This was a question recently posed in the Sales Playbook! group on LinkedIn. (It’s a closed group so no link. If you’re really interested, join the group as it’s a good one.)
It’s a US-centric group so, as you might imagine, most contributors fall into the ‘always on’ category. (That’s my confirmation bias on show there, folks. I’m a regular one-man echo chamber.)
I did contribute to the discussion about half way through saying “When I started out in sales (all those long years ago) I was very much like most of the people who have responded so far – radar always on, looking and listening for the next opportunity.
However, within a very short time my friends and family got on my case and told me to ‘switch it off’ when I was out with them. Their main complaint was that we were all there to have a good time, not to see me practice my tradecraft.”