Bible Sales: A Marketing Fable

Note: You may already know the story, but you don’t yet know my take on it…click here to skip to the moral of the story

A pastor concluded that his church was getting into very serious financial troubles. While checking the church storeroom, he discovered several cartons of new bibles that had never been opened and distributed—and got a great idea.

At his next Sunday sermon, he asked for three volunteers from the congregation who would be willing to sell the bibles door-to-door for $10 each, raising the much-needed money for their church. Jack, Paul and Louie all raised their hands to volunteer for the task.

The minister knew that Jack and Paul earned their living as salesmen and were clearly capable of selling some bibles. But he had serious doubts about Louie the local farmer, who had always kept to himself because he was embarrassed by his speech impediment.

Poor Louie stuttered badly. But, wanting to discourage Louie, the minister decided to let him give it a try anyway. He sent the three men away with the back seats of their cars stacked with bibles. He asked each of them to meet with him the following Sunday to report the results of their door-to-door selling efforts.

The following week, eager to find out how successful they were, the minister immediately asked Jack, “Well, Jack, how did you make out selling our bibles last week?”

Proudly handing the reverend an envelope, Jack replied, “Using my sales prowess, I was able to sell 20 bibles, and here’s the $200 I collected on behalf of the church.”

“Fine job, Jack!” The minister said, vigorously shaking his hand . “You are indeed a fine salesman and our church is indebted to you.”

Turning to Paul the minister asked, “And Paul, how many bibles did you sell for the Church last week?”

Paul, smiling and sticking out his chest, confidently replied, “I am a professional salesman. I sold 28 bibles on behalf of the church, and here’s $280 I collected.”

The minister responded, “That’s absolutely splendid, Paul! You are truly a professional salesman and the church is deeply indebted to you.”

Apprehensively, the minister turned to Louie and said, “And Louie, did you manage to sell any bibles last week?”

Louie silently offered the minister a large envelope. The minister opened it and counted the contents. “What is this?” the minister exclaimed. “Louie, there’s $3200 in here! Are you suggesting that you sold 320 bibles for the church, door to door, in just one week?”

Louie just nodded.

“That’s impossible!” both Jack and Paul said in unison. “We are professional salesmen, yet you claim to have sold 10 times as many bibles as we could.”

“Yes, this does seem unlikely,” the minister agreed. “I think you’d better explain how you managed to accomplish this, Louie.”

Louie shrugged. “I-I-I re-re-really do-do-don’t kn-kn-know f-f-f-for sh-sh-sh-sure,” he stammered.

Impatiently, Peter interrupted. “For crying out loud, Louie, just tell us what you said to them when they answered the door!”

“A-a-a-all I-I-I s-s-said wa-wa-was,” Louie replied, “W-w-w-w-would y-y-y-you l-l-l-l-l-like t-t-to b-b-b-buy th-th-th-this b-b-b-bible. F-f-for t-t-ten b-b-b-bucks —o-o-o-or— wo-wo-would yo-you j-j-j-just l-like m-m-me t-t-to st-st-stand h-h-here and r-r-r-r-r-read it t-to y-y-you??”

~from a much-forwarded email sent to me by Momma Jessie

Moral of this marketing story: Play to your strengths!

While writing the Making a Million with 1000 True Fans series, I noted that Alexandria Brown’s business model thrives on free live teleseminars and live workshop events. From what I’ve heard she’s an excellent speaker, and while I have many useful skills in my toolbox, public speaking ain’t one of ‘em.

I could overcome my fears and cultivate the skill to speak in front of crowds, but seriously? I’ve got enough to do. At this point in the game, it makes far more sense to play to my strengths when it comes to marketing, and also when creating products and providing services.

Technology will have a key role in this, I feel sure. As James Hipkin reminded me, I can dodge live technical training by recording Flash video tutorials with tools like Captivate and Camtasia. If I want to work teleseminars into my plan, there are scads of Web- and telephone-based services to record my voice in a downloadable digital format. The technology behind those things is a cakewalk for me. But a roomful of strangers hanging on my every word? Not so much! :D

So if you come across a marketing idea that has a method of execution which doesn’t suit you…there’s no call to change yourself to fit (unless you want to). Instead, brainstorm a way to get the same or similar—or even better!—results using those tried-and-true, super-max-fabulous skills you already have!

Et tu? What are your top strengths? What’s your Kryptonite?

Photo credit: Paalb Berge