“I have been strongly encouraged from family, friends and league personnel to continue to be patient and wait for an inevitable injury to one of the starting quarterbacks in the league.

“I would rather shut the door to such ‘opportunity’ than continue to wait for one of my fellow quarterbacks to suffer a serious injury. Since I was not given a fair chance to come in and compete for a job, I would rather move on and win in other arenas of life.”

There’s a nice image – as soon as a competitor of mine has some traumatic disaster land on him the size of a 377 pound lineman, I get my turn.

Here’s your thought, sales pro – WHY WAIT? WHY WAIT FOR SOMETHING GOOD OR BAD OR INTERESTING TO HAPPEN. Just move on with your life. You know all those prospects who’ve been hanging you out to dry for months and months and more?

Move on. If you can’t help someone else make a decision, you can’t help them at all.

Move on. Your time is precious and you respect yourself when you treasure time enough to make decisions based on this truism.

Move on. There are great opportunities awaiting your attention.

Good luck Dante, we’ll be watching to see where your toughness and talent get you more success and new adventures.

And reps, start thinking about every situation you’re in and whether you should Move on.

In what situation is a surprise a good thing in sales?

When you give a new client a thank you gift – good thing.

When you under promise and over deliver – good thing.

When you introduce a great new product or service – good thing.

What scenario makes for a bad surprise?

When you aren’t forthright with delivery trouble – bad thing.

When your new client experience leads to buyer’s remorse – bad thing.

When you make a failed first impression on a new prospect – bad thing.

Plan surprises for prospects. It delights their hearts. Think about the joy that comes from your good unexpected moments.

Find a unique gift (I’ll be discover loads of them at the Motivation Show in Chicago next month, September 23-25), and deliver it – preferably in person. See if that doesn’t deepen your relationship and erode the competitive edge others have built in the background.

And let me know what you did. I’ll  share it here.