Sunday, January 17, 2010
Religion and marketing
Is a Catholic Church Pastor a businessman? Maybe not in the dictionary sense, but when it comes to keeping his Parish alive and well, he is the go-to guy, the CEO, the chief cook and bottle washer.
I am not particularly religious but I like to think I am spiritual. Do you understand how these two concepts diverge? That is a long intro to tell you that I don't attend church (any church) with awesome regularity. Don't get me wrong. I am not against going to church. I always get inspired when I attend a Sunday Mass (I was raised Catholic. Once a Catholic, always a Catholic as the saying goes).
I went to church this morning. At the end of Mass, the Pastor faced his crowd and said, "I get peeved by people who tell me that church lasts too long." He gave a short speech about how we spend tons of time in front of the TV watching sports and other stuff. Why complain when he asks us to spend at least one hour a week with God? That was his message and it hit me hard.
This fellow is a good salesman. He knows only a few people will take offense at a speech like this. He also knows that speaking to us and not at us is good for business, the church business, as it were. I may now go back to Mass sooner than later.
It never hurts to speak to your prospects and customers than speak at them.
"Salesman" is not a bad word. Over the years the word became tarnished. Keep in mind that we all need to be salespeople for our businesses in order for them to thrive.
Am I way out of line about this? Tell me what you think.
Greg Cryns
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The more experiences I have, the more I come to think that "saleman" isn't the dirty word that it has become. Most everything is sales - getting jobs, leaving jobs, buying products, selling products. Pretty much everything outside of family blood lines is sales. And what's wrong with that?
ReplyDeleteExactly.
ReplyDeleteWow, Tobes, look what happens to your mindset when you run your own business! Salespeople tend to get a bad wrap from a minority of people who screw it up for the rest. You have to sell your wares (or web design services) in order to eat when you are your own company. Too bad companies are evil, though... Ha!
ReplyDeleteGreg, the qualities that make good salespeople are things that can serve people well in many careers and in our personal lives as well. These are things like willingness to listen, ability to understand the needs of others, looking for a solution that benefits the customer and not just my commission check, a bias toward action, and persistence, to name a few. Nothing wrong with that list, and a lot of things right.
Jim J
Sorry but the priest is not a salesman. I do get the point but a relationship with God is not for sale. The priest is trying to save souls. As for marketing sales is a bit of a bad word. What is beter is "Service" to a customer. A lot of the problem with internet marketing is "sales" mentality instead of service to the buyer
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