A Great Commission

 

If you are one who makes your living by getting signatures on a contract or invoice, and is paid based on gross sales, net profit, or any other production based agreement, then you likely have heard the following before: “I couldn’t do that… I couldn’t live not knowing when my next paycheck is coming and not knowing how much it will be!” For those who are not entrepreneurial, the thought of getting paid only on based on results is scary. For many of us who choose to earn income this way, doing it any other way seems less than satisfactory.

Let me break it down a bit: let’s say you work for a company who pays you a set amount per year/month/week/hour. If they are at all organized, they have metrics by which you are measured to assess your Return on Investment (ROI). Many companies have annual reviews, and some have more regular meetings to ascertain if you are earning your keep. If you are unaware of the procedure, I can tell you without a doubt that there are people above you who are talking about you and your performance at regular intervals. Because, in fact, they are being judged on their ROI based on your ROI… If you make your bosses look good, you stay and get a raise. If they cannot see that you are making money for them, an entirely different conversation is happening behind closed doors. And sometimes, employees are let go when they had little idea that their job was on the line.

So, how is that better than daily going out and chasing deals that pay you based directly on your performance? I think commission sales in some way is more honest. Not that non-commission or salaried employment is dis-honest, but that it doesn’t give you direct feedback so many times you simply do not know where you are. If you are on commission, and you have no paychecks coming in, you know you haven’t been making deals that close. There is a direct relation between performance and ROI. Granted, sometimes deals just go south when no one did anything wrong and you may in fact have worked incredibly hard. The other side of that coin is that there are deals that fall into your lap sometimes that required little effort and paid big. It all works out in the wash, as they say.

Whether you are paid on commission or otherwise, the scripture has something to say about our labor: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters…” (Colossians 3:22-24) When you look at the context of this particular verse, you will note that Paul is actually speaking to slaves. So the word “masters” is literal in this case, when held contextually. The implication and application therein is clear: when working, give it all you got, as if you were working directly for God.

Stop and think about that… digest it a bit. Pretend for a moment that God is your boss, and the He signs your paycheck each week/month/deal (whenever). Whoa!! When I put myself into this scenario, it is freaking me out just a little… The All-powerful, All-knowing, Creator of all things would be giving me my yearly reviews?!?! Have I really given it all of my heart? Have I really earned that paycheck? Every minute? As a commission salesperson, did I deliver the absolute best service I possibly could? Did I always answer honestly, and when I didn’t know something, did I pursue finding out or finding the right person to get the best information for my clients so they could make the best, fully-informed decision? Did I honor my words, and deliver what I said I would? If you are like me, you would love to answer all of these questions with a resounding, “Yes!” And as a man who has at least for some time attempted to live like this, I would say, “Most of the time…” But, without digging too deep and just being really honest, I am certain there were times when I cut corners or colored the answer a bit in my favor. I am human after all.

And there is the rub: I am only human. In the previous post we talked about holiness and working to live a life as holy as God is holy, and how difficult that call is. We all want to live above reproach and have the highest integrity. We all fail sometimes. The vast majority of the times it is small stuff… minor things that in the grand scheme really don’t matter and do not harm anyone, and even don’t effect the overall results one bit. But, there is this call to holiness… to perfection… and my boss, God, knows all.

If we are working for the Lord, then we owe every customer, every client, every person we encounter the very best of what we got. We owe them to be trained as fully as possible, to put their needs above our own, and to accept full payment of our fees. (I snuck that one in…) Yes, we deserve our pay when we deliver our services – never feel guilty about that (unless you are not delivering, of course.) ^“ For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” 1 Corinthians 9:9 (from the OT.) This is stated a few times in the bible that a worker deserves the agreed pay. If you are feeling some guilt about that, and you are discounting your fees, I believe you need to dig down deep and discover why you would do such a thing. Under-promise and over-deliver, and receive the agreed compensation. Period.

When you work as if working for God, and truly consider your clients and customers’ needs above your own, receiving the correct and fair compensation for doing so, you are a Sacred Salesperson. It isn’t how many times you tell them about Jesus (we will be talking about that in the next post) or how much you pray for them (a very good thing to do) but how well you show them what kind of service He would deliver if He were in your shoes. “Delivering God-like service!” or maybe, “All of my customers are Heavenly!” I think I start using one of those slogans! Have an awesome day!

Go therefore, and make a difference!

Holy, What?

"Be holy, as I am holy."

"That's in the Old Testament!" (Leviticus 11:45, and six other places in the OT) I have heard that as a defense against taking this literally. Hmmm, yes, but it is repeated in the New Testament.... Sorry. That argument doesn't hold up. (In the NT four times, 1 Peter 1:15-16) How about the argument: "nobody can be perfect!" This is true, but don't you think God was aware of our condition when He called us to this high task of reaching for His holiness standard? The answer is "yes" in case you don't know that God is completely aware of everything that was, is and will be. So, God, in His all-knowingness, commanded us who follow Him to be holy... Just like Him.  I don't know about you, but this seems like a very high, and impossible calling. Let’s explore this together...

Why would my loving Father ask me to do something He full-well knew I was incapable of doing? I mean, He knows me, how messed up I am, and He knows this world I live in... This world doesn't really care for me getting all "sacred and holy" on them. If I try to be holy, or sacred (essentially the same meaning), my life will get more difficult... I might even get ridiculed. (Heaven forbid!) People feel judged! Have you ever noticed that when you are on a diet and really watching what you eat, those not interested in exercising caloric restraint get uncomfortable around you? I am a runner, and I eat very carefully because I want to stay a particular weight and body size, so this happens to me relatively often. I'll be eating my tuna and drinking my protein shake and someone will walk by with a huge meal, or a big piece of cake... They may not say anything, but I get the look. That "you think you’re holier than me" look... They actually feel as if I am calling them “fat” when I hadn’t said a word! Now I'm getting judged that I am judging them. I have had this happen as well: someone starts talking about a particular show and are surprised when I say I have never seen it. When they look at me like I’m crazy I simply explain that I refuse to watch the show because I believe it is unfit for a man striving for holiness. You’d think I had just accused them of being the devil himself! For example, some of you will feel judged as soon as you read this statement: I have never (and will never) watched Beavis and Butthead, or Southpark. Admit it... Those of you who like these shows just felt judged by me... (Please get over it.. I’m just making a point. And yes, I do not watch those shows…)

Why is this so? Let's start at the command: I am called to be as sacred as God is sacred, even though I won't be able to reach that high standard. (If I could be perfectly sacred, then Jesus wouldn't have needed to come and die for me. But we will dig into that more later.) I hear the command, and I determine that I want to honor my Father by pursuing that perfect ideal. What happens next? Two things: the first is that I seek to know Jesus, because to really understand the standard of perfection, the best example of someone seeking holiness is Jesus himself. He, fully God and fully man, lived a perfectly holy life. For me to understand the call, and the ideal, knowing Jesus is the best method of knowing what "being sacred" looks like. It's kind of like being handed a bow and arrow and asked to hit the bulls-eye... You'd better know where the target is before you draw the bow and let the arrow fly! Jesus is the bulls-eye! Knowing and following Him is how we live holy, sacred lives… live like Him.

Second, we have to start being honest with ourselves. We have to live a life examined thoroughly. To do that, we are pretty much going to have to have someone help us keep watch over our lives... We need accountability. It is too easy to lie to ourselves. Most of us will agree that to be a successful salesperson, we set goals, track our numbers, and constantly evaluate the results of our activities to judge whether we will hit our goals, or if we need to adjust our activities. Sure, there are a few anomalies where a salesperson closed some major deals and had some banner years, but to be successful year in and year out, it always comes down to accountability. If you are seeking to be a top-producing salesperson, accountability is the key. It is the same for you if you are seeking to be as holy as Jesus was when He was walking this earth. Accountability.

Clearly this could be a bigger discussion, but let's just work with those two ideas... If the command, "Be holy" makes me seek Jesus, and makes me more willing to be held accountable, then that is good right?! I'm not going to go as far to say that God is calling us to do something we can't do just so that we participate in activities that are good for us… that sounds a little like manipulation. But I will say that regardless of why, the end result is that we will know Jesus better, and we will live in a community of accountability. These things are so very good, and please our Father in heaven. I’m all for pleasing the One who made me, loves me, and desires for me an abundant life!

To close this down: all of this leads us to the realization that we in fact cannot be completely and perfectly sacred, and that we need help. We need to be rescued. We need a Savior... Good thing we know Him! Jesus came to be the example, to be sacred, and then, to pay the price for our sin so that we could live in the freedom of receiving the reward for holiness at the end of this earthly life, despite our inability to earn the reward by our own efforts. It is for freedom that we have been set free. (Galatians 5) Righteousness, perfection, sacredness, are imputed by our faith in Him who actually lived perfectly righteous and sacred and holy. We live a life that honors Father out of gratitude and from a heart desiring to give praise and thanksgiving. And when we fail, we seek forgiveness and help to be more like Jesus.

The question, then, is how do we live a sacred life in a world so full of un-sacredness? How do we remain steadfast when the systems of this world are skewed against righteousness, and the mentality of “the end justifies the means” reigns? Well, that’s why I write… to challenge you to challenge yourself. It has to come from inside you – God works on us from the inside out. Like a raging storm, our environment wars against those who want to be close to God, in His sacred presence. There is nothing I can write, no clever line or turn of phrase will be the elixir to make everything easy. Pursuing the sacred has never been easy… but it is simple. Fix your eyes on Jesus. He is the example of how we live the way Father has called us to live.

I look forward to considering more about what this pursuit looks like in the life of a salesperson… C’ya soon!

The Sacred Salesperson - Introduction

The word Sacred means “devoted or dedicated to a deity or to some religious purpose; consecrated.” I have heard it said, “to be set apart” as in something very different than common things. The word scares some people, as they feel it implies restrictions, judgment, and behavior modification. I guess it is a matter of perspective. The word Salesperson – well, we all know what that means: a person who sells something. It doesn't take much research to discover the many negative connotations associated with this word. In a survey about careers, the only job considered less trustworthy than a salesperson is an attorney… (There are so many things I could say about that… but I’m just going to leave it there.)

The phrase, then, “sacred salesperson” can have two meanings: a person who sells “sacred” whether that would be things that are sacred or the concept of sacredness; or a person who is devoted or dedicated to a deity or to some religious purpose that also sells something or things. I guess a preacher could meet the first definition in some sense – one who stands in front of others and “sells” them on being sacred… on buying into the concept that being “set apart for a godly purpose” is something worth investing in. I have been that person for a short period in my life. I was a paid pastor on staff at a local church and my job was to assist in running the operations of the congregation, as well as minister to our members in a variety of ways. It is a rather long story how I ended up in that role, but suffice it to say it was a “God thing” as we say in the preaching biz. I know there are some out there who were just offended by my reference to the church as a business… I understand… We can talk about that some other time.

As to the meaning of “The Sacred Salesperson” that the rest of this post, and really, this entire blog series will be devoted to would be the person who is one seeking the “sacred” who also is employed or self-employed in ventures that primarily focus on closing sales. I am referring to the profession of selling – a person who intentionally has conversations with others to assist them in making a decision about buying or selling something. This is a very broad categorical word ranging from selling jewelry from a store, selling cars to those who walk onto a car lot, to helping buyers and sellers of real estate in the process of getting a home sold, or selecting and buying a home or investment property. I believe that I have something to say about all of this, as I have had many experiences in both areas described: I have been pursuing sacred-ness since 1991 and have experienced some success and plenty of failures. As for sales, I have made millions of dollars in my lifetime, some of it a penny at a time, and much of it 3% of sales price at a time.

An entrepreneur from birth, I was mowing lawns and selling my physical labor literally from as far back as I can remember.  I started throwing papers when I was eleven and delivered newspapers every single day until I was fifteen and my family moved from San Antonio, Texas to Dallas. Upon arriving in this new city, I lied about my age and started working at McDonald's. After another non-selling job at a wholesale warehouse, after moving back to San Antonio, I got a job in construction. Later, in my senior year, someone asked me if I knew anyone who could build a patio cover, and I said “me!” That was 1980; I have been selling ever since. I have sold construction jobs, remodels and roofs, sold food products to restaurants and institutions, and then for over seventeen years, sold homes – or more appropriately, helped home buyers and sellers make great decisions.  I could give greater details, but the point is that I have a fair amount of perspective when it comes to making a living by closing deals, and helping people part with their money for a service or product of value.

The reason I think the idea of The Sacred Salesperson is worth discussion is that the two pursuits at times can be at odds with each other… or at least, the temptation to relax the pursuit of holiness to make the sale is real. The buyer often times brings it up: “You just want to make your commission... you will say anything to get me to sign!” Even if you are as pure as driven snow, if you are in sales, you will likely be accused of this sooner or later. (As a buyer, you have probably thought this about the salesperson you were working with, at one time or another.) And of course, if you are totally honest, as a human, fallen and struggling to find our way through life, short cuts and the easy way is at times tempting. Sometimes we simply do need the money and we just need the deal to close. This is what I want to talk about here.

In the upcoming posts, we will explore these two pursuits: the one for holiness, the sacred, the life of following God, doing the right thing, and being a person of integrity. And the other pursuit for making money, closing deals, and working with people as they make choices about how they spend and invest their hard earned cash. If you are a person who sells things for a living, a professional salesperson, or you are considering it, this blog is for you. If you long for nearness of God, this blog is for you. I only ask that you be willing to look hard into the mirror and be boldly honest with yourself. I am convinced this journey is worth taking, and this conversation needs to happen. I am convinced we can be godly, sacred persons, while being a top-producing salesperson, earning a fantastic living. I believe without any doubt that we can be The Sacred Salesperson.