This is Rollo Tamasi – my Pug.
Movie fans will recognize the name; if you’re curious, just Google it.
That’s not the point of this piece, though.
You may not know (or even care) that since May 18, my family and I have been traveling the USA in our motorhome. Our family includes me, She Who Must Be Adored (my wife), our son… and two dogs.
Rollo discovered early on in this long journey (over 5,000 miles so far) that his preferred riding spot is in my wife’s lap. It’s pretty cute, if not always comfortable for my wife.
Because having a 25 pound dog on your lap for hours on end is not comfortable, my wife frequently banishes Rollo to the rear sofa. He usually obediently lumbers back to the sofa, waits a few minutes… and the next thing you know, there he is. At my wife’s feet. Looking up with those big brown eyes, silently asking, “Can I please get back on your lap now?”
Once she has noticed him, my wife will say “No, Rollo – go back to the couch.”
And he slowly shuffles off to the sofa, head hung down as if he’d been scolded for some really, really Bad Thing. Sits on the sofa for a few minutes. And then… you guessed it: he’s back at her feet.
I’ve seen him perform this little dance as many as half a dozen times in a row, in the course of 30 minutes.
No whining.
No barking.
No bad behavior, really.
Oh, occasionally my wife gets a little irritated and maybe firms up her tone of voice – but in the end, she always sighs, smiles, and says, “Oh, okay. Come on up.”
And Rollo happily hops into her lap and soon is serenading us with the rip-roaring snores only an overweight Pug can manage.
I think there’s a very simple lesson here for sales people. And we’re all sales people, in one way or another.
Do you “get” the lesson? Post your insights here on the blog. I’ll pick one commenter to receive an advance, signed copy of my forthcoming book on copywriting and online persuasion, Writing Riches.