Once upon a time in ancient China, trade along the Silk Road began to flourish. There was an increasing demand for exotic foreign merchandise, particularly at the imperial capital. Trading stores opened up and competed among themselves in response to this demand.

The owner of a large store announced that he wished to hire a manager to oversee the expanding business. His need was urgent and he was prepared to make an unprecedented offer to the best talent available. This news immediately attracted hundreds of applicants.

Even after a rigorous selection process, there were still ten applicants left for the one opening. The owner faced this group and said: "All of you have such incredible qualifications that it is difficult to make a final choice. The only fair way to proceed is to hold a sales contest. The winner of this contest shall be our new manager."

"What are the rules of this contest?" One of the applicants asked.

"It is quite simple," said the owner. "I have many imported wooden combs in my warehouse, and the most difficult challenge I can think of is to sell them to monks. The one who sells the most shall be the winner."

The applicant was surprised: "What? Selling combs to monks? Is this a joke?"

Another applicant was angry: "Even fools know that combs are useless to the monks with their shaven heads. Why not ask us to sell water to fish instead?"

Most of the applicants left. Some took offense at the challenge, which they said was clearly impossible. Only three candidates remained. The owner of the company asked them to come back after two weeks to report their results.

Fourteen days later, at the appointed time, the three candidates returned. The owner asked them: "How did you do? How many did you sell?"

The first candidate said: "I sold one. This proves that the challenge is not impossible after all."

The owner was curious: "One? How did you sell it?"

The candidate described his many attempts to talk to monks about the combs. Many of the monks ignored him; some accused him of deliberate mockery. He had all but given up when he spotted one monk who was afflicted with an itchy scalp. He approached this monk and suggested that the comb could be used for scratching. The monk liked the idea and bought it.

The second candidate stepped forward: "That's very clever, but I was able to sell ten combs."

The owner was impressed: "Ten? How did you manage that? Don't tell me you found ten monks with itchy scalp!"

"No sir, there is a better way." The second candidate said: "I thought about this challenge and visited a famous temple high up in a mountain nearby. This temple offers a beautiful view, but visitors often enter the temple with hair in disarray because it is very windy up there. I suggested to the abbot that it might be disrespectful to go before the Buddha in such a state. He agreed, and bought ten combs which could be cleaned and lent to visitors who did not have their own."

"Ingenious!" The owner exclaimed. "You must be the person we are seeking."

"Not so fast, sir." The third candidate came forward. "I sold more than either of them."

"How many exactly?"

"A thousand."

The owner and the other candidates were startled. It seemed like an impossible result, particularly for a task that so many applicants considered impossible in the first place. They all asked: "But how?"

"I know it must seem unbelievable to you," the third candidate said. "I went to one of the most popular temples around. Many patrons and pilgrims came into this temple every day. I spoke to the most senior Master and thanked him for providing this sacred place for the people. He was most gracious and said he also wished to thank the people for their support. I told him that a great way to express his appreciation would be to give each visitor the blessing of the Buddha."

One of the candidates interrupted him: "Excuse me, does this have anything to do with the combs?"
 
"Patience, my friend." The candidate continued: "The Master asked how the blessing could be given to all the visitors. I showed him the comb, which I had already engraved with words of the Buddha. I told him that it was something people would use daily, so it could serve as a constant reminder for them to do good deeds. He declared it was exactly what he needed, and immediately ordered a thousand."

"You got lucky," one of the other candidates said bitterly.

"Not really," the owner countered. "He had a plan, which was why he had the comb engraved prior to his visit. Even if that temple did not want it, another one surely would."

"There is more," the third candidate smiled. "I went back to the temple yesterday to check on the Master. He said many visitors told their friends and family about the comb with the Buddha's blessing. Now even more people are visiting every day. Everyone is asking for the comb, and giving generous donations too! The temple is more popular than ever, and the Master says he will run out of the combs in a month... and will need to order more!"

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In this story, we touch on the Tao of salesmanship. This subject may seem odd to some who feel that the Tao should be about spiritual matters and not about money. The truth is that the Tao encompasses all, including spiritual matters, money and everything else. If we look through this expanded perspective, we can see that monetary transactions are but exchanges of energy, in essence not so different from other forms of human interaction.

Like other aspects of the Tao, selling can be done in accordance to the Tao or contrary to it. In the hands of someone who knows how to apply the Tao skillfully, selling can be a mutually enriching experience, bringing joy and goodness to all parties involved.

The most basic level, expressed by the first candidate, has to do with satisfying the customer's personal needs. The itchy scalp is highly personal, because it is a discomfort that one person feels while others around him do not. Scratching this itch means fulfilling a requirement specific to that person. This is fundamental to selling and important in its own way, but it is only the beginning. There is much more to selling than that.

The second candidate demonstrated how to take this to the next level. The key realization here is that it's not just about the customer's personal needs. The real demand must also include the customer's customers as well as everyone else connected to the customer. Perhaps a monk doesn't need a comb, but what about his patrons? Everyone is connected to other people in an intricate web of relationships, so do not think of customers as individuals. Instead, visualize their web-like connections to others and address the needs of the entire web. This one simple idea can expand a salesman's target audience from a few prospects to dozens, even hundreds of potential buyers.

As powerful as this can be, it is nothing compared to the next level. The third candidate, like the second one, also understood that it was not about the monks but about the patrons, but he took his understanding another step further. The second candidate made a one-time sale; the third candidate set up a continuing business relationship.

This is all about affluence, the flow of abundance in the Tao. If the second candidate's action is like fetching water with a bucket, then the third candidate's approach is like digging a ditch to bring in a stream of water. The bucket, like the one-time sale, is a limited quantity. The stream, like the continuing sale, is always flowing and therefore unlimited.

Chapter 66 of the Tao Te Ching talks about this in the following lines:

Rivers and oceans can be the kings of a hundred valleys
Because of their goodness in staying low

Rivers receive from the streams, and oceans receive from the rivers. The more streams you have, the better off you will be. Therefore, those who understand this level of the Tao are not content to settle for a static situation. They are constantly seeking self-renewing sources in order to set up as many naturally replenshing streams as possible.

The final level of this Tao has to do with bringing benefits to everyone. The conventional mind thinks of selling as an activity that benefits only the seller - after all, is he not the one who has talked the buyer into parting with some hard-earned cash? The Tao mind is quite different in that it thinks of selling as a win-win scenario. It isn't just a matter of setting up a continuously flowing stream. It is just as important that this stream nourishes everyone who comes into contact with it.

The third candidate demonstrated this with the engraving of the Buddha's words. It might be a simple addition, but it created a dynamic where absolutely everyone involved with the process received something positive. The temple patrons received the combs as gifts; the temple itself benefitted from more visitors and donations; the third candidate won the managerial position; the owner of the store found a great customer; even the engraver benefitted greatly from the regular, repeating business.

This is the ultimate Tao of salesmanship, where the stream of afflience is like a river that flows across the land. Wherever it goes, it nourishes all the plants and animals that it comes across. It does this naturally and indefinitely. This is the ideal we follow - bringing value to everyone we encounter while enriching our own lives!
 

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