You can even try telling the truth. What you really want is for the client to close and close today. Not that they don’t get the information they need the first time we’re out there, but it’s hard for people to make a decision.

Some Skeletons Won’t Dance
I was conducting a corporate training session on a stifling hot August day in Houston, Texas. Shortly after the session had begun, I’d realized that I had the flu coming on – and coming on quickly. The air conditioning in the meeting room had coughed on just long enough to break down, and my fever blended with the swelter of the day. Fortunately, the air worked great in the room where we were having the lunch break. Unfor-tunately it was giving me chills and blowing out a chemical odor no one else seemed to notice that was strongly reminiscent of damp sheep. I’d already pushed aside the fatty pastrami and the greasy French fries, though I knew needed to find something I could hold down if I was going to make it through the day.

“So . . .” began the young sales executive to my right, by way of initiating a conversation. I’d warned everyone not to get too close to me. But he was a 275-pound former college football player, and he obviously wasn’t worried about some microscopic germs, no matter how badly they seemed to be kicking my puny little butt.

“So?” I answered to show I was tracking. Maybe I could get down some of the pudding.

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