Paul in Sales?

Throughout this course and more so recently, I have been considering how the New Testament character, Paul, would do in sales today. Paul was a master at moving people towards his goal and that’s what sales is all about. Paul could get people to like him despite being hated for what he was preaching by so many others. One passage came to mind when we were talking about strategic mimicry and that is 1 Corinthians 9:19-23:
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Paul was a genius when it came to adapting his product (the Gospel) without compromising the truth of it, to fit the needs better of those he was selling to. This is not a ‘walk into a meeting and pitch to people what you have and hope they bite’ type of sales. Paul used a friendship-like evangelism as he came alongside them, contextualizing himself to their culture to build relationships as he shared what he had.
He was free to do much more than he did, but he submitted himself as the less powerful in the sale that he might prospect their needs and fit what he had into that. From his teaching and lifestyle, we all have much to learn from Paul as person, but I think, as I have stated, he exhibits effective selling techniques that can be used today.