Well stated! You have my blessing to contradict me at any time. Thanks for the incite.

Computer people deal with the concept of “exception handling.” This is merely a way of asking what to do when things don’t follow normal flow of execution. Exceptions may happen for a number of reasons, from external hardware malfunctions, to running out of memory, to a user pressing a special button either for emergency or simply to get an interesting operation to happen. Or a real-life interruption occurs.

Some computer programs are extremely unfriendly with their exception handling. The Blue-Screen-of-Death exemplifies that. Others are far nicer, e.g., even if an exception happens, you’re still able to save your work. And others note, yes, the exception needs to be acknowledged, and we can give the user several choices.

I used to say if you want your computer programs to run right, your exception handling must be exceptional.

I liked the C++ model of handling exceptions. (I also like the name of that language, it’s a reminder to be a cut above.) C++ lets you write parts of a program in a “try” section. You believe things will flow nicely there, e.g., setting up appointments, making presentations, etc. Yet as you’re trying things, you know an exception may always be raised by your client, their supervisor, their on-staff consultant, etc. C++ then lets you write a special section called the “catch block” where you sort and process exceptions.

Your choices in catching an exception include a) ignoring them, b) aborting the program or c) writing a custom handler that’s graceful.

I use the same model when preparing my sales calls. I have a block of things I want to try. Then I try to anticipate as many objections as I can. I put those in the “catch” block of my script. I never use the Ignore option, that’s a sure way to lose a sale. Some I just can’t do anything about and I tell them point blank. Many others I can customize for the client, either beforehand or on the fly.

I only wish more of my engineering friends would use the try/catch model in other parts of their lives, especially the one about handling exceptions known as “rejection” by potential dates.

At least in sales and marketing, we aim for success rates and graceful recovery (if we want to continue selling.) In fact, some sales that may look lost at one point can actually come to fruition when you write exception handlers unique to that customer.