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I have spent many years in sales. I have done both in person and over the phone sales. I have learned a lot dealing with people across this country. One thing I have discovered is that we are more alike than we sometimes imagine. There seems to be some basic things that people seek…they want to be able to thrive economically, they want to have their needs met, they want to have a safe place they can call home, they want to be loved and respected.
I have also discovered that some people have actual mental problems. These people, because they do not think rationally, cannot be reached by reasoning with them. They often can be reached by emotional triggers. My sales training taught me how to do this. I always had to believe in the product I was selling as this allowed me to be truthful and not put my own financial gain above the customer’s needs. Some potential customers can be extremely mean and disrespectful. They take pleasure in causing the salesperson pain by being unnecessarily rude and disrespectful. After a while, I learned to let their comments be like water off a duck’s back. A good salesperson will not respond in kind to a rude customer.
Sales helped me to overcome being an introvert. A shy salesperson will probably not be a very good salesperson. I still find, however, that I am not very good at aimless conversation.
As born-again Believers we are not called to sell the gospel. It is a free gift that God has given to the world and is to be freely given to others by us. My sales background, however, has helped me to not trade insult for insult when attacked by “Trolls” online. I try to remain above the knee jerk reaction to retaliate and defend myself. I recall that some people are not rational and therefore cannot be reasoned with. With the Holy Spirit within me, I have the means to know how to proceed. It is more important to me to please God than it is to vindicate myself. I know that without the Holy Spirit I would descend into the dictates of the flesh and an eye-for-eye, tooth-for-tooth mentality.
Proverbs 28:1…: the wicked flee when no one pursues but the righteous are bold as a lion”. God expects us to not operate in fear. “For He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind.” (2nd Timothy 1:7).
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