The Biblical Truth About Sales Conversations

I remember the first time I tried my hand at a sales job. I was twenty-two years old, living in London, England. I’d done very, very well in customer service with the company I worked for. I was young, energetic, and full of confidence (in myself - and not the right kind).

Pride preys upon the spiritually inexperienced. I wanted to sell for that company, but they took so long to move me to sales that I applied elsewhere … and got offered a job selling memberships at a health club in the financial district. Everything seemed to be going right.

But the truth is I didn’t know what I was doing. Very quickly, I found myself spending one day after another, getting nowhere. I sold “zilch, zero, nada” for most of my brief tenure at my new employer. Typical of the time, they offered little to nothing in the way of true sales mentorship. Eventually, I blew my stack (via e-mail) to my boss, and he fired me.

Without going into detail, those days led to a lot of “if only” moments.

If only I’d realized how good I was at customer service and stayed where I was, I might be part of an executive team today!

If only I’d understood that in the Kingdom, service IS sales … I probably could have sold quite well! But I was just an infant in my journey, and I thought sales was about having charisma and “knowing all the right things to say.”

For any observant reader, my story sheds light on how deeply pride and greed operated beneath my new Christian façade. (Is it any wonder Paul counsels against the appointment of new believers to high office in the church?) To make truly valuable sales, I believe Yeshua would have us operate from humility and generosity instead.