You can read every sales book and take every training course in the world, yet it will always be true that a conversation with a prospect will never go exactly the way you expect it to go. That’s not to say that planning isn’t important. In fact, having a plan is a big reason some salespeople succeed where others fail. But the critical component isn’t just coming up with a good plan – it’s sticking to it when things get hairy.

If you’re like most people, you’ll find that conversations outside of a training setting are much more fluid than the scripted ones we have when role-playing. This is why it’s not enough to just come up with a plan; you also need to take steps to ensure you can stick to it when the going gets tough. Here are five things you can do to help you stick to…