Selling could be your highest moral calling, according to son of Zig Ziglar, Tom Ziglar. In a podcast titled Does how many you serve equal how much you make? Ziglar points out the morality behind a good, honest salesman by highlighting the various definitions of the word “sales” in Hebrew.

“In Hebrew, there are two words for sales. One is just describing a transaction. The second word… describes this event: when you look into someone’s future and you anticipate a need, a want, or a trouble that they could encounter, and you put yourself between them and that problem and you solve that problem before it ever becomes a problem.”

Take a look at this truth, given by Tom Ziglar, in three different steps.

1) Observe

The first step in realizing that as a salesperson, making sales may be your highest moral calling, is to “look into someone’s future.” No, we don’t mean transform into a fortuneteller. We mean observe somebody’s actions and emotions and see what is happening. Is your prospect somebody who is barreling down a path of self-destruction? Are they spending frivolously? Could their life be made easier if one little thing was altered or if they had the opportunity to buy a specific product that met their needs? Observing your prospect is merely taking in their personality, their lifestyle and their actions, so that you can determine whether or not to take action.

2) Anticipate

After you’ve observed a prospect and gotten to know them and their life a little bit better, you can take the next step and anticipate. “When you look into someone’s future and you anticipate a need, a want, or a trouble that they could encounter,” you are merely doing your job. You are realizing that if they had a bigger engine in their truck that they would be able to make the truck last longer rather than having it die from overuse in the next year. You are looking into their life and anticipating that the one-bedroom house they are considering won’t be enough room when they decide to have kids in the next few years and helping to anticipate that they will soon need a bigger house. You are a third-party viewer who is taking in the facts and anticipating the future to help your prospect realize something they may not entirely understand at the moment so that you can help them out.

3) Intervene

Finally, and the solid underlying factor in why your highest moral calling might be selling, is that once you observe and anticipate you are in a position to intervene. You are in a position to “put yourself between them and that problem and you solve that problem before it ever becomes a problem.” If your prospect is interested in buying a sports car but he has a pregnant wife, maybe you are intervening to suggest that a four-door car might be a better investment. It doesn’t matter how small the intervention may seem – maybe you sell dresses and you remind the mother of the groom that she cannot wear white to her son’s wedding – it could be very impactful – you just saved her relationship with the bride.

The bottom line is that salespeople get a bad reputation for being snakes in the grass, just waiting to take advantage of people – yet sales could be your highest moral calling. Sure, there are poisonous people in sales… but there are poisonous people in all professions. The thing that you have to remind yourself, and the reason you will live up to the idea that your highest moral calling is in selling, is that what you are doing is for the betterment of another’s life. You are helping them out by observing, anticipating and intervening. So – get out there and sell. You just might start changing lives for the better.

Source: Ziglar