Everything I Learned About Sales I Learned From My Dog

By Julie Hickey

I have been in sales for over thirty years and have learned a lot, or so I thought. Oddly enough, it was hanging out at our local dog park that educated me in a way my MBA never did. Over a year ago, when our golden Lab named Noe was old and in pain, we thought she needed a playmate. In hindsight, we waited too long and Noe completely ignored, and even considered a nuisance, our new golden retriever puppy, Oliver. Since Oliver was bursting with puppy energy, I started taking him to the dog park before and after work.

 

We had recently moved into a neighborhood that had a nearby dog park, so I could easily walk there or drive when I was short on time or feeling lazy. I started to notice patterns in the dogs and how they related to each other. I watched how they all crowded at the entrance to greet the new dogs and sniff their butts to say hello.

 

Some dogs were submissive; some were dominant. I noticed that Oliver played rough with certain dogs but gently with others. I saw the various ways the dogs interacted with each other, and I realized there were similarities to what I experienced in my sales job every day. It made me reflect on my career as a salesperson and the patterns I've noticed with customer behavior and the ways I interact with my customers. There were so many similarities between the dog park dynamics and my experiences in the sales arena that I decided to put them on paper. As you can see from the names of the chapters, the overlap is as profound as it is comical. I subscribe to the philosophy that you should not take yourself too seriously.

 

If you enjoy my insights, feel free to laugh out loud, especially if you are on an airplane.

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Skeeter Buck
• Release date: Feb 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781734766004