7:40am
Saint Paul
Bang bang bang!
Bark bark bark!
“What kind of dog is that?” the rooftop solar salesman asked through the door.
Bark bark bark!
Sigh.
“Hi, good evening,” I said. “We’ve discussed solar panels. We’re not interested.” (Bark bark bark!) “Can’t talk, I’m in the middle of my kids’ bedtime…”
Bark bark bark!
“What kind of dog is that?”
Bark bark bark!
Sigh…
Dan Kennedy–marketer extraordinaire–has this story of him working, head down, getting things done…
When there’s a loud banging on his door that just won’t quit.
Kinda like my home last night.
In Dan’s case, he gets up to see why all the racket.
Who is this unwelcome pest? Dan thought to himself.
“Your backyard is on fire!” the neighbor tells Dan when he gets to the door.
And just like that, the neighbor goes from an unwelcome pest… to a welcome guest!
Dan ties this story to a marketing lesson, of course.
Well, my backyard wasn’t on fire.
It was a door-to-door sales call.
And this solar panel salesman was trying to engage me in a conversation–about my dog, to break the ice I guess–when I had already told him I was both busy, and not interested.
This was clearly a case of being unwelcomed, when 8pm banging and a barking dog are disrupting bed time.
Granted, my kids are 11 and 9, so it’s not like they’re infants.
But the salesman didn’t know that, and bedtime is challenging enough regardless of their age.
And this salesman would not stop talking to me.
What could I do?
He was mid-sentence… going on about solar panels…
And I closed the door on his face.
He kept talking!
Then I turned off the outdoor light.
Left him in the February cold.
And walked away.
Harsh? Perhaps. Door to door sales is hard enough.
But read the room my brother, and try to find a way to be welcomed. Or at least, not unwelcomed.
Have a great weekend,
Jeffrey
PS. Our dog is a “whoodle,” a half wheaten terrier, half poodle. Or sometimes called a “wheatonpoo” or a “western town dog.”
Ok, I made up that last one a few years back, because I thought the other options sounded stupid.
And if you’d like to discuss business and how you can be a welcomed guest to your audience, maybe I can help. To get started, reply to this email now.