A Coke addresses a very basic human need, thirst. It's cold and sugary and delicious.
You might think selling an IT product is a world apart from selling a bottle of Coke, but in many ways it's exactly the same. You are selling stuff that has a part number and a suggested retail
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price. Your sale is an event, and once it's over, you need to look for another sale. The McDonalds counter clerk who asks "Do you want Coke with that?" is not far removed from the IT Salesperson who asks "Do you want a UPS with that Storage Array?"
Don't think selling services is that much different. In many cases, people sell standard hourly rates for technical work. Eight cases of Coke, eight hours of CCIE labor, it's the same sale.
Selling the Coke Machine
A Coke machine addresses a very basic business need, profit. It's a simple, predictable, automated device, and it makes money.
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"Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life?"
Steve Jobs to John Sculley
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A Coke Machine will always be a long term sale for many reasons. The machine needs to be restocked regularly. Coins and bills need to be removed. There will service issues due to technical breakdowns and vandalism. Machines will last a long time, so you get a service contract for 10-13 years
Process, not Event
You can see the buying cycle has a completely different approach and purpose. The Coke is an entirely satisfying but short-term sugar fix. The Coke Machine is a profit-generating device that requires an on-going relationship. 
Business Outcome
No buyer of a Coke machine cares what the unit weighs or what color it is. They care about how much soda they can sell, how reliable the machine is, and most importantly, how much money they can make.
IT Salespeople need to be addressing the same questions:
* How will this investment help our business?
* Why is this superior to the way we are doing it now?
* What competitive advantages will this give us?
* What's the return on investment?
Why This Matters
We've already witnessed the dramatic decline of Outside Salespeople (from 20 Million in 2006 to about 15 Million now). Gartner predicts the decline will continue until we reach 4 Million by the  year 2020. That's an 80% reduction in less than 15 years. Why are Outside Salespeople losing their relevancy so quickly? They are doing work done better, faster, and cheaper by machines. The trend will not just continue, it will accelerate.
Box-Pushers are Goners
We think IT is immune because it's complex. We are wrong. Customers can figure out what they need with the aid of expert-systems, and order it themselves. They don't need order-taking salespeople. Machines will be learning how to configure, evaluate, compare, and recommend.
For a scary version of where this can lead, watch this:
In a future when machines do all the work, we'll still need someone to sell the machines.
Sell the Coke machine, not the Coke!
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