God is a Salesman: Learn From the Master
Mark Stevens
Reviewed by Michelle Kerns
God as a salesman?
“Salesman” conjures
up in most of our minds a pushy, loud-suited gentleman who tries to
make us buy
something we don’t want. In Mark Stevens’ new book, God is
a Salesman, he argues that a true salesman will not resemble
a fast-talking Willy Loman; rather, Stevens says the most effective
selling can
be done by studying and copying the master salesman, God. Only by
following
God’s principles can a salesman optimize his or her selling power.
Stevens defines a salesman as “an influencer, an educator,
and a force that enables us to bridge the gap between what we see and
what may
well be the greater truth.” According to
this definition we are all salesmen, whether we are trying to sell
cars, life
insurance, make-up, or our own children on a particular life
philosophy.
According to Stevens, God is the most effective salesman of
all time. How else, Stevens asks, can we explain why God is
increasingly
popular in a world that is skeptical towards anything not backed
supported by
empirical data? Stevens contends that
the same principles that make God a hugely successful salesman to
millions
across the globe can make us just as successful in our professional and
personal
lives.
Each chapter of Stevens’ book deals with a separate
principle he has identified as a different facet of God’s “selling”
technique.
He explains the what, how, and why of the principle, then gives
specific
information on how salesmen should go about implementing these
techniques.
Several of Stevens’ principles differ greatly from the
generally accepted ideas of how a successful salesman should work. For
instance, most salesmen operate by approaching one client at a time,
pitching
their product, and then moving on to the next potential client.
According to
Stevens however, this approach is “virtually assured to deny you
exceptional
success…It makes no sense to sell one at a time.” God, Stevens says,
always
preaches to a large group of people at once, which multiplies and
amplifies his
message. Stevens suggests different ways salesmen can amass their own
“flocks”
to preach to and multiply their own sales: create a passionate blog,
host
seminars, and offer ideas to the press in order to generate news
coverage.
Stevens says that one of the reasons God is so perennially
popular is because he is intimately connected to each of his believers:
he
knows and cares about them specifically. Likewise, one of Stevens’
chapters is
dedicated to explaining how salesmen should look at their job as a
relationship
building process in which they are not just out to make a sell, but
striving to
make their clients’ lives better with the product they are providing.
He gives
specific suggestions as to how a business person can begin the process
of
relationship building with his customers as opposed to viewing them
only in
terms of personal profit.
Other principles Stevens addresses are: learning to romance
clients with an ideal or vision, not simply a product; going out of
your way to
serve your particular clients’ needs; and learning that the most
successful
selling is all about the customer’s wants and needs and the salesman’s
willingness and ability to serve these needs.
God is a Salesman
is a highly useful resource for all business people, particularly those
involved in sales. Stevens’ writing is straightforward and his
suggestions are
specific. This book would be a faith-affirming as well as useful read
for
Christian business people, but even the most devoted atheist could find
many
helpful techniques.
Mark Stevens is the CEO of MSCO,
a successful management and marketing firm. He has written over 20
books,
including Your Marketing Sucks, a Business
Week bestseller, and Your Management Sucks. He has
one of the
most successful blogs of all time, Unconventional
Thinking.