Many times we link sales to dishonesty, to pushiness, to manipulativeness. Many think that sales is bad, or immoral, or sinful (which it can definitely be if not done the right way). However, how could sales ever have been meant to be a bad thing when half of what God does is sales? Everyday God is selling through His word in the bible.
Christianity and faith in general is invisible. We can not physically see God in the flesh and therefore we must be sold on the idea and be shown that God is indeed real, at work in our lives, and wants a relationship with us. We are shown that God is actually the benchmark example for how to be a salesperson and sets the precedent for how we ought to go about selling. Three of these values (just to name a few as there are countless more) are: Integrity, love, and storytelling — yes I indeed say storytelling.
Integrity is at essential when it comes to selling, and God couldn’t model it better. Every promise that God has ever made in the bible has or will come true. Every commitment and covenant is always upheld, and that is the basis of any good salesperson. Someone who will never compromise what is morally right just to bring home a sale. It would be pointless to lie or to represent God as anything different than who he actually is, because if reality doesn’t line up with expectation at credibility and truth is lost. This is exactly how it is in business or at least how it should be.
Love is another quality God model’s perfectly that, while not commonly associate with selling, is crucial to it. You have to love all the potential buyers you do business with and want what is ultimately best for them. Selling is not about you and how many people you can to sign a dotted line. It is about offering someone a product or service that they need and will mutually make both your lives better through the transaction.
Perhaps most importantly, God uses storytelling to show people how their lives would be more joyful and fulfilled by having a relationship with Him and have faith in Him. God — more specifically Jesus — used parables to get his point across when talking to people and show the attributes of who God is, what he stands for, and why what he calls us to do is ultimately the best thing for all of us. Jesus has a way with words that just laid out what he was attempting to explain so simply that is was practically impossible not to see the logic in it and why it would be pertinent to listen to the lesson he was trying to teach. The same is needed in normal sales. We need to tell a good story. Not a fabricated sob story that will get some sympathetic for your cause and just buy what you have to sell, but a real, practical, and applicable one that shows your drive and passion for why you do business and why you sell what you do.
Luke Hassinger
I enjoyed reading your post.. it opened my eyes to the many ways in which our Lord is a salesman! I was already aware of this from class, but your connections helped me to see it better. I agree with the reasoning behind “Love” but I would choose a different word. Love is a heavy word… to love somebody means to show or feel some sort of affection towards them. As salespeople I don’t think its professional to show/feel affection towards customers, but I agree with your reasoning behind it that we need to care them and help them find what is best for them. Nice post!