What If Our Clients Were Like Our Dogs?

I confess that I am a dog lover. I have three dogs, Barlow, Spud and Kobe, each with their own odd personality. Barlow, black lab rescue, plays a role in one of my favorite videos, The Most Expensive Product Review Ever. Spud, a long-haired miniature dachshund, loves to participate in video product reviews. In this video, To Groom or Not Groom, I ask for your input on the Free Promo Tips Facebook page. Is it time for Spud to be groomed, or does his scraggly, working-class look work for him?

Barlow is easily distracted, as you can see in his video, The Most Expensive Product Review Ever. How many times have you been in a meeting and sense that you don’t have a client’s full attention? Buyers are busy, and this can happen. One way to curtail that is to be engaging and continue to draw the buyer into the conversation. We need to understand what their needs are and offer effective solutions to meet those needs. Like Barlow, buyers can easily tire of a sales presentation, so engage them!

Spud is a precocious little guy with a big personality. He’s high energy, loves to bark, letting our neighbors know he’s there and feels a sense of entitlement. Many of our clients have the same characteristics as Spud. They bark for attention and feel they own you.

Our oldest dog, Kobe is a mixed breed. My son picked her out from the pound as a puppy. She is about 13 years old and has lumps on her head. These are benign lumps and we have chosen to not remove them because of her age. She’s cute to us, but not so attractive to others. She looks intimidating and scares off some people, but once you get to know her, she is very sweet. We have clients like this, too.