A Border Collie Kind Of Sales Test

About three weeks ago, one of the farmers I work for gave me an opportunity to make some extra money. His dog just had some puppies at the beginning of October and he needed them gone. He told me that if I could get rid of them I could keep the whole profit, I simply just had to pay him back for whatever dog food they ate until they were sold.

When He first gave me this job, I honestly didn’t try very hard. I posted in only one place on Craigslist, and then just hoped for the best. In the first two days, I got over 20 emails asking about the puppies. I wasn’t prepared for this, and my inbox quickly became a mess. I didn’t know who I responded to, and I wasn’t very assertive. I answered only the questions they asked and nothing more.

Every single lead who contacted me in those first two days fell through. This continued for two weeks.

I was so annoyed. These were adorable little puppies! Was I really that bad of a salesman? (Yes, I was) Why were so many people reaching out talking about how interested they were in these puppies, but then didn’t ever make the final commitment to come and buy one?

November hit. Two weeks of opportunity: 0 puppies sold. After only 3 days of studying sales, I was no longer surprised.

Things I realized I did wrong:

• Created only one posting in one city for the puppies.
• Didn’t have hardly any extra information on the puppies or the parents.
• Averaged a day and a half between messages received and responding
• Offered only four pictures of the puppies. Low-quality at that.
• Replied to messages with the bare minimum, not asking any questions in return.

And I will probably realize even more things that I did wrong after more time studying sales. If this was what I learned in three days, imagine what I’ll learn by the end of the month.

So, what did I do? Two days ago, I changed only one of these things and saw immediate results. I responded immediately (within 3 minutes of every email or text). After a day of this, I then took a few more photos, I began responding by asking questions about what they were looking for, seeing what else I could do to help.

Since I did this, I’ve had five people contact me. Three of them have bought a puppy, and one is coming tomorrow to look at the remaining two.

I didn’t decrease price, I didn’t offer anything extra, I didn’t even post anywhere else. I simply put into practice some of the techniques I had learned in getting to a buy.

It worked. With flying colors. I made $150 in two days, simply by responding to messages right away and getting more personal with potential customers.

This is what can happen if you research and put into practice what you learn. 10 of 10 would recommend.

This makes me so excited to see what else will present itself in the next month! This journey’s only beginning, and I’m ready to keep working hard and getting better at it!

P.S. Who wants the last puppy?