It’s your 10th wedding anniversary and you’re at a fancy restaurant with your spouse. You get a text saying “Urgent: Call me now!” from your champion during the peak of a big deal cycle. What do you do?
As much as I advocate for work-life balance and unplugging, I admit that I picked “Message them back w/ ‘can’t talk now, but I’ll call back asap.’”
Wish that wasn’t my answer, tbh. But I know that I would have my phone on vibrate and would sneak a few glances at emails, texts even during an anniversary. It’s the role I signed up for, to be available often and do what I have to do to close the deals.
What I really feel guilty about is knowing that I’d have the impending phone call on my mind during the rest of the anniversary. That’s a shitty feeling. But it comes with the territory in our line of work.
Similar to @tim.hartwell, I would probably find myself in a similar boat there with a response that acknowledges receipt, and promises a follow-up.
Glancing at my phone for push notes is an everyday habit throughout the morning, afternoon, and night. Even if I’m in the wilderness on a camping trip without service, I still check (even if I know there are zero bars.)
Voting is only just getting started, but I must say I was genuinely surprised to see a seller did reply with “Wouldn’t even have seen the note, my phone’s not out during my anniversary.” Wonder if there will be more votes for that one?
Admittedly I haven’t been in such a situation, but I doubt my spouse would hold it against me to take the call when it’s tied to such a bit deal. 5 min to talk things over with the champion and then back to the anniversary.
If you’re in the middle of negotiating a huge deal you’ve likely built a relationship with your champion and shared the fact that it’s your anniversary (or big event) and had dinner plans. They will understand your need to call back later. I’d personalize the response with “can’t talk now, at anniversary dinner with my wife. I’ll call you after dinner. let me know if you need to talk sooner”
Communicating and managing expectations before your big life event is the appropriate proactive approach. Ensuring that you’ve developed someone to be able to lead through a brief time when you’re not available is obviously part of the solution as well. Assuming these things have been done and you still get the call/text, then acknowledging and committing a response later is my answer.
I completely agree with both Tims. But my wife is totally understanding and knows when I am negotiating a big deal and things can happen. Although I would let them know I would call them back later, my wife would tell me to make the call now.
yeah, my wife enjoys club. LOL!