The Best Sale I’ve Ever Made

My entire life I have loved animals. I cannot remember a time in my life where my family has not had some sort of pet whether it be a dog, cat, parakeet, rabbit, or something else. Although I have owned a wide variety of animals throughout my life, my favorite pets have been dogs. There are few things that bring me more joy than walking in the door of my house and having my dog run towards me with his tail wagging from excitement. My dog brings much joy to myself and the rest of my family now, but convincing my mom to get him was not an easy task.

I had wanted to get a new dog ever since my old dog died in the fall of 2019, but my mom was not going for it. Not only did she have the normal concerns about training and who would be taking care of it, but she still felt partially responsible for the death of our other dog even though it was out of our control.  Covid delayed the timing of things, but by spring of 2021, my sales strategy was ready to go in full swing.

I knew the first thing I had to do was ease her mind about the concerns she had. The chief worry in her mind was that she did not want to train a dog, especially since I was insisting that we get a puppy. Secondly, I would be graduating the following spring, meaning that I would likely be heading off to college later that year, and my parents would be left to take care of the dog. While these were both excellent points made by my mother, I was able to turn them around into points for my side of the conversation. I explained that I would be dedicated to caring for and training the new addition, which would be perfect timing, since it would be trained by the time I would have to leave.

Step two of my strategy involved planting a lot of seeds along the way. Not only did I want a puppy, but I specifically wanted an Australian Shepherd puppy. Thus, over the next few months, I would show pictures to my mom of an Aussie or weave things into conversation, like the fact that Aussies are highly intelligent and easy to train. It took a long time, but in November of 2021, my mom agreed to get a dog.

I think the most important aspect of this sell was the building of trust. I had to convince my mom that her concerns would not come to fruition, and she had to trust that I would hold up my end of the training and caretaking. I thinking this is very applicable to the world of sales, and shows that people are selling every day, even if they do not notice it. I was not thinking of myself as being in a selling role in the moment but looking back I definitely was.