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Brethren — Persistence Pays!

Several years ago, a national dry goods association conducted a survey of sales representatives to determine how many sales calls each representative needed to make on a prospective client before convincing the client to place an order. The results were eye-opening.

Forty-eight percent of the sales reps stopped calling if the customer did not buy as a result of the first sales call. Twenty-five percent moved on after the second unproductive visit. Fifteen percent made three sales calls before throwing in the towel. Only twelve percent indicated they would continue to call on a prospect indefinitely until they finally made a sale. The twelve percent of sales reps who were persistent in their sales calls — the ones who kept visiting potential customers time and time again — accounted for eighty percent of the total sales!

Yes, you’re seeing correctly — twelve percent of the sales reps brought in the overwhelming majority of the business! The eighty-eight percent who surrendered after one, or two, or even three unsuccessful encounters with a prospect, only netted a combined twenty percent of the total sales. The twelve percent succeeded simply because they never gave up! They were determined to sell every potential customer something, knowing that their customer would never buy if they stopped asking for an order. With dogged persistence, the twelve percent eventually wore down a client’s resistance, until he or she bought what the sales rep was selling. Once the customer had purchased something from them once, they were more likely to purchase another item — giving the sales rep repeat business.

Jesus once taught a valuable lesson regarding prayer, using a parable about a persistent widow. She complained repeatedly to a judge, until he granted her the outcome she sought (Luke 18:1-5). The point of Jesus’ story was that if a judge (who “did not fear God nor regard man“), could be swayed to action by importunity, all the more will a loving God be persuaded by His child who pleads insistently for relief.

The parable contains another application for us as Christians. Sometimes in reaching out to people with the gospel, we give up too quickly. We might approach a person once with the Scriptures, but if they show little interest, we sometimes abandon hope of ever persuading them — so we immediately stop trying.

After looking at Peter’s success with those on Pentecost (Acts 2), with Cornelius (Acts 10); Philip’s success with the Ethiopian eunuch, and Paul’s success with Lydia and the Philippian jailer (Acts 8; Acts 16), we sometimes convince ourselves that the only viable candidates for conversion are those who hear, believe and obey the gospel the very first time they’re given the opportunity. But that’s an unrealistic view.

The above conversion examples were recorded to show us the power of the gospel — not to limit it. It’s very rare that an individual obeys the gospel after hearing it only one time. Normally, the truth of the gospel has to be repeated over and over again before it moves most folks to repentant obedience.

What’s the bottom line of all this? Those people who decline our invitation to study the Bible or come to the services of the church — let’s invite them all again — and again — and again — and again. Who knows? It might be the next call we make that “closes the sale” motivating them to obey the gospel of Christ.

Brethren — persistence pays!