Now or Later

If not now - when? If not when - why not now?

For those that know me, I have this irritating quality of forcing a date on a calendar. I learned this at Accenture. The consultant's trick was to always open his day planner, palm pilot, or now Blackberry/iPhone at the end of the meeting. Like a gunslinger pulling his gun from the holster, suddenly everyone around the conference room table would pull out their appropriate scheduling tool.

I would say - "How about the week of ...... " Immediately someone would speak up - "I'm out that week". Someone else would offer -"What about ......." and before long like someone priming the pump the flow of scheduling discussion would continue until a common date was found.

Occasionally the "not now" or "not ever" person would attempt to sabotage by saying - "let's just send out a common email to get some available dates" or "I don't have my calendar with me" ....
My response was usually - "No problem - we will just pick a date now - it can always be changed later or canceled".

As S.M. (my Vistage colleague) said "Selling is a process Artfully done" and if "you don't have a date and a time", then you are not selling - you are dreaming.

So------ If not now - when? ......... and if not when, why not now?