Here's a story—written in the language of the salesman— that
will set your heart on fire B y Frank f l . E. W o o d Pastor, Union Church of Bogota, Colombia you think about that idea, Jones?” “Well,” comes the reply, “J guess that’s right, but — I don’t know — somehow it’s kind of embarrassing to try to convince somebody he’d be better off with something he doesn’t want — even though you know he needs it. After all, everyone has a right to his own opinion.” “ I think I know your trouble, Jones,” says the sales manager. “You’ve just plain lost your enthusiasm.”
S ays the sales manager, “ Jones, your record for this last month wasn’t so good, was it?” “Well,” says Jones, “I’ve done bet ter.” “What seems to be the trouble?” says the sales manager. “To tell you the truth I don’t know, Chief. Just didn’t sell as much, I guess.” “Well, surely there must be some reason for the slump,” says the sales manager, “ Isn’t the product any good?” “Oh, no. It’s not that, Chief. It’s a good product, all right. We use it at home a ll the time. Tfie wife wouldn’t be without it.” “Maybe the p rice is too high, then?” suggests the sales manager. “No, that’s not it, either,”.^ says Jones. “You know as well as I do that nobody can compete with us when it comes to price.” “Could it be, then, that the people don’t need what we have to sell?” “Well,” says Jones, “ that might be one of the troubles, I guess. A lot of people think they don’t need it.” “ I have no doubt of that,” replies the sales manager, “but it impresses me that’s the salesman’s main job— to convince people they can’t get along without our product. What do
“Well, maybe you’re right, Chief. But, at least, I still use the product. And you can’t say I don’t turn in my reports properly. And I always at tend the sales meetings. And I cer tainly know how to fill in all the forms as well as any of the other salesmen. And . . .” “Wait a minute,” interrupts the manager. “Filling in the, forms is all well and good, and I’m very pleased you like our product—but, Jones, your job is selling and if you don’t get back .a little of the old fire you aren’t going to be much use to us.” Well, you know, Jones’ trouble isn’t really so unusual. We all lose our fire every so often. And every time we do it has the same result — a slump in sales. You just can’t get around it. It always works the same way. No fire—no sales. And to tell you the truth, that’s the big trouble with the Christian church today. Not just your church or mine, but the whole Church all over the world—this great fellowship of God’s people that ought tt> be sav ing the world. No fire—no sales. We have plenty of people who fill in the forms, but somewhere along the line the salesmen have lost their enthu siasm. We’re overstaffed with clock- continued on page 33 13
Kinsey and the Christian
Due to the lack of vital data at press time we are withholding Dr. Clyde Narramore's repo rt on Dr. Kinsey's book on the sexual behav ior of American women. Dr. Nar ramore's splendid review from the standpoint of a Christian psycholo gist will appear next month. For Dr. Narramore's monthly question and answer column please see page 26, this issue.
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