Parallels Between Sales and Evangelism

As college students, we hear quite often how to improve one’s salesmanship skills and sales strategies. Professors and guest lecturers speak on tips for improving our skills from non-sales selling to the art of listening to a client. Another topic that we hear often is that of Christianity and evangelism. We hear that in order to effectively convey our beliefs and faith to someone in an attempt to help them, we must ask questions and listen. These two seemingly different acts are actually quite similar and share a multitude of skills and practices.

Have you ever confronted a friend who had a problem that you knew how to fix? I think we all have. Sometimes, the individual welcomes your input with open arms and other times, they white knuckle the encounter. You understand how to resolve the pain they are feeling and are trying to convey this solution in a way that is easily understandable and digestible. This is how many salespeople feel when talking to a client. They believe that they have a solution for their clients problem, but they also need the client to understand that they in fact have a problem. One strategy for effective communication is simply asking questions and listening. If you ask effective and open-ended questions, the client will hopefully end up talking about the issue they are experiencing. At this point, there is nothing to do but listen. The same strategy is effective in evangelism as well. By asking the person if they experience pain in their life and an empty void in their soul, this can open up an opportunity to fill the void with God. One of the best ways we can love one another is by simply listening. Asking thought provoking and excavating questions and actively listening to the response is not only an effective sales method, but will also prove to be an excellent strategy when sharing the Gospel to someone.