In sales, we get to deal with all kinds of clients. With some we need to show flexibility, with others we need to insist on our principles. Here are two examples:
‘The Noble Merchant’
At the outset of my career, I was at a hotel for a meeting with a client. I was in my late twenties, and I wanted to win over a client who was almost twice my age. Although well-prepared, I kept pacing nervously through the fully booked hotel. The fact that there was an annual gathering of the Siemens works council didn’t help things. I had never seen such a throng of grey-looking gentlemen in my life and began to fear that my client would be no less of an ill-humoured, fastidious killjoy….
