Selling as a career has a whole new set of rules when you're a Christian. The Bible becomes your rule book, not in any kind of restrictive sense but as guide to supreme success if you act according to its principles. God wills that you should prosper. In Psalm 53:27 we are told that the Lord " . . . delights in the prosperity of His servant." But if you simply become wealthy, you will have settled for the crumbs that have fallen from the table. You should have fun in selling as you accumulate your fortune. There should be joy in your life that "sets your feet a-dancing," and peace in your heart. That's the whole loaf of success. Don't settle for less.
The very first step toward your success as a Christian salesperson is to scrutinize yourself -- outside and in.
In 1 Samuel 15, the Lord speaks a truth that needs to be understood by every salesperson. The chapter tells of that time in Israel's history when King Saul had fallen from God's favor through disobedience. The Lord tells the prophet Samuel to fill his horn with oil and to travel to Bethlehem. There he is to meet with Jesse.
"I have selected a king to myself among his sons," the Lord said to Samuel. "You are to anoint for Me that son whom I will designate."
Now Jesse had eight sons. When Samuel saw the son named Eliab, he figured he was looking at God's chosen. The man was tall, well-built, handsome.
But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
The son that was finally anointed was David, who later slew Goliath with a slingshot. But what we're interested in at the moment is God's comment about how man sees: Man looks at the outward appearance.
If man was like God and could see the heart of man, then salespeople with an honest and sincere heart would have it made. The prospect would look at the salesperson's heart and immediately see that his/her sales effort is not being motivated simply by the desire to earn a commission, but by a belief that the product being sold will be of genuine benefit to the prospect. In that circumstance, the outward appearance of the salesperson would be of little consequence. He or she could dress in rags, have a crooked smile and bad breath. If the prospect became convinced of the benefit of the product, he would still buy.
But God tells us man looks at the outward appearance. When you're in the middle of your sales day and someone looks at you, what do they see? If you dress in rags, have a crooked smile and bad breath, you'll get brushed off by the prospect's secretary no matter what's in your heart or what you have to sell.
Jesus the carpenter was a first-rate carpenter. He didn't ply his trade with a dull chisel. Paul, the tent maker, didn't use a rusty needle. Peter didn't fish with a hole in his net. You're a salesperson. Your outward appearance is a tool of your trade. You can get sized up, computerized, catalogued and rejected in the time it takes for the human eye to travel from the top of your head to your shoes. That overall first impression has to be favorable — always. You must look neat, business-like, well-groomed.
Avoid extremes in clothing fashions, extremes in hair styles. You don't want to give the appearance of a "sharpie," but then again, you don't want to look like a hick. How is your taste in clothing? If you're not sure, it's time you found out. There are several good books on the subject of dressing for success; get them; read them. Study a few national news magazines and business publications, paying attention to the garb of politicians and businessmen and women in the captioned photos. Notice the cut of their suits, the styles of their dresses, the ties they wear, their shoes. Do you dress as they do? Theirs is the commonly accepted look of success. It doesn't hurt to emulate it. National TV newscasters are also generally good models for you. But watch out for the local announcers because they sometimes look like Humpty Dumpty and Little Bo Peep.
Your clothing should, of course, be clean and well-pressed. Don't forget to shine your shoes. Just because they're way down at the floor doesn't mean nobody sees them.
Grooming. Men generally offend more here than women. No blackheads, no nose hairs sticking out a mile from your nostrils, no uncontrollably bushy eyebrows, and no face with a five o'clock shadow. Spend a few extra dollars the next time you're in your barber's chair or at the beauty shop and tell your hair stylist it's important you look like a successful business person no matter what he has to do to vary from your present hairstyle. And then abide by his decision!
Don't offend with body odor or denture breath. If you're a new Christian and still fighting drinking or smoking, realize that any alcohol on your breath will get you stamped as a rummy. And who wants to do business with a drunk? As for smoking, why not make an effort to quit. It's true, you won't go to hell for smoking, but it sure makes you smell as if you've been there.
Good posture is important, so learn to stand tall. You need a firm handshake -- firm and friendly -- not a vise-like grip. But then again, it shouldn't feel like grabbing hold of a dead fish.
You need good health and the energy that good health supplies. The profession of selling demands it or you'll drop dead before your time. The devil wants to destroy you, and the easiest way he can do it is to get you to eat junk food and have you about fifty pounds overweight. So watch your diet. Trim yourself down. Exercise.
Then there's your smile. It's the single most important asset in your physical sales arsenal. But the question arises: are you really smiling? Some of us think we are, but what comes across is a smirk. While we're doing our best to be friendly, the other person is thinking, "I wonder what the heck he's laughing at?" So test your smile. Go into the privacy of your bathroom, look at that person in the mirror and smile. What we want is the kind of smile that's like a ray of sunshine breaking through dark clouds after a rain, the kind that makes your eyes shine, the kind that kindles warmth in the person you're talking to.
Did you know non-Christians can't really smile the way you can? Oh, with sufficient practice they can learn to move their face muscles into the proper position so that what results is a reasonably pleasant face, but if you observe carefully you'll note a decided difference because there's a spiritual quality to the winning smile of a Christian. This can be proven by connecting a couple of verses of Scripture.
Proverbs 15:3 tells us, "A joyful heart makes a cheerful face." Look at the faces of the people in the world around you — hangdog, bulldog, dour expressions. But "a joyful heart makes a cheerful face." That's where that winning smile comes from; it bursts forth from a joyful heart. Now where do we get joy? "The fruit of the Spirit is love -- notice -- joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Galatians 5:22) When a Christian smiles his smile of love, what you see is the showing forth of Jesus by the Holy Spirit dwelling within. How's that for a sales tool?
So now the secretary opens the door to usher you into the presence of the prospect and what does he see? -- a man or woman impeccably dressed, casually at ease, the outward appearance of a successful businessperson, his or her face lit by a smile that once, by the shores of Gennesaret, attracted such crowds pressing against Him that He had to put off a short distance from shore in order to teach them.
That's your outward appearance. And what's inside of you? His strength: "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13) His wisdom: "For the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. (Proverbs 2: 6,7) His power: "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)
If those aren't qualities to get a signature on a contract, then Starbucks doesn't know how to brew coffee!
"But," you say, "although I'm a committed Christian, I sure don't seem to have those qualities inside of me." If you are newly committed, be assured they will grow. If you have been a Christian for some time, perhaps it's time to ask for a fresh anointing from on high. The Holy Spirit wants to live in us in all His fullness if we will let Him. But some of us are leaky vessels; we don't hold much of Him for too long. We lift our hands in surrender and He pours Himself into us. For a few days we play hopscotch from Cloud Nine to Ten to Eleven, but all too soon we permit worldly cares, the pull of the flesh or some hellish imp to punch a hole in our spirit, and our strength, wisdom, and power gushes out.
Ah, yes, then it's poor you, poor me. But our stupidity lies in permitting our mood of pity to continue for any length of time. We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption. He will not desert us. Psalm 37:24 tells us that when we fall we shall not be hurled headlong (to perhaps scramble our brains) because the Lord is the One who holds our hand.
What we have to do, however is to keep asking the Father for the fullness of the Holy Spirit, asking for a fresh infilling to shore up our human weaknesses. The key to victorious living and, incidentally, to a successful selling career is to permit ourselves to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Greater is He that is in us than anyone or anything in the world. He that is within us is God -- the same God who made the universe and everything in it, from the Milky Way to the mind of man. If that God is in us and for us, who can be against us?
Does He want us to prosper? If we walk in absolute trust, faith, and obedience, He wants us to have the desires of our hearts. Does He want us to be successful salespeople? "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. (Colossians 3:23,24) Everything we do is for Jesus. We are to do it well! Woo-e-e-e-e! You'd better ask your sales manager for another pad of contracts. Since the Lord wants us to throw our hearts into our selling, and we are willing to permit the Holy Spirit to control our lives and, of course, our sales efforts, we are about to send the line on that sales chart in the office shooting right up through the roof!
(This article is an excerpt from the book "The Christian Approach to Successful Selling" by Ray Pesta. A complete version of this book is available at http://www.ebooksbyray.com eBooks by Ray
Ray Pesta is retired and lives in Sun City, Arizona where the sun shines 300 days each year. All he does these days is write, write, write.
