When executives in enterprise technology industries think about trying to get a price premium for their products, they often throw in the towel before the fight has begun. Five myths, in particular, have become ingrained and, as a result, many tech firms leave money on the table.

The Channel Company's NexGen Cloud Conference & Expo kicked off Wednesday in San Diego with a series of smaller business-to-business sessions preceding the main keynotes, and exhibitions that will take place Thursday and Friday.

Solution providers are clamoring to sell to CMOs, but the often tense and confused relationship between marketing officers and CIOs makes it hard to figure out exactly how.

In a recent research report, Forrester and Forbes culled survey data to find that CMOs and CIOs have made little progress toward forging a truly collaborative relationship.

There's a certain art to selling, a delicate balance between the need to build relationships and the urge to blurt out some cheesy Retail 101 closing line while shoving a contract across a prospective customer's desk.

But armed with the right documents to support your pitch, an arsenal of to-the-point questions and go-to answers, any solution provider's sales team should be able to both increase sales and build a long-term client base.