I Fought the Dog, And the Dog Won

I tweaked the title of the 1977 song “I Fought the Law” by The Clash to highlight an incident I had recently.

I have shared in past articles that my friend Sara fosters dogs for the Detroit Dog Rescue. You may also recall that most of the dogs have some type of behavioral issues and Sara’s latest foster, Joey, is no exception.

Joey is a mix and is a very loving, affectionate dog.

His behavioral problems center around separation anxiety. He reacts very poorly to people who leave his presence. Sara and I worked on ways for me to leave her house without creating a commotion.

On January 22, I failed miserably to follow the process, with devastating results.

That night I made a quick stop to Sara’s home to say hi. I lingered in the foyer talking with Sara rather than moving into the living room. Accordingly, Joey sensed that I wasn’t staying and became agitated.

Sara and I calmed him down, but it wasn’t lasting.

He bit onto my coat sleeve and proceeded to tug and try to pull it off my body with all his might. In my efforts to save my coat from further damage, my left ring finger slipped into Joey’s mouth.

Joey chewed on my finger for a least a minute until I was able to free it from his grip.

Seven hours, 22 stitches, two broken bones, and a trip to ER later, I was home with a mangled finger.

I learned two valuable lessons from the experience that I can apply to my professional life as a salesperson.

Here are the two things for you to chew on (some pun intended), and a few questions to ask yourself:

1. I didn’t pay attention to one of my blind-spots.

From a Sandler standpoint, I define a blind spot as an issue that a person seems unable to comprehend how important it is.
Had I moved into the living room and not stayed in the foyer the situation would have ended differently? I ignored the process Sara and I developed. Why?

As I reflect on the situation, I realized that on some occasions, I don’t take things seriously and I forget. I have a mistaken belief that I can manage any situation regardless of my preparation. This undercuts the trust people have in me. It took 10 minutes for me to undo the months of trust I developed with Joey.

What are your blind spots around selling? How do you deal with them?

2. My need for approval took a big hit.

I kept telling Sara that it was all my fault.

I was willing to take all the blame because I needed reassurance that it wasn’t all my fault. And that‘s what I got.

Sara went out of her way to say that it wasn’t my fault, that it was her fault. I unconsciously manipulated Sara into taking some of the blame just to make me feel better. But it didn’t work.

I didn’t feel any better and I am sure I did not make Sara feel better either. When things go sideways, realize that it’s your role performance that is affected, not your self-worth. I should have identified that in this incident, it was my role performance that took the hit, not my self-esteem.

Do you allow your prospects to affect your need for approval? When your role performance in selling suffers, are you allowing it to affect who you are?

To update the story, Joey and I are fine. I have re-committed to the process Sara and I developed and have gotten along well with Joey as a result.

In terms of my finger, the nail is growing back, the bones have healed, and my range of motion is improving. Over time, it will be a great story to tell.

Remember, failure is part of the human existence and we all experience it. How you handle that experience is what makes you different.