How Dogs Help You Gain Referrals

There once was a dog named Money. I saw his photo last week for the first time and knew I needed to raise money for Money’s medical bills. Money is suffering from heartworms and has been brought into rescue by the Northern California Chapter of IMPS, Internet Miniature Pinscher Service. This is my plea for money for Money. (If I have your attention already and you want to donate $5-here is the link https://www.gofundme.com/7gptr-heartworm-treatment)

 I am going to tell a story of how dogs help you gain referrals. 

I was not always a dog person. In fact, most of my life I was NOT into dogs at all. Until the mid-2000s when I was managing a political campaign. Then it all changed. The candidate and his wife were huge dog people. I knew that if my working with them was going to work I needed to more than just tolerate their Miniature Pinscher and wolf dog. I would have to play with and pet them. 

This couple was involved with a rescue organization called “IMPS” Internet Miniature Pinscher Service. At the height of campaign season, they had a foster dog living with them. A geriatric dog, Mylo. Mylo was about 6 pounds but thought he was 160 pounds of lean muscle. He didn’t have a lot of teeth which was obvious when he snarled. I was still at the dinner table when I was told to hold Mylo. Still not sold on dogs, I knew I had to hold the dog.

I turned my head for a second and Mylo grabbed the chicken breast off my plate. It was as big as his head. I remember looking over saying “I like this dog. He has guts to do that.” A few weeks later I adopted Mylo.

A few years later I went with a fellow volunteer to pick up a young female dog to bring into rescue. Somehow between the time of picking up the dog and the time of me being dropped off at home this dog was going to be fostered by ME. When I walked her the first few times in my neighborhood she acted like she owned the streets. When she saw bigger dogs, she wasn’t fazed. She had a litter of puppies before coming into rescue, so this 6-pound chocolate bitch had huge teats. I never filled out the intake paperwork. I adopted this dog and named her Bette Midler. She is my purse dog. (A buying consideration is if she fits in the purse or not. Told you you’d get some sales skills out of this.)

Bette exposed a side of me to my clients that they didn’t always see. I remember the first time one of my clients met Bette. I was in the conference room when the CEO walked in laughing. “You know it’s funny that someone with your bravado and presence has a small 6-pound dog, right?” she said. I just responded with a half-smile/ half-smirk. “There has to be a whole other side to you when you aren’t focused on work,” she followed up with. Eight years later I still get a Merry Christmas email from this CEO, but it’s addressed to Bette and comes with a $10 gift card to Petco.

Then there was the time I was taking a MinPin into foster care for IMPS, but it had to get dropped off at my office. I was teaching a sales class that night and at the break I went to check on the dog. I don’t even remember if it was a male or female. All I remember is that a group of grown men got mad at me when I wouldn’t let thehttps://www.gofundme.com/7gptr-heartworm-treatment

dog run loose in the classroom, so they could play with it. That dog was later adopted by a friend of one of those class members. And I got more referrals from that class than any previous class. 

I got more referrals, because I showed I was a human not just a consultant. It was a breakthrough of sorts. I showed more of my fun, gentle, non- work side and saw that I was still respected as the subject matter expert by participants. 

And that is the story of how dogs increase a sales person’s referrals rate. 

I am going to refer you to Money’s Go Fund Me account, asking you to give up just one fancy coffee this week by giving $5 towards his care so he can live to see another day. https://www.gofundme.com/7gptr-heartworm-treatment