I met a 5 year-old with a clear future in sales, and frankly it's scaring me to death!

This morning I took the dog out for his "morning duty" (actually the taking-out part is more my duty than the dog's, but anyway...). A small boy about five or so was riding his bike past us and stopped to ask "Does your dog bite? Can I pet him?".

Andy is a 13 yr. old Lassie lookalike and still attracts his share of attention from nostalgic parents and their kids, but at the equivalent of 93 human years he's moving pretty slow and has gotten a tad grouchy. "No," I said, "but he's really old and doesn't much like to be fooled with". (In other words, "No, you can't pet the dog".)

"I WANT to pet him!! So how old is he?", asked the boy. (Clearly we're having trouble taking "No" for an answer)

Trying to avoid explaining the concept of "dog years" vs. human years to a five year old, I answered, "He's just about the oldest dog you'll ever see and too old to pet!"

The boy thought for a minute and said: "Well, I can pet my dog and he's waaaaaaaaaaay older than your dog! ... And he's DEAD too!"

And I couldn't think of a thing to say ... (okay?, fine?, pet the dog?, whatever)

There's two possible interpretations of this story. Either the boy has a very strange relationship with his dog or he's a future sales rep. He seems to have already learned persistence and how to handle ANY objection!

I can't wait 'til he shows up at my door selling candy or magazine subscriptions. It's going to be hard to say "No"

Tim McMahon is the author of four books, a global sales speaker, and a leading sales & management trainer.