Prospects think they are driving the deal. The respect given to the sales person in a complex sale matches that  given to Ed down at the corner electronics store. "Hey Ed, where are the HD TVs?" "Ok, show me what this baby can do?" The sales guy is to jump through the hoop and the prospect is whipping the hoop all over the place. Prospects often clueless, often mis-directed, always demanding, this is our sales world if you let it be. 

A client of ours told me a story. A web lead came asking for a demonstration. The salesmen, responding, asked to set a call to assess the prospects needs. After all, our clients products are complex software solutions that are not CD shelfware. The prospect resisted this. "I just need a demo."

Cut and run now, the noise heard, is the delete beep in my email app. However, our client's sales guy persisted and finally tracked the person down. With no clue, no budget, no idea, the prospect finally moved to "dead" rating.

This case is OK. Many sales guys would have fired up resources to demonstrate to the unqualified. The prospect, unlike our government can not print money to buy a solution. So find this out up front. Qualify up front.