God’s Word: The Ultimate Authority For Success in Business
It has been contended that the Bible was not written for business purposes and is therefore, no authority in matters related to things like sales and marketing. But like Matthew Maury, who is considered to be the father of oceanography, once said, “I beg pardon! The Bible IS authority for everything it touches.”
I first discovered this nearly 40 years ago when I started a new job selling copiers. Instead of relying on the worldly methods I had been exposed to, I decided to study the Bible and directly apply what I read to the sales process. In my first 90 days, I maintained a 100% closing rate and sold 350% of the quota they gave me.
SUCCESS IN BUSINESS
In an industry where a 25% success rate was the national average, I finished the year off maintaining a 90+% closing rate and setting a record for the most number of copiers sold despite only being in the territory for less than 11 months.
At year end, I was promoted to sales manager. They loved my results as a sales rep and wanted to know if what I had was, in fact, transferable. Well, ten months later, my team’s results were up 430% year over year, so that confirmed the transmissibility of the truths I was learning.
When it comes to marketing, you can learn the three most important elements of a headline as modeled in the eight words God gave Jonah for the Ninevites that resulted in a 100% conversion rate of a city with 120,000 residents.
When you want to learn about ad copy, you can model it after the seven traits Isaiah prophesied that would identify who the Messiah was when He came. Every long-form ad should take those seven components into consideration.
But Isaiah and Jonah are not alone. There are incredibly detailed strategies to be gleaned from John the Baptist. After all, wasn’t he promoting and preparing the way for the Messiah? You can learn a lot from how he cleared the way for the Message to be seen and heard.
But let’s not forget Habakkuk who God told to write the message on what would be the equivalent today of a billboard. Knowing that, it behooves us to study God’s admonition for that message in terms of content and placement.
I learned the motivational secrets of the Ten Commandments from the book of Exodus. I discovered the 7 best questions Moses had to have answered before taking the Promised Land, which you should also ask any prospective client if you want to pave the way for easily doing business with them.
I learned the Negotiating Secrets of the Apostle Paul from his letter to his good friend Philemon which has generated literally millions of dollars for my clients over the years. If you want to learn how to make your message stick with people, you could learn the communication strategies of Jesus. They’re nothing short of amazing!
AN UNEXPECTED FOUNT OF WISDOM
Then of course, Paul reminds us in Romans 1:20 that “since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead”.
That means we can and should study the way God made things to work in the created order which we call Natural Law. If you want to succeed in business, you would be remiss to not study trees. Here’s why…
If you plant 100 trees in an orchard and come back in five years, all 100 of them will have grown, produced fruit, and multiplied, as long as they have the seven things every tree and every entrepreneur must have to realize success.
But, if you plant 100 new entrepreneurs in a big city somewhere and come back in five years, only four of them will still be in business, with at least one employee, and be generating a profit. Do you know why?
In a nutshell, they had no idea what the real necessary fundamentals of business were. They didn’t know the anchor activities that need to be attended to daily. They had no idea there were three kinds of marketing, and only one of them was transactional.
There is so much wisdom stored up inside a tree if you would only study it and learn to apply the wisdom God used to make trees such a successful entity. Of course, I am not saying trees are wise, but I am saying that God’s wisdom is on display in everything He has made.
I chose the tree to study for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that God compares the person who delights in the law of the Lord to a fruitful tree planted by a river. But for me, that realization began with this…
A few decades ago, I was in a cash crunch. It seemed my needs were not being met. I reminded God that His Word promises that He would supply all my needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19), and I knew He couldn’t lie, but as far as I knew, I wasn’t lying either, and my needs didn’t seem to be met.
I even jokingly offered to go to heaven and sweep the streets of gold, collect any gold dust I could, and bring it back so I could pay some bills.
In an earnest attempt to untangle this apparent contradiction, I went for a walk in the woods. As I stood by a tall and sturdy cedar tree one early morning, I heard Him ask me a strange question… “Where did the tree get its wood from?”
I knew we could dig gold or silver or iron, etc., out of the earth, but the wood that built your house or furniture came from a tree, and before that, it was nowhere! INDEED… Where does a tree get its wood from?
I told Him that I had no idea where a tree got its wood from, and He responded with words to the effect, “When you learn where a tree gets its wood from, you will know how to get My riches in glory into tangible, spendable form so you could pay your bills.”
I left the forest and drove straight to the library. That’s where I discovered the 7 non-negotiable elements every business owner must activate for maximum success without having to work crazy hours or compromise values. Those seven elements are foundational in my life, and I remind myself of them whenever I need clarity.
I could go on and on talking about the wisdom of God’s Word because truly, it is the ultimate authority for success in business and is worthy of a lifetime of study. In fact, it was those very secrets that helped me lead a team of three struggling agents to become the 16th fastest-growing company in America on the INC 500 list.
I will be expanding on these concepts at the upcoming Nehemiah Global Forum to explore the topic: Marketing and Sales from a Kingdom Perspective, so be sure to register NOW for this eye-popping teaching by clicking the button below!
Michael Q. Pink, founder of the Jesus School of Business and author of twenty books, including Selling Among Wolves, Rainforest Strategy, and The Bible Incorporated.
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