And, just like that, the sales volume increases tremendously,. But so does the sales cycle.

You see, it takes awhile for a company to decide on, procure, and integrate a computer solution. Rarely will a click-through on a Web site produce a massive corporate sale, though it may be the catalyst for one. Then, information is gathered, plans are made, budgets are proposed, options are discussed, integration issues are identified, memos and emails fly, and eventually, maybe six months later, a purchase happens.

Sometimes, even after all that effort, the first purchase is small. That's because many companies "pilot" their projects, testing out the new program on just a few devices to see if the concept works and bears fruit. Then, after some reasonable testing time (say three to six months), a much more massive purchase occurs, allowing for widespread deployment of the solution.

Some may view this delay as "bureaucracy" and decry it as part of the corporate disadvantage. But they'd be wrong. It just takes time. Time to figure out something new, time to think through all the options, and time to figure out how to make it work for thousands of people.

What's interesting is that, as much as the amazing power of Palm-based solutions is screwing with the minds of those in the corporate world, the enterprise sales cycle is screwing with the minds of those used to selling to Palm device consumers.

Take, for example, a software company that might sell a spreadsheet program for the Palm OS. When selling to consumers, a potential buyer might see an ad in a publication like PalmPower, click a banner, and place an order. One order. But now, in a world where enterprises are seriously accepting Palm devices as major corporate resources, a potential buyer might see an ad for that same database in our Enterprise Edition. Rather than buying, he or she might send an email asking IS how the database integrates with corporate legacy systems. An informal discussion group might be assembled to evaluate the database product and experiment with how to integrate it into, say, an Oracle backend.

Nine months later, out of the blue, the database software company might get an order for a thousand-user site licenses.

It might be a windfall sale, but it also poses an interesting marketing challenge. In the consumer world, it's way easier to correlate advertising clicks to sales. In the enterprise world, it's almost impossible.

This is the conundrum that Palm's aftermarket is only just now beginning to confront. Our Enterprise Edition readers control or influence technology budgets totaling, across our readership-base, more than fifty billion dollars (and that's only a conservative estimate). Yet it's extremely difficult to correlate clicks and sales in the enterprise world.

Somehow, it all seems to come down to faith...and a good message. With the amount of money now attainable from enterprise sales, Palm's aftermarket is going to need to learn patience.

And that's where you, dear reader, come into the picture. You're most probably someone a developer wants to meet. You probably work on a much longer cycle time than the typical developer is used to. If it seems like you and those calling on you are speaking different languages, it may be up to you to translate. Remember that most Palm developers are used to selling to individuals and that your timeframe is something they need to understand better.