Walking the Talk


I hope you find this interesting.

On January 24th, we hosted a luncheon to introduce CEO’s to our company and it’s offerings.

The next day, at 4:57 PM (after a long day on the phone), I sent the following email to one of them.


I hope that you enjoyed yesterday’s Luncheon. I’ve been on the phone all day and received very positive feedback. I called you this morning to get your feedback,…….I have a glitch………..I’m trying to get to everyone before I leave on vacation at the end of next week, but you know how the last few days before vacation can be. So, if you’re available, would you call my cell phone tomorrow morning? I’ve got a 9 that will probably go until 11, but I’ll be available from 6-9, or 11-noon. Then I’m booked for the rest of the day.

At 5:13 PM, he replied with, Will do.

We met on January 30th in our office. I followed up the next day with the plan and received an reply by email at 5:16 AM the following morning. I went on vacation, but before I left, we agreed that we’d pick up where we left off when I returned.

I sent him an email at 6:16 AM on Feb 13th. He responded at 6:58 AM with (in part) It is in the  6 A.M. hour, I am at my desk…… Not the least of which is the will to DO WHAT IT TAKES to succeed. We agreed to follow up this week.

Yesterday, I sent him an email at 9:19 PM giving him my schedule today. 

Today, we talked three times. The last time he called me was at 5:12 PM while I was doing my “power walk”. He made two comments that I’d like to share. First, he pointed out that by carrying my cell phone and answering it while I was walking showed my commitment to “walk the talk” and that I was, indeed, available to my clients when they needed me to be available as I pointed out in my last post. Then he said, “Let’s do it. Let’s move forward.”

So, here’s the lesson. We had many contacts during 9-5 business hours, but look at how much happened before 7 AM and after 5 PM. How much of his willingness to work with me is due to my ability and how much is due to my availability?

One thought on “Walking the Talk

  1. I love this example! As we’ve said before, there is a certain feeling one gets after a hard day’s work. I report to a hard charging director of sales. I can choose to focus on how hard he pushes me or I can simply “out work” him… There is no shame in hard work!Thanks for the story and the inspiration! MRM

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