GUEST EDITOR RANDY DAVIS, VICE
PRESIDENT OF SALES AND MARKETING, PROVIDENT DISTRIBUTION
“After this, Jesus appeared again to
the disciples, this time at the Tiberias Sea (the Sea of Galilee).
This is how he did it: Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed “Twin”),
Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the brothers Zebedee, and two other
disciples were together. Simon Peter announced, ‘I’m going
fishing.’
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| Guest Editor: Randy Davis |
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| Written by Randy Davis |
| Monday, 05 November 2012 12:14 PM America/New_York |
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Mirroring the principles of evangelism Best practices in Christian retailing parallel communicating our faith “Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.’ They didn’t ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed” (Mark 1:16-18, MSG). The concepts of intentional relationship evangelism are easily understood, but they are often not as easily executed. The simple message of the Good News is that it is, well, good news! Jesus likened evangelism to fishing. Grab your net. Cast your net. Go fish. Sure, there will be some you chase after and don’t catch. However, there will be many you don’t go after and catch anyway. But, you don’t really fish just standing on the bank looking at the water. You jump in the boat and row away from the shore. Like this, relationship-based sales and service should be proactive, not reactive. Relationship-based sales principles may not come naturally to all, but with a little practice can truly have the greatest impact on your in-reach into your local community. Today, technology offers so many new ways to inter-connect with others in the culture we live. Unfortunately, because of the ease of viewing life from afar, we can become more isolated in our up-close, personal relationships. Sure, we “post,” “tweet” and “pin” to dress the set of who are, or at least who we want the world around us to think we are. But we have shortened the experience of our interactions with others to the maximum-allowed 140 characters per tweet. We have become “safe for the whole family” as the tagline goes. In business, we have followed suit. We strategize on the maximum content for strategically placed emails to get the highest open rate. We have dissected our market into demographic slices of pie of an infographic-laden meal served to our friends who consume the most. We know about their habits based more on zip code than on the personal history we have with them. And, when things go south, as they do, we are often left looking—and eventually finding—the real relationships that will stand the test of time. Most often they are not the casual followers of our posts or readers of our blogs, but those whom we have with walked through life. Real life. Wind and rain, drought and flood, birth and death kind of life. They are neighbors and relatives. They are friends from school and parents of the kids you coach. They are people. You care for them and they care for you. They love you for it! In Christian retailing, they are the guests in our stores—our customers. And, contrary to the old customer-service adage, they are not always right. But they are always our customers who, with a few simple reminders, will deliver a treasure of rewards, in addition to continued business as we engage and serve them. RELATE The first habit in Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is “Be proactive.” Know your customer. No, not just their buying habits and statistics. Rather, truly know your customers—their names, where they go to church, what they like and what they have purchased from your store. Ask questions. Listen. Remember. Practically speaking, get out of the office and into the store. Engage customers and don’t be shy in recommending books, music and DVDs that are current in your community or have had an impact on your life. Get out of the store and into your car to make intentional visits to pastors and their church staff to offer to serve them, not just to get a quick sale, but to offer services that set your store and staff apart. Have each person on your staff be a specialist/customer service representative to individual churches and offer to drop off orders on their way home. And now, the truly daring part—get to know your marketplace competitors—and not merely their pricing and promotion plans or corporate structure. But, purpose to know your competitor as an individual. What’s his life story? Where does she go to church? How can you pray for him or her? This is the part where you step into the boat and row out into the deep water. Be kind and never speak ill of them. INVITE
The rest of them replied, ‘We’re going with you.’ They went out and got in the boat. They caught nothing that night. When the sun came up, Jesus was standing on the beach, but they didn’t recognize him. Jesus spoke to them: ‘Good morning! Did you catch anything for breakfast?’ They answered, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Throw the net off the right side of the boat and see what happens.’ They did what he said. All of a sudden there were so many fish in it, they weren’t strong enough to pull it in. Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It’s the Master!’ When Simon Peter realized that it was the Master, he threw on some clothes, for he was stripped for work, and dove into the sea. The other disciples came in by boat for they weren’t far from land, a hundred yards or so, pulling along the net full of fish. When they got out of the boat, they saw a fire laid, with fish and bread cooking on it. Jesus said, ‘Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught.’ Simon Peter joined them and pulled the net to shore—153 big fish! And even with all those fish, the net didn’t rip. Jesus said, ‘Breakfast is ready’ ”
(John 21:1-12a, MSG). |
