Tea with my failure(By Tony Green)

Recently I had yet another sales interview on my quest to enter technical sales. Why at this point of my career? Quite simply, I am a people person and most sales positions can pay the money I want.
During this quest I have interviewed with some people who told me that I had no previous sales experience. Sales are about overcoming objections and in my estimation, if I could not overcome the interviews objection then I did not deserve to be in sales.
When the interviewer pointed to my lack of sales experience I tried to sell him about some of my pre and post application support and account manager experience. After a good dialog we agreed these were sales related but not exactly sales.
I told him I dabbled in sales and was looking for the opportunity to fully immerse myself. In an attempt to persuade him I told him I was ready to take the plunge.
Unfortunately, he not looking for a dabbler, he was looking for tea, in other words an experienced sales person whom we agreed I was not. In the end, even though, I made a good accounting of myself I was not what this company was looking for. Therefore the question was since I have been identified as dabbling in sales, and the goal was to fully enter the sales profession did I want sugar or lemon with my tea (failure)?
As I thought about it I was temporary glum but I could only be sad for a short time. In true sales fashion toward my quest to get into sales I had get mentally ready for the next interview. Tea anyone?

No thank you (by Tony Green)

Occasionally while I am working the topic of military service comes up. Generally, once you tell someone your served in the military you get the comment “interesting” or “Wow” or ”Where were you stationed?”
But once in a while I get heartfelt “Thank you for your service”. Every time I hear it I am slightly surprised as most people, in my opinion, forget those who sacrifice either their time during times of peace or their lives in times of war for their security.
On any given holiday, there are always some military personnel on patrol somewhere in the world. Of course, on a few holidays it was me.
Although being away from loved ones came with the job being away from loved ones is always difficult on the service members and their families. However, if you know that thanks to your effort that your loved ones will be safe from oppression it makes it easier to live with. Even still, I remembered that it was sometimes difficult to see the appreciation and worth of what you were doing.
Therefore, the acknowledgment that a person is even thoughtful enough to realize the price servicemen and servicewomen pay for their freedom makes a big difference in making me realize why I was out there.
So in that case, my reply for thanking me for my military service is thank you for making feel my service was worthwhile is they are the reminder of what and who my military service was all about.