A missionary knocked on my door.
Here’s Elder Pete:
“Hi. My name is Elder Pete, and this is my companion Elder Karl. Would you be so kind as to help us for a minute?”
Me: “Sure. How can I help you?”
Elder Pete: “We are visiting our neighbors today sharing a brief message of hope and positivity. So I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions to see if our message might be of interest.”
I let him know that I was Jewish.
Elder Pete didn’t try to convert me. He didn’t try to drag me to church.
Instead, he was curious, “Do you consider yourself spiritual or religious?”
Me: “Not really.”
We had a pleasant conversation about religion and spirituality despite having opposing views.
Then I asked about their experience knocking on doors:
– It takes 25 knocks to share one message.
– 1 in 30 messages leads to a “teaching appointment” for the following weekend.
– There’s a ton of rejection. People slam doors. People pretend not to be home. People threaten to shoot them. People say they’re not feeling well.
I asked what keeps them going despite all the rejection.
Here’s Elder Karl:
“Belief.”
Elder Karl’s response got me thinking.
They’re sharing a message of hope and positivity that they feel is critically important, even if most people reject them.
Belief in their “product” keeps them happy and motivated.
It’s the same thing with selling.
To be happy and successfully selling, you have to believe you have something critically important that makes people happier.
What do you think?
How important is belief when selling?
Do you need to be a missionary for what you sell to be happy and motivated?