Closing Ratio

In the business world, salespeople are usually evaluated by their closing ratio.  What is a closing ratio?   A closing ratio is defined as the number of completed sales that a person makes in relation to the number of sales presentations that he or she makes in a given timeperiod.  As an example, let's say that you speak to 10 people about a product and 8 of them buy the product from you.  Divide 8  by 10 and you get .8 (or an 80% closing ratio).  What if you only sell 1 of them?  Then your closing ratio is 10%.  Guess which closing ratio  would be looked upon more favorably at a sales job; and which one would get you reprimanded?  The 80% closing ratio would be considered a huge success. 

Now, I have recently left the car sales business (thank you Lord!), and an average closing ratio for a car salesperson was about 25 to 30%.  If you were really good, then your closing ratio would be around the 40 to 50% range.  That still means that you had a lot of people tell you no.  Every car sales manager that I know would tell you that your closing ratio is always going to land somewhere around that 25 to 30% range.  That's not a bad thing.  But what that means is you need to talk to a lot of people if you expect to sell a lot of cars.  The sales manager does not expect the salesperson to close every person.  They just expect them to try to sell to as many people as possible.  So if you speak to 100 people and have a closing ratio of 25 to 30%, then you will complete the sell 25 to 30 times.  If you only speak to 20 people, then you will only complete the sale 5 to 6 times.  The key in sales is not always in how many you close; but how many you talk to.

So what does this have to do with God?  Some of us believe that evangelism is like a sales job.  We think that we are only successful if we convert the person that we witness to.  If they don't accept Jesus Christ as Lord right at that moment, then we think that we have failed.  But that's not true.  God does not look at us by our success rate (closing ratio).  He only wants us to tell people about Jesus.  The Holy Spirit is the one that works on the person's heart to change them.  Our job is simply to give the presentation. 

Here is a biblical example.  Jonah was told by God to go to the city of Nineveh and preach against it.  God told Jonah that the city's wickedness had come up against Him.  He never told Jonah to convert the city.  He (God) simply told him (Johah) to tell the people that they would be destroyed because of their wickedness.  After Jonah's disobedience, punishment, and repentence, he did go to the city and preach against it.  When the people heard the word of God from him, they repented.  And God forgave them.  Never once did Jonah try to coerce them into repentence.  In fact, Jonah did not want the people to be saved.  It was because of the Holy Spirit that the people of Nineveh were converted. 

Here's another example.  Matthew 28:19-20 states,  "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  The responsibility is for us as Christians is to go and make disciples.  A disciple, by definition is a follower.  We are to go and make followers of Christ.  If you try to make a follower and the person doesn't want to follow, don't take it as a personal failure.  The person is not rejecting you.  They are rejecting God.  But because you witnessed to them, they have been exposed to God.  And once they are exposed to God, the Holy Spirit has the opportunity to work on them.  And it is the Holy Spirit that closes the deal; not us as witnesses.

So how should you witness to an unbeliever?  One great way to witness to people is by using by using The Roman Road to Salvation.  Another method is to ask five simple questions.  But I've also found that one of the best methods to use in witnessing to people is to simply let them see the love of Christ in you.  The way that you interact with people on a daily basis will have a greater impact on them than anything that you can say.  Simply live the life that God would have you to live.  That will be your most powerful testimony.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Mike






Back to Homepage