I made a grave error preparing for a party our family hosted last week. We were serving many brats and I came home from the grocery store with two mustards; yellow and Dijon. My lovely wife of twenty-nine years said, "The spicy brown must be in another bag." I said, "Not exactly." My wife said, "How could you not remember my favorite kind of mustard - how long have we been married?" Ouch.

The party, without spicy brown mustard, was a success. Throughout the party however, I reminded myself to remember my spouse's favorites from now on.

On my way to work this morning a neighbor was washing his truck. I stopped and asked him if he had embarked on the summer trip that he told me he had planned with his young son. The two have a goal of climbing and hiking the tallest peaks in all fifty states in the next few years. My neighbor said, "Thanks for asking, we just returned from climbing the peaks in states thirty-one through thirty-seven."

My neighbor has lived in the neighborhood only a few years. I have been married twenty-nine years. How can I remember my neighbor's bucket list and not my wife's favorite mustard?

How many of our clients' and prospects' wants and desires do we forget in our haste to get the sale and further the relationship? Let's dedicate ourselves to developing our memory and retention in addition to our sales skills.