Marketing and Sales – A Biblical Approach

WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL BY PATRICE TSAGUE

Who made the first sales transaction ever recorded in the Bible?
What was the product?
What was the price?
Who was the customer?
What lessons can we learn from it?

Marketing and Sales – A Biblical Approach

No matter how great your product or service is, how efficient your operational process is, how dynamic your management team is, or how deep your funding base is, if you do not have an effective marketing strategy for the goods or services that you produce, you will not be in business for long. 

One of the foundational keys to any successful business is to have a great marketing and sales program in place. Unfortunately, you do not even have to have a great product or service; you can sell anything with a great marketing and sales program. The product or service on offer does not even have to meet a need or want. 

As Biblical Entrepreneurs, however, we have boundaries that we must respect as we design our marketing and sales programs. We must not be so desperate for business that we employ worldly methods when designing and implementing our marketing and sales program. We must follow the “narrow path” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Though traditional worldly marketing and sales are very effective, it is rooted in craftiness and deceit; they put financial gain ahead of people, and raw sales ahead of customer satisfaction. It is not concerned about a win/win (wins for the customer and for the business), but a win at all costs. 

This approach is not new; it began when mankind began. The first transaction that is recorded in Scripture was made by the devil himself, who came in the form of a serpent. In this transaction, we see craftiness and deceit operating at the highest level. The product was a fruit, and the customer was Eve. The devil falsely promised that those who ate it would become just like God. But he failed to mention that the price would be the mortality of mankind. 

Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ “

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
– Genesis 3:1-6 (NKJV)

God had previously given specific instructions to Adam and Eve that they were not to eat the fruit that was deceitfully offered to them by the devil. In reality, he had no right to offer it to them at all.

And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
– Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV)

The strategy the devil used to turn Eve into a customer is the same strategy that is used today by Madison Avenue to turn us into customers. This same strategy has been adopted by many entrepreneurs and salespeople as they attempt to build their customer base. The goal is not to satisfy the customer but rather to make a sales transaction. It uses false and misleading information to achieve its end. It promises something that the product and service can never deliver. It uses the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life as its basic principles to win the customer. It conceals the fine print until the transaction has occurred. 

The conclusion is often a reduction in the quality of life of the customer, as they are enticed into purchasing a product or service that they either did not need, could not afford, or is simply bad for them. What the devil failed to tell Eve was that she was already made in the image and likeness of God.

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
– Matthew 16:26(NKJV)

Biblical Entrepreneurs do not need to operate according to the devil’s tactics. God has provided a biblical approach to marketing and sales. This approach can be illustrated through the principles of sowing and reaping. Sowing is the process of planting seeds to prepare for future growth while reaping is gathering the ripe harvest generated from the seeds planted.

A biblical approach to marketing and sales involves identifying markets and developing tools that are consistent with biblical principles, and ethically inform a specific target market about the availability and benefits of your product or service, which results in the exchange of goods or services for an amount of money or its equivalent. For the Biblical Entrepreneur, honesty and integrity must form the foundations of the marketing and sales processes, and the products and services must produce real benefits for the customers.

Just as marketing is essential to generating customers, sowing is essential to generating a harvest. The harvest generated through the seed sown by the Biblical Entrepreneur consists of the prospective customers, who must be ripe for sale. Sales turn potential customers into actual clients. 

In Genesis  3, the devil sowed deceit, and the “customers” and their descendants reaped destruction and enmity. What are you sowing? Are you generating your leads and sales ethically, honestly, and with integrity? Remember that whatsoever you sow, you will also reap.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
– Galatians 6:7-8 (NKJV)

We thank God that He has shown us a much better way, and in the very next verse, we read:

Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
– Galatians 6:9 (NKJV)

Let us determine to do good as Biblical Entrepreneurs, beginning with the product and service development, and continuing through to the marketing and sales. God has promised that if we do, we will indeed reap a harvest if we persevere.

My prayer for you this week is that God will grant you the wisdom and integrity to reject the crafty, “get-rich-quick” methods of the enemy in your marketing and sales program, and to adopt a biblical approach that demonstrates the character of Christ as you present your products and services with honesty and integrity.