Sales training cannot prepare you for one of those days

Every now and then you have to crack a book about something beyond how to better perform as a sales person. Today my reality had nothing to do with how effective a communicator or how thought out my sales plan/process/strategy happens to be. Today I had to lean on other icons for pearls of wisdom.

7:00 am, my computer crashes and takes 25 minutes to come back up. Circle of concern vs. circle of influence, Covey shares that I can only control what I can control. Go make some coffee and think about my meeting later in the day.

9:00 am, my closing meeting for my newest client goes south as the tech lead gets food poisoning and the prospect has not faxed in the order. Rescheduled for 10 am, then postponed until tomorrow. Re-aligned my focus on other tasks and helped my clients with their Message Slinger tempaltes.

9:30 am, three clients call in with needs and my computer is giving me fits. Spend 1.5 hours of a completely booked day on unexpected tasks. Re-prioritize and only keep the must get done tasks on my agenda.

1:00 pm, my 3pm discovery call with a vendor gets postponed to 4:00 pm. At 4pm I was supposed to spend some time with my wife. Interdependence and flexibility - Dropped what I was doing and helped her straighten the kitchen then went to the store.

You do not get these tools in sales trainings. Take some leadership courses, learn from the wise teachers of the past, and find a way to build skills that take you beyond the sales call.