Mormonism and Direct Sales

In my experience as a direct sales representative and with the direct sales industry, I have always strangely run int0 a lot of members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, also known as Mormons. As a Christian, I understand the faults in the Mormon faith practically make it a cult and I’ve seen the news stories of sex trafficking, strange beliefs, and controversies. My real-life encounters with Mormons in the direct sales world have been much different than what you see on the news. In working with them in a door-to-door sales summer position, I found they employ sales techniques that provide positive results and maintain customer relationships much more than the usual door-to-door salesman. In fact, 14 direct sales companies are based in Utah to capitalize on a successful M0rmon sales workforce. The LDS (Latter-Day-Saints) tradition of young people having to go “on-mission” spreading their pamphlets of doctrine door-to-door across the United States and even abroad in other countries makes a group of males ages 19-25 have an excellent experience in door-to-door sales business. Companies trade the pamphlets with their products such as solar panels, home security systems, and pest control to produce huge profits. What are their keys to success? For one, they’re persistent. LDS youth door knockers learn to cover entire neighbors preaching their beliefs to every household, no matter the good or bad reception. They also know how to handle rejection, as nearly all door knockers do not get very many converts through their efforts, if any. Adding to that, Mormons understand the power of positivity to push a message. In my days working alongside them on a sales force, they always brought positive energy to every sale and never responded harshly to a customer. Mormonism as a whole is a dying belief as thousands leave the Church every year because of its bad track record. What isn’t dying? Sales. Door-to-door sales continue to rake in cash for startup companies and primarily operate the sales tasks of tech startups in solar and home security. The combination of persistence, the ability to handle constant rejection, and continue to have a positive mindset through it all has produced a healthy sales culture for Mormons. Maybe as sales workers there’s something to learn from the odd church in Utah.