Jim Kilmartin and Sales

In another one of my classes, Entrepreneurship and Mission of the Church, Jim Kilmartin came and spoke last week.  He is a pastor and in business.  He incorporates Christian values and God in all he does.  Kilmartin graduated from Grove City College, and then he went back to his hometown where he started a business that helped underprivileged youth.  He connected them to God when the church refused to take them.  Kilmartin also was the mayor; he had to overcome people in the church congregation that did not believe he should be in politics because he was a pastor.  Kilmartin started his own cleaning business, and he used funds from that to help with the planting of a church.  Him and his wife are now in Baltimore, Maryland where they started a school and he is the pastor at a church.  They do different events to connect with the population there.  For example, they served a Thanksgiving dinner to international students that could not go home.

Kilmartin used non-sales selling all throughout his journey.  He created trust with the first kids he helped get off the streets to the international students he now sees.  Kilmartin is attuned to their pain.  Let’s break down the international students example.  He was able to increase his power by reducing it.  Kilmartin took the perspective of the students and was able to see their need.  He provided traditional Thanksgiving food, which fascinated many students, and traditional foods of their respective countries.  He was fueled by compassion to approach this meal in a way that truly connected to the students.  Kilmartin used is head as much as his heart.  He was able to see and understand the perspective of so many students, and in turn he gained their trust.  Through that door, he was able to share the Gospel, which is selling.