Years after I returned from my mission in Frankfurt, Germany, I found myself sitting across from the Director of Sales over a company in Seattle. I was fresh out of college and probably was on the lowest rung of the pool of candidates applying for the position with my Bachelors degree in German vs. all the other Business degree applicants along with their work experience.
In fact, the only relevant experience I had was my experience as a Mormon missionary. I had hesitated to include that on my resume, but since it was the only thing close to sales, I included it. Little did I know that would be what set me apart from the crowd and got me hired.
The hiring manager asked me a series of in depth questions about my mission. He asked me about how I handled my daily routine, how I organized my days. He asked me how I measured success and reported. I matter of factly told him about getting up early around 5:30 a.m. and working out, studying scriptures and the language and culture and then planning on areas to “market” to through door knocking, street contacting, and providing service.
When he asked me about my success, I paused. While I was on my mission, many missionaries thought success was only measured by how many people they baptized. In Germany, baptisms were few and far between. In fact, I only actually baptized one person personally and taught about 5 others who eventually were baptized after I left. I had learned on my mission that while baptism was a goal, I had learned that there are many factors out of my control. I learned to do my best and good things will happen. If it is a baptism, then great! However, if a person is only ready to commit to praying, or reading scriptures, then it is important to celebrate that as well. Even if no one listens at all, the personal relationship with God gained by sacrificing is priceless.
I knew that if I shared with him all of that, he probably wouldn’t hire me, but I did share with him how I felt that never losing sight of the goal was most important. I shared with him one occasion when I was the leader of a group of 10 missionaries, or a District. All of the missionaries were very discouraged, and it was up to me to lead them towards a positive attitude again. I did this through never slacking, listening to their needs, and working hard to stay positive. Over time, they all decided to change their attitudes and while baptisms didn’t flow, there were other smaller miracles that occured.
I went on to discuss how I kept track of “numbers” such as how many lessons I taught, areas we had visited, people who were interested, etc. I also shared with him how we worked with each person individually to help them overcome self-doubt and concerns to find God.
After our conversation was over, he reached out his hand to me and shook it saying “Congratulations, Elder! You’re hired!”
Little did I know that my experience as a Mormon missionary laid the ground work for a very successful career so far in sales. At that job over the course of a few years, I became recognized in the region and nation for my success and even became a national sales trainer for newly hired salespeople from around the country.
My next job in B2B sales was structured even more like my mission in that I had to create business from a brand new territory with corporate clients. Once again, I used the skills learned on my mission and became the top sales person in the nation for 3 years in a row.
Although being a salesman is difficult and there is definitely quite a bit of rejection, I can definitely say that it is nothing compared to being a Mormon Missionary in Germany. Although I didn’t know it at the time, my experience as a Mormon missionary not only shaped me spiritually, but in my career as well.
To all missionaries who may be struggling, or who will struggle out there, my advice is this: Hang in there. Good things will happen as you keep praying and relying on the Lord. Forget about the number of baptisms and just focus on the small things each day. Keep in mind that you are probably doing the hardest sales job in the world, but with the Lord’s help all things are possible. Who knows? It may turn into a career for you down the road!
Grace for Grace 
8 comments
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October 28, 2011 at 3:50 am
Ken K.
Nice post. I did Duesseldorf in the mid 70’s with roughly the same experience and level of success you “enjoyed” in Frankfurt. When my two years was up I was totally spent and ready to come home. In my final interview my mission president told me I would be blessed for the rest of my life for my mission service. His promise is all I remember from that short conversation. He was right, I have been. Many times through out my career in sales I have reflected on his promise and thought about how different my career in sales would have been had I not experienced the endless days of tracting, the canceled appointments and stubborn members. The toughest sales job I’ve ever had doesn’t hold a candle to how difficult “selling” the gospel to the Germans was.
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October 28, 2011 at 10:45 am
NM
I must admit, with so much information on the internet, especially with the likes of Living Hope Ministries, Shaun McCraney, Aaron Shafovaloff et al.: the LDS-Gospel is a very difficult thing to sell; and an even more difficult thing for people to buy…
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October 28, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Ken
This is a bit off topic, but I wanted to share what I learned from my experience as a “salesman” for the Church.
Although I did not go into sales for my career I can say that my mission definitely had a big impact on my chosen field. Before my mission I was just average at best in high school, and math was not my strong subject, actually I didn’t have a strong subject in school.
I served in Birmingham England. As was the case in Germany, baptisms were few and far between. In an effort to keep missionaries focused in my mission, the mission president made memorization of scriptures a very important part of our daily routine. If we wanted to we could keep going further in further in our memorization. I took this as a challenge on my mission and worked very hard at it. By doing so I trained my brain to hold and retain information much better than I ever did in high school.
When I got home from my mission I new I needed to go to college, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I chose to go into engineering. I learned that I did have a mind for math and grew to love it. I have now been working as a bridge engineer for over 20 years and I love my career. I would not be where I am today if I had not taken the time to give two years of service as a missionary. The Lord as more than repaid me for my sacrifice.
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October 29, 2011 at 7:12 am
Anthony E. Larson
On a related note, try teaching Latter-day Saints some new concepts with profound gospel overtones. If you think teaching investigators is difficult, try doing what I do: Teach Mormons about the cosmological roots of the restored gospel. It was far easier teaching prospective converts than it is teaching the converted! Even with ample evidence that Joseph Smith taught these very concepts; even though it makes plain the imagery used by the Savior, the apostles and the prophets; even though it explains the temple rituals, making the endowment a huge educational experience; even though this perspective on the gospel makes an incalculable improvement in our gospel comprehension and one’s testimony; I cannot get church members to listen. Teaching investigators is a cakewalk compared to teaching new concepts to members. They are far more suspicious and incredulous than any nonmember. (Sigh!)
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October 30, 2011 at 6:07 am
Cal
I agree with graceforgrace that “good things will happen as you keep praying and relying on the Lord.” When I’ve asked missionaries how they like their work, they’ve always said they liked it or that it was fulfilling or eye-opening or something like that. There is nothing more exciting than fulfilling God’s plan for your life. God is the best Boss in the universe!
To Anthony: Briefly, what are the cosmological roots of the restored gospel?
Another note: From my perspective, LDS missionary work is sometimes difficult because those who are being introduced to Jesus already know him!
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November 3, 2011 at 6:57 am
Paul
GFG, nice post. I served in Frankfurt, as well (77-79), and can echo your report of the difficulty in serving there. I’m glad your experience prepared you for success in the sales world.
That said, I can honestly say that while I was a missionary I did not think of myself as a salesman, depsite the missionary program’s being organized like a sales program. I believed then as I do now that I will not be the reason someone accepts the gospel. I may teach (and I thought of myself then as more a teacher than a salesman), but the spirit will convert. I don’t expect that happens when selling widgets.
I do agree that the discipline of a mission well-served can be a remarkable asset to the men and women who are missionaries. One of my MTC instructors told me he was a far better student after his mission than before, largely because of the discipline he learned on his mission.
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November 12, 2011 at 9:27 pm
graceforgrace
Hi Paul,
That’s awesome you were in Frankfurt as well! What areas did you serve in? I was in Franfurt stadmitte, Hochst, Heidelberg, Saarbrucken, Nidderau, and Leimen.
You would be a good salesman. My approach to sales is not to “sell” people on things, but to guide them and teach them to make the decision for themselves. It’s very similar to missionary work because first, you need to gain their trust before you can help guide them. The only difference is that in missionary work it is guiding them towards prayer, and a relationship with God vs. buying something. Those who buy do so because there is something missing that and they want to fill the void. Those who were open to the Spirit on my mission were the same. They felt a void and wanted it filled. I was simply there to help facilitate.
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November 3, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Anthony E. Larson
Cal,
Visit my webpage (www.mormonprophecy.com) and follow the links to all my online resources. Thanks for asking.
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