You may believe it takes a certain kind of person to be a salesman. That person must have an interest in always closing the deal. The sales cliché is that the organization’s sole focus is on results, and that sales is about winning, or manipulating people to get anyone to buy your product whether they need it or even want it. You can recall that famous scene played by Alec Baldwin in the movie version of Glengarry Glen Ross—“A. B. C.… Always. Be. Closing. Second prize for the most sales is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired.”
Alec Baldwin gives a sales lecture in Glengarry Glen Ross. Photo: MGM
But just about every organization has a sales or marketing department, and sales is an honorable profession. Though there is often pressure on a salesman to close the deal, you can excel in sales as a career. Moreso you can do this with a foundation of faith for your life and work. Mark Roberge, former Chief Revenue Officer for the sales division of the software company Hubspot, and now Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School, said of sales, “It’s no longer about interrupting, pitching and closing. It is about listening, diagnosing and prescribing.” The core idea is that sales is not so much about generating revenue as it is about faithfully serving the customer.
Sell a good product. If you are selling something that you fundamentally believe is a waste of the customer’s money and time, you will eventually reach an impasse where your livelihood goes against your personal principles. A saleman must know that what they are selling is worthwhile. To be a faith-centered salesman begins with a good product. Is it something the customer needs, is its price consistent with its value, and is its quality such that it will serve them for a reasonable period of time? This makes it somewhat easier to sell cars, houses or gym memberships than, say, luxury yachts or diamond-studded handbags. Sales is a profession of servanthood, the aim of which is to do good to the customer by connecting them with something they need. Romans 12:13 reminds Christians to “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”
Does this mean a Christian salesman should avoid marketing luxury or frivolous goods? After all, people buy stuff they don’t need all the time—from sugared-up snacks at Wal-Mart to a $450,000 Lamborghini Huracan. Scripture instructs that we should serve the best interest of others. That leads one to question whether what you are selling them is truly in their best interest. Though we cannot know this in every sense, we can in most and should endeavor to do our best for them as salesmen.
Never compromise honesty. Sales expert Arthur Dunn said in 1919, “If the truth won’t sell it, don’t sell it.” His words were expanded by James Samuel Knox in 1921: “When young men learn that trickery, crooked dealing and graft are in every case suicidal, and that true and lasting success never has been and never will be builded on anything less than absolute old-fashioned honesty, they have taken the first step toward a successful and self-satisfying career.”[1] These businessmen from a century ago taught that truth must be at the center of a salesman’s livelihood.
There is no greater moral foundation for the salesman than honesty. Because sales is a dialog between the salesman and the customer, at the heart it must be honest so that the process has integrity. Colossians 3:9 reminds us, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.” If you don’t believe in your own product, or that it truly serves and is good for your customers, then you must resort to dishonesty to sell it. The Bible warns against insincerity as sinful and wrong.
Be driven by relationships. The salesmen you meet who have been successful in it for years are those who prioritize relationships with people—both at work and their clients—as a key facet of their work. Scripture speaks of the importance of our relationships and the value we place on other people. James 3:17 teaches, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” To be considerate, sincere and peace-loving is to place great value on the lives of those around you, and to truly desire “good fruit” in their lives as well as yours.
Great salesmen build a career not on the first sale or the second, but on repeat customers coming back again and again over months and years, because they have been treated fairly and honestly. The secret to great salesmanship that long-terms salesmen learn is to constantly be learning about and growing the relationships with their customers. To genuinely care about them personally, and for their wellbeing and that of their families, makes business matters a trustworthy experience between genuine friends.
Salesman and ad executive David Oglevy. Photo: Oglevy Library
David Ogilvy was a British salesman who became known as “the father of advertising”. In 1931 he began selling AGA cooking stoves door-to-door. His success came from learning about his customers. He did it so well his employer asked him to write an instruction manual, The Theory and Practice of Selling the AGA Cooker, for other salesmen. Thirty years later, Fortune magazine called it the finest sales instruction manual ever written. In the manual, David wrote, “Never bully, get into an argument, show resentment, or lose your temper. Never talk down or show superior knowledge. Quality of salesmanship involves energy, time and knowledge of the product.” Ogilvy went on to form one of the most successful advertising firms of the Twentieth Century, doing campaigns for companies including Rolls-Royce, Dove Soap and Shell.[2]
Ronald Martin Popeil (1935-2021) was an American inventor and marketing personality. His TV infomercials became an overnight staple, and earned him more than $2 billion in sales during his 40-year run. His coined the marketing catchphrase “But wait… there’s more!”