Children and dogs are among the best salespeople on the planet … and they’ve never had any formal training on how to position or close the sale …

They both sell the same way and it is incredibly successful.

They go into the sale knowing exactly what they want … they are clear about their intended outcome.  They communicate very clearly what they want from you, even though they may not even be able to do it in actual words.  

Importantly, they make the exchange that every one of us want at some level … they show us real joy, excitement, gratitude and even love for us when we agree.  They establish an intimately informed connection with us.  They observe all our behaviours and really connect into who we are.

The really switched on ones show all that connection BEFORE they ask for the sale.

Every day, my 18 month old dog, Bowie, asks me to go outside and play with him in the morning and then take him to the park in the afternoon.  He has to sell it everyday because I’m really busy and often don’t feel like I have the time or energy to go.

Every day, he greets me with absolute enthusiasm and joy for seeing me and then he gets down to work to sell me on what he wants.  It’s a fair exchange … he makes me feel wonderful and, in return, he gets to play.

Every day, the price I will have to pay in terms of time, and the timing, to take him out is more than I really want to pay, but every day I pay it because he offers much greater value than the price he is asking.

When salespeople tell me that their customers only ever buy on price, my first thought goes to how well the value exchange is being expressed.  People can only buy on price if there is nothing of greater value to focus on.

Price is important, but in every market, there is someone charging the highest price and they usually do very well.  That tells us that price is not the main thing at all.