0417 331 040Jesus: Your ultimate Sales Coach
His 5 Rules for Selling.
God loves selling (and sales people) and we can see many of the greatest sales techniques chosen by Jesus during his ministry on earth.
To celebrate Easter and focus on Him, I have put together the 5 Sales Rules everyone can learn from Jesus.
Rule 1: The sale is NOT everything
Dan Pink in his book ‘To Sell is Human’ found that the #1 word associated with ”sales” is pushy! With 20 words in the top 25 having negative connotations.
From my experience, this is because many sales people focus on the sale above all things. Have you ever seen that ‘look’ in a salesperson eye … when you feel like they are assessing the size of your wallet?
This is NOT great selling. Great selling is when both the experience and the outcome are positive for all players in the game.
Jesus’s first great commandment was “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Matthew 22:37 (Put Him first)
The second commandment. Love your neighbour as yourself. asks us to put others first. Their needs, their buying process. It asks us to put these above our needs and our sales process.
Rule 2: Know your stuff & Stick to the truth
Jesus was tempted to sin by the devil. When he encountered the devil, the devil tempted him with verses from the BIble. Words that are God's Truth.
Each time, Jesus knew what he was trying to do and answered with truer verse from the Bible. Each time he was able to overcome the temptations of the devil because he knew his stuff. He knew each verse in the Bible and what God meant by them. He was able to use this deep knowledge to redirect the devil and also to teach his disciples and the other people he encountered to do the same.
He was jabbed and mocked by the Jewish Leaders of his time to see if he would stumble and make a mistake. He overcame all these trials through knowing and using the truth of the scriptures. He was even prepared to say things that people didn’t want to hear. He turned the tables in the temple and was firm but fair with Thomas, reassuring and yet rebuking him for his doubt. He was at times gentle ... (...bring the children to me) and sometimes more forthright (...you nest of vipers..).
Through his trails he clung onto his truth and maintained this no matter what other people thought, said or did.
Rule 3: Tell the story to take people with you
Jesus was a great storyteller. He often used parables to explain to those listening what to focus on and how to understand his teachings.
All His stories have three key components that we can learn from:
1. What’s the story so far
2. How to solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity
3. A vision for the future with a first step for how to move toward the solution.
When we use stories to sell, we take those who are listening on a journey. We help them understand and most importantly we help them make a good decision, for them. Stories are emotive, instructive and easy to remember.
Read here for more tips on Sales Storytelling.
Rule 4: Be a servant leader
Jesus is known as the Servant Leader. He said “… whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. Matthew 20:26 " This was a radical thought in this time (and perhaps now), at a time when rulers were fierce and strong. Leaders took control, through force of will, might and power. Jesus showed and asked people to lead from a position of service, to put others before them.
He calls us to serve our customers, to understand their problem. Do you what motivates your clients? To use your skills to help to understand what they need (even when they don’t).
Once we know their problems and motivations, He asks us to bring this to them, help them understand how they can be doing better with our product or service. He asks us to be strong and humble.
Rule 5: Faith it until you make it!
You have to have faith that you are in the right place, time and job.
I have two rules for selling. First, be yourself! Second, get over yourself.
Sales don’t happen in a void, they happen in front of your clients. Wake up, take your faith and go out boldly to seek understanding, offer solutions and accept that not everyone will say yes.
There will be times when you feel alone, lost, poor of spirit. That is ok and it is part of the sales journey.
Remember that first people buy you and how you present yourself. Then, they buy your company. Lastly, they buy their understanding of your product or service and how this might help them.
There is always more to learn from Jesus in sales and life.
Here's to being a servant to our clients.
Image source: https://www.heartlight.org/wjd/matthew/1024-wjd.html