The salespeople who sold the space race

Published: Wed, 10/08/25

Updated: Sun, 10/12/25

October 8, 2025

TOGETHER WITH

Good morning, Quota readers, and welcome back to another issue of the sales newsletter considered by sociologists to be the “apex” of sales content creation—whatever that means. In this week’s issue, we’ll look at the salespeople who sold the American space program. Then, we’ll share a Sales Fail about gas, and give some advice to a rep who’s sick of phony cheerleading in Slack. Sit back and enjoy the ride!

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

Sales have only a 2% success rate for closing after just a single contact from a salesperson.

Source: Lusha

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week:

An insurance salesman went viral on TikTok after filming himself calling out his critical manager for her own poor sales numbers. TikToker Elijah Goodman posted his viral video on Monday, showing him sitting in an office with his phone in his lap, recording as his manager berated him for his recent numbers. When he pushed back on the data, the manager wasn’t having it, so Goodman called out the manager’s own poor performance (back when she was a rep). You can check out all the hopefully non-scripted drama here.
Johnson Controls is nearing a $17.5 million settlement to resolve claims by nearly 1,800 sales representatives alleging the company unlawfully altered its commission structure. The dispute, which spans several jurisdictions, centers on allegations that Johnson Controls retroactively changed its compensation model—eliminating or reducing promised commission payouts tied to previously sold projects. For some individuals, the alleged lost commissions ranged as high as $100,000 or more. You can read more about it here.

FEATURE

"Fiftieth Anniversary of the Launch of Apollo 6 – 4 April 1968" by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

The salespeople who sold the space race

When John F. Kennedy told Congress in 1961 that America would land a man on the Moon, NASA did not yet have the rockets, modules, or computers to make it happen. What it did have was a massive budget, a mandate to beat the Soviets, and a group of contractors desperate to win the work.

The Apollo program is remembered for astronauts and engineers. Less visible were the sales teams and executives who turned proposals, presentations, and political relationships into contracts worth billions. Without them, the Saturn rockets and lunar modules might never have left the drawing board.

The First Big Win: North American Aviation

In November 1961, NASA awarded the Apollo command and service module contract to North American Aviation (NAA). Competitors included General Electric, McDonnell Aircraft, Martin, and others. According to NASA’s own program history, Martin’s proposal actually scored higher in the evaluation, but NAA’s long history working with NASA’s predecessor (NACA) and its technical reputation carried the day.

At the center of this push was Harrison “Stormy” Storms, president of NAA’s Space and Information Systems Division. Storms built his reputation not in a lab but in the conference rooms of Washington and Houston, where he argued that NAA could integrate multiple complex systems under one roof. He expanded the division from roughly 7,000 to over 14,000 employees almost overnight to staff Apollo work .

Storms spent as much time defending budgets and negotiating contracts as he did reviewing blueprints. His team produced thick proposal volumes, rehearsed presentations, and made repeated trips to Houston to calm NASA officials worried about schedule slips and technical flaws. By August 1963, the definitive contract was signed: $938.4 million for the spacecraft that would carry astronauts to the Moon.

Winning NASA business in the 1960s required a new type of sales process. Contractors sent in thousands of pages of proposals, hired teams of “government liaisons,” and stationed representatives near Houston and Huntsville to manage relationships with NASA procurement officers.

Every clause mattered, and small missteps could cost a company hundreds of millions. NAA’s victory on Apollo was less about lowest cost and more about convincing NASA that it would be a single accountable partner in a program too complex to split across firms.

Selling Guidance: Draper and the MIT Instrumentation Lab

The Apollo guidance contract was another high-stakes contest. Charles Stark “Doc” Draper and his MIT Instrumentation Laboratory lobbied for the job, arguing their inertial guidance systems could outperform any commercial alternative. NASA awarded MIT the contract in 1961, making it the first major Apollo hardware award .

Draper’s pitch rested on institutional credibility. His lab had built navigation systems for submarines and missiles, and he personally had long-standing relationships inside the Pentagon and NASA. Industry giants bristled at MIT’s role, arguing that a university lab was getting preferential treatment. Draper countered by pointing to past performance and a promise that only his team could solve the unique navigation challenges of lunar flight .
This was not a single sales call but years of accumulated trust. Draper’s reputation as “the father of inertial navigation” carried more weight than a low bid.

Closing the Deal Again and Again

Securing the initial contract was only the start. NAA and MIT spent the rest of the decade renegotiating scope changes, cost overruns, and new requirements. After the Apollo 1 fire in 1967, Storms personally had to face a furious NASA administrator, James Webb, and justify why NAA should remain on the program despite safety failures. The company kept the contract, but only after months of high-stakes negotiations and political maneuvering.

When Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface in 1969, millions saw a triumph of science. What they did not see were the rooms full of proposal binders, the endless slide decks, and the executives who risked careers convincing NASA to sign. The astronauts may have taken the giant leap, but someone had to close the deal first.

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MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

Before founding Calendly, what did entrepreneur Tope Awotona sell?

A. Industrial equipment
B. Aerospace technology
C. Software
D. Exotic cars

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

I was wrapping up a three-day trip to Dallas, trying to close a deal with a manufacturing company. The meeting was supposed to end at 2PM, giving me plenty of time to return my rental car and catch my 6:30PM flight home. Except, the decision maker showed up an hour and a half late. By the time we finished, it was 4PM and I was starting to panic about my flight.

I should've had plenty of time to find gas on the way to the airport, but of course, there was an accident that turned the highway into a parking lot. I sat there watching my flight time get closer, doing mental math about whether I could still make it if I stopped for gas.

Every exit I passed, I kept thinking about how much time it would cost to refuel. Find the station, pump the gas, get back on the highway. At least 10-15 minutes. Missing my flight meant another hotel night and rebooking. I returned the car on fumes at 5:30 PM and sprinted to catch my flight. Two weeks later, the charge posted: $156 for fuel service. It was on the company card, so I just hoped that no one would ever bring it up.

My manager called into his office IMMEDIATELY, pulled up Google Maps, and showed me six gas stations between the client meeting and the airport. I explained that the client was late to the meeting and I made a game time decision to make sure I caught my flight. He still wasn't happy. He told me that if I didn't close the deal, I'd have to pay for it out of my own pocket. Well, guess what? The deal didn’t close. What a waste!

Anonymous Location Withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- October 2025

WORTH A PEEK

What’s the most underrated skill in sales that no one talks about? A good memory? A fantastic hair cut? This question was recently posted to Reddit, with some excellent answers. You can check out the conversation (and maybe get a few ideas) here.

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team,

I sell life insurance. Our sales org is fully remote and basically lives on Slack. Most of the time it’s quick questions, deal alerts, the usual. But one of the new guys who recently joined has turned Slack into their personal megaphone. Every morning, it’s a barrage of hustle quotes and Grant Cardone GIFs, then constant play-by-play updates on every cold call, plus tagging half the team in threads that don’t apply to us. It’s distracting, and honestly makes me dread opening the app.

The crazy part is that my manager seems to love this rep’s energy, so I don’t want to look like I’m crushing team morale by complaining. How do I ask them to chill without coming off as negative or unsupportive?

Annoyed in New Jersey

Dear Annoyed,

You’re right—criticizing “energy” might come off negatively. Instead of asking him to stop, redirect. Mute non-essential channels and use Slack’s notification settings so his flood doesn’t dominate your day. If it truly impacts the team, frame it positively: “I love the enthusiasm, but could we create a separate channel for daily motivation and call recaps?” That way, you don’t look sour, and the behavior gets channeled somewhere less distracting. Good luck!