campus. LEED certified and well thought out like Monticello. My boss had the relationships as I was brand new on the account and he could not make the trip choosing another customer meeting. My peers had a variety of excuses so I was flying solo into a negotiation on scope and price that I had created in the weeks leading up to this meeting. Johnson Controls was combining with Tyco International in a reverse merger. I had strong feelings about this and it challenged my values as I saw this transaction for what it was , legal tax evasion. With that mindset I walked into a hostile room of forty people either anxious about their jobs or believing that I had lost my mind in quoting them $5M for the telephony services to combine the organizations. The meeting began with my quote displayed on the largest presentation screen I had ever seen. In letters that I felt were the same height as me was $5M on a slide. The head of sourcing began without introduction and started a rant about how ludicrous the dollar figure was. I squirmed in my seat. I felt those seated next to me unconsciously move away ever so slightly to reduce their exposure to the dress down that I had begun receiving from this guy. That was my toughest room from a sales perspective to influence authentically.