What Kind of Dog are You?

People who know me will tell you that I'm the epitome of a ‘dog lover'. Rhodie is my Rhodesian Ridgeback mix that I adopted in 2006. We have been thru quite a bit together. He is my true buddy that is always there for me. No matter how bad of a day I have he is there waiting for me with a big smile (metaphorically of course) and his tail wagging a mile a minute. I can truly say he ‘completes' me. One thing that people say is that Rhodie has quite a few of the same traits that I have.

Now in the world that I ‘work' in (real estate sales) things can get pretty precarious. Sometimes if you don't step back and take a humorous perspective you can find your ‘work' life being dragged into your personal life. Also you must find a way add humor to your time on the clock. The way I do this now is by giving my colleagues a breed of a dog. Now I'm not doing this to disrespect anyone, it's just my way of giving a humorous look into the

A book I read some time ago was called Sales Dogs by Blair Singer. He had a brilliant take on each person and how each salesperson has a different breed of dog inside of them.

They were as follows:

1. The Pit Bull - This type of person who is a take no prisoners kind of beast. Close the deal no matter what. Never takes no for an answer. Send him in anywhere and he can CLOSE! He can be a great asset, yet in the long run can alienate some clients due to him being boisterous and brash.

2. The Golden Retriever - Everyone loves this person. He will go out of his way to do anything for his clients. Nothing is out of the question (ethically of course) and actually will ‘beg' for the opportunity to do stuff to keep a client. These people make friends easy, but also find themselves not being productive because they are too busy trying to please instead of focusing on the task at hand.

3. The Poodle - The sophisticated one. You will see him driving his Benz. Wining and dining his clients, wearing on the best of the best clothes and very rarely does he not have his PDA in hand. Very distinguished, this breed is great with the country club folks, but may be resented by others who may feel they are being talked down to.

4. The Chihuahua - The super high tech breed. You will see him punching away at his laptop. Tons of spreadsheets and graphs are his way of understanding. He has great qualities
and is the king of the boardroom slide show. Great for explaining the details but may confuse clients in the process.

5. The Basset Hound - Everyone's favorite to go have dinner with. You can't help but to like him. He always has great stories. Very slow to move and not threatening in the least. He is great to build relationships with clients but is usually lazy at keeping up with their clients and new business may not ever come in.

I can relate to each of the breeds. I admit when I first got into business 12 years ago I was more of a pit bull; I was always after the closing. As time has passed I've found myself learning from other successful sales dogs, not just in the real estate field, but other fields that were not sales related.

My goal is to be what is called a ‘Big Dog' (not in an egotistical way) but a little mix of all the breeds. The only way I can do this is to become a ‘sponge' and pick up a good trait from everyone that I come across. Becoming a ‘big dog' is a process that forces you to shut up, put your ego in check, watch and learn. So much can happen when you step back and soak it all in.

So what kind of dog are you??...............