What I Learned From My Dog

My dog, Shannon, is a very big part of my life, but she is more than just a companion. She has taught me many important things about life. Sweet, funny, loyal, smart, opinionated, assertive, playful and strong are just a few of the adjectives that describe her.

Like most dogs, she has certainly been instrumental in reminding me about the value of unconditional love, loyalty, curiosity, self confidence, focus, and the importance of play. However, what impresses me most is what I have learned about selling from her.

Shannon truly lives a grand life, a dog's life. She gets two square meals a day, overstuffed beds - for sleeping in every room of the house, an hour of exercise a day, way too many treats, peanut butter filled bones for her teeth, regular grooming visits to the local doggie spa, and lots and lots of play time.

One of the reasons she gets better than the average, high quality play time, is that she is a master sales person or is that sales dog?

At last count, I know she had a vocabulary that recognized at least 35 words.  However, what is so amusing to me is not what words she can recognize, but rather how much she can communicate her thoughts and wishes, nonverbally, with her face and actions.

Shannon is at best, very communicative about who she loves and who she loves to be with ! When friends visit, she is the first to greet them at the door, jumping up and down, squirming, wriggling her tail, and jumping up to smack a big kiss, with a big wet tongue, right on your face. I don't remember the last time any person acted in this manner when I showed up at their house. And God forbid, I certainly don't recall anyone piddling on the floor with excitement to see me. If you think you might have, perhaps that is best kept a secret.

She is also great at letting me know when she needs to relieve herself. No barking or jumping up and down. She just quietly walks to the door and stares at me, I dare say with a bit of contempt in her face, as if to say "Hey, can you see me standing here patiently by the door? Get off your butt and let me out." I swear I can see her eyes roll.

If I am nowhere near the door when she needs to go outside, she has a way of running up to me, wherever I am, and engaging me in a way that I just know what she needs. Its reminiscent of the old Lassie episodes I watched growing up. You know, the ones where Lassie would come running up to the farm house door, barking at Timmie and his mother, June Lockhart. "What is it Lassie?", she would ask. Timmie would look at Lassie straight in the eye, and say, " I think Lassie is trying to say that grandpa has fallen off the tractor in the apple orchard and can't get up. She wants us to follower her." Yeah, something like that. :)

With a twitch of her eyebrows, gulp, smack of her tongue, or a simple glance, who can't tell from this video, that she wants the Lorna Doones on the plate?

Shannon has a simple procedure for letting me know she is ready to eat.  She runs to her bowl and just stares at it.  If I don't immediately respond, she interprets my lack of action as confusion.  She then nudges the dog food canister to indicate that I should put some of this into her bowl and then back off.

She loves to swim, run, take walks and chase after balls, after all, she is a lab. When it comes to anything remotely resembling exercise or play, this is where her mastery of the traditional 7 Steps of Selling comes in handy.

How To Get Me to Throw Her Ball . . .

Step 1 - Prospecting

When it comes to finding a prospect, she only has two choices in our household.  We are both repeat buyers, so she has already pre-qualified us.

Step 2 - Preapproach

She begins by looking for her ball. Once found, and firmly in mouth, she instinctively sizes both of us up to see who might be more receptive at the moment.

Step 3 - Approach

In one situation, I am already in the pool swimming and she wants to both swim and have someone throw her ball. I am the obvious choice. She advances into position.

Step 4 - Presentation

She stands by the side of the pool with her orange ball firmly in her mouth and stares at me. Based on my previous buying behavior, I should understand the pitch. She crunches the ball in her mouth. I have seen it before. However, she is patient with me and figures that a demonstration may be in order. She drops the ball and nudges it to roll in my direction. It plops into the pool and begins to float.

Step 5 - Overcoming Objections

I pick up the ball and place it back on the edge of the pool. I am not buying at the moment. I am relaxing. She is persistent. She nudges the ball again into the pool. She is oblivious to my objection and knows that a good salesperson must be able to take a "no" as many times as it takes until every objection has been overcome. No doesn't really mean no. It just means no until you change my mind. She continues to push the ball in my direction and I continue to just hand it back to her. She knows the first one to speak loses. She can do this all day. But I cannot.

Step 6 - Close

Always Be Closing! She finally wears me down and I throw the ball for her. I resisted as long as I could but she is relentless. I knew that she would not be satisfied with one throw, and that I would have to throw it continually until my arm falls out of its socket. But she wins. Again!

Step 7 - Follow-up

After a good hour of playing in the pool, Shannon later cozies up at my feet with a big sigh to let me know that she had a real good time and is a happy dog. How could I resist her charm?