(Not a) Sales Job

At the start of this “Sales in the Startup” course, I had the impression that I would never be in sales, nor would I ever want to. The second class period, though, we learned a bit about non-sales selling. And coincidentally, we discussed the very job I have an internship in right now: ministry.

Non-Sales Selling

The term non-sales selling is introduced in Daniel Pink’s book, To Sell is Human in the first few pages as, “persuading, convincing, and influencing others to give up something they’ve got in exchange for what we’ve got.”

As the book continues, I learned about a study done entitled What Do You Do At Work? “where two main findings emerged: 1. people are now spending about 40 percent of their time at work engaged in non-sales selling — persuading, influencing, and convincing others in ways that don’t involve anyone making a purchase. Across a range of professions, we are devoting roughly twenty-four minutes of every hour to moving others. 2. People consider this aspect of their work crucial to their professional success — even in excess of the considerable amount of time they devote to it.”

Ministry

For the past (almost) year, I have had an internship at a church in middle school ministry. I go to every youth group event that is held, hang out with middle-schoolers frequently, and am always looking for ways to relate to them.

How does this relate to selling, you might ask, like I did early on in the class? Pink’s book poses the question: “What percentage of your work involves convincing or persuading people to give up something they value for something you have?”

When I thought more about this – it hit me. Something that we say in the church ALL the time is along the lines of “Lay down this old, no good, anxiety-filled life. Lay down your burdens, and trade it for a loving, caring, incredibly selfless love that Jesus provides!” Perspective change. I’d love to have a job in sales. Helping others see that what I have (a relationship with Jesus) is so much more valuable than anything they could ever have would be a job I would be in love with and honored to have.