I don’t know how many of you have a dog, but you may be familiar with this phenomenon. Whenever someone rings the doorbell, my Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Choco, goes flying towards the front door. We have hardwood floors and there are many times when he’s going so hard he can’t stop in time and slides across the wood and slams into the door. I can only imagine the impression the person on the other side has when 80 pounds of enthusiastic dog rattles the door in its frame. Despite years of “answering” the door in this manner, it still has never been for him. But I know what he’s thinking when he walks away with his tail wagging – “next time, it’ll be for me.” That’s the attitude I try to encourage in my sales classes: no matter how many times you’ve been rejected and the door hasn’t been for you; just like Choco, you’ve got to walk away (or hang up the phone), thinking, “yes, but next time….” To succeed at sales, you’ll have to be more like my dog! That is how I achieve results with my participants: through analogies, stories, metaphors, and getting the class to ask, and then answer their own questions. I’m much more of a facilitator than a presenter or trainer – I feel like the class in its entirety is much more knowledgeable than I am as one person. And I’ve found that the strongest belief is typically in the things you discover yourself, rather than having someone tell you. My strengths are building relationships quickly, making complex topics easier to understand, and a confident, positive and energetic presentation style. Using my strengths in live or virtual training is how I help solve the problem of salespeople not achieving their goals.