Saul of Tarsus

Whether the product is philosophy or tents, selling is an art as old and as useful as man. It is fitting that in this first number of a series on Celebrities of Selling we choose a man whose influence on human thought and conduct, and whose general sales ability, have been so great.

He was a Rooseveltian sort of a man, with energy, personality, persistence, and drive; a great psychologist, a great student of the motives and mental traits of men. He sold his proposition over most of the known world of his time, braving prison, shipwreck, and hardships of every kind, to do it.

He was Saul of Tarsus, a tentmaker and a seller of tents – and the first and greatest salesman of the ideals and philosophy of Christ. We know him better as the Apostle Paul.

He was born a Jew, with the natural bent for affairs, and the other sturdy qualities which have always distinguished the Hebrew. He also was a Roman citizen, and was well-educated, well-trained, and cultured.

He was a great sales promotion manager and sales letter writer. Read his sales letters to the Romans, Corinthians, and Ephesians. He was a sales thinker and, to a large extent, imposed his thinking upon those he sold. Even to this day, Paul is the official interpreter to us of the meanings of Christ.

There are some mighty worthwhile sales suggestions in Paul’s writings. Consider first those great essentials of big production, industry and energy. Paul as a living example of these qualities, as well as an eloquent advocate of them. Said he: (Be) “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” (Romans, 12:11) This great activity of his took him on trips over all the world, to Athens, Rome, to many lands and nations – always to make a wider market for the service he was promoting.

He taught sales industry, but he also taught sales honesty. Listen: “That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter.” (1 Thess., 4:6)

He loved to be among people, as does every good salesman. Whenever he could you may be sure he would be at the market place or elsewhere that people assembled, and that he would be at his job, selling them.

He was a remarkable sales strategist. The people of Athens were a proud people, with their own philosophies and religions. To offer them a new proposition, to invite them to leave the customs they like, might be to court instant antagonism, to risk immediate defeat. Paul was too wise for that. He used a great principle of sales strategy. He agreed with them first and then, starting from a common ground, advanced to the point he wished to make. He said, in effect:

“You men of Athens, I have noted with respect your religious attitude. The other day, indeed, I came across an altar dedicated to the Unknown God. That altar does you great credit. Now, I want to tell you about that Deity that you have wisely recognized, though you know Him not. He is a God that can and will help you.”

He loved to dramatize things, so that they vividly made the idea acceptable to his sales prospects. He told with elaborate detail the dramatic story of how he was himself sold on the philosophy of the Nazarene. The dramatic miracles he performed aided him in dramatizing the power of the proposition he sold. He healed the sick, made the lame walk, and with each instance more and more people came to think his way. That is true Salesmanship – to use every asset and to mobilize every ability and resource for the purpose of making prospects think and act as you would have them, so that they will accept the goods and services that you offer them, to their benefit.

Like the salesman of today, Paul had much competition, but he dealt diplomatically and shrewdly, yet squarely, with his competitors.

How many traveling salesmen of today would stick to their jobs in spite of being stoned, robbed, beaten, and doubted by their sales managers back home? Yet Saul of Tarsus just went ahead, selling his tents and his religion.

He was always a square shooter in his selling. Suppose a salesman of today met a purchasing agent who insisted on his little bribe, how would he hand the situation? Paul made the sale and didn’t give the bribe, either. (Acts 24) There are many more stores that might be told of his aggressive, sportsmanlike leadership and sales tactics.

What sales manager would not like to have a man like him on the staff: absolutely reliable, fearless, brilliant, honest, sold one hundred percent on his proposition and on his own ability to sell it; a student of psychology, a great speaker and debater, especially strong in a man-to-man tilt, able to dramatize his story, and with a gift for putting it in language that his particular audience or individual prospect could understand; aggressive, earnest, mature – here was a man who had everything as a salesman.

Is it any wonder he was so successful?