Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963, was once asked the question, “Considering all of your experience and preparation, what is most likely to blow a government off course?”
His famous reply was, “Events, my good man, events.” Or as Frederick the Great 18th century soldier’s warning, “All is for naught if an angel pisses on your flintlock.”
No matter what you are selling, products, services, software, advice or ideas, sales is a people business. People, language, and perspective often matter more than product or service or price.
And people have a tendency to move in unpredictable ways and say unpredictable things, often at very unexpected moments.
HPS has been, since the writing of the book, first considered to be a linear process that will produce high probability sales. And most of the time, with the right implementation and mindset, HPS works reliably well.
However, as a process alone, as our wise old Prime Minister says above, sometimes, sometimes seemingly often, “events, my good man, events” or unpredictable external events occur and we get ourselves lost as to what to do or where to go next.
The next HPS Community Forum will discuss common ways that our best laid HPS intentions can go awry, our prospects can go in completely unexpected directions.
AND, we will provide strategies and ideas on how to get your sales process back on track, both from a one-on-one sales situation, as well as a holistic perspective on the business in which sales take place.
It is essential that one’s own HPS Principles, Values, Standards, and experience are considered in the sales recovery process and we will cover those as well.
High Probability Selling Community Forum Discussion
Live and Interactive Video Discussion on Zoom,
led by Paul Bunn and Carl Ingalls
Thursday 8 January 2026
9:30 AM (USA Eastern Time)
Supported by Voluntary Donation
If you want to attend this Live Forum event, please register here.
If you want the recording for this Forum event, please wait until the following day (Fri 9 Jan) and then order the recording from the HPS Online Store.
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