“Salesman”, there is at times a dirty connotation to that word, a feeling of distrust, ill ease that comes on from previous experiences or just media portrayal of sleazy car salesmen. There is definitely reason for that uneasy feeling that sometimes is associated with sales. Honestly the reason for that is fairly clear, there are a lot of people in sales just looking out for their own interests and not trying to serve their prospects’ needs.
As Christians we are called to be servant-minded just as Christ was. There isn’t a divide between work life and faith so as salespeople we are also called to serve. It may seem counter-intuitive or not economical to do so but it is in fact the best way to do business. What goes around ready does come around and in business relationships if you are caught only looking out for yourself odds are you will miss out on longevity of relationships in favor of short-term return. That isn’t a sustainable business model to always just go for the fast cash and swindle people at every turn.
The traditional negatively viewed salesperson is in it for the money. What if we as Christians flip that perception on its head? What if we’re in it for the people and the money is just a perk? Didn’t Jesus call us to love God and then love others? I’m not sure I’ve ever read a version of the Bible that says “Love money” or “Love success” and that is for good reason. If we are living life for each other in all things, if we seek to serve first then God will bless our endeavors. It is within his will that people care for one another and if we seek to do this in our sales and our businesses it will lead to the most prosperous outcomes for all involved.
BoweryJE22
Great post!! You could not be more right about this. In order to have any hope of changing the perception of salespeople, our main drive simply must shift from profit to the success of our customer. Hopefully more people can head this advice in the future!
this is true and I think clients can tell when you are there just for the money, creating that trust is so important.
Wonderful post! Could not have said it better than the fact that it is up to us Christians to change the perspective. Never is it not unrealistic, but will stay unrealistic if we don’t at least try to show people what it is like to be a Christian salesman.
I think this post really captures kind of the thesis of this class- that sales isn’t about learning how to manipulate people into getting them to agree to what you want. I think this goes back to the idea of irritation versus agitation. Irritation is getting people to do what you want them to do, while agitation is getting them to do what they want to do. I think this class really taught us how to agitate people without irritating them.