WOMM—it’s a strategy to use for far more than attracting customers
By Dean Collins
WOMM is the best! That’s business speak for “Word of mouth marketing.” According to Nielson, 92 percent trust word-of-mouth referrals from someone they know. And the likelihood of someone making a purchase is four times greater when referred by a friend.
A year or more ago one of my grown children kept telling me about the wonders of Costco. At about that same time, one of my senior leaders started telling me about the great success he had at Costco with everything from appliances, to travel, to vegetables. I wasn’t sure about this amazing place until I went and saw it for myself. And once I did, I joined and have bought everything from furniture to flowers there. I am a Costco convert.
What will they see?
I don’t want to cheapen the interactions of Jesus and his followers to this WOMM phenomenon, but watching Jesus’ interaction with Andrew that resulted in Peter’s discipleship decision followed by Phillip’s interaction with Nathaniel, I do think maybe our best approach with those who don’t know Jesus or understand his offer of light and life might just be our invitation to “come and see.”
But what or whom will they see when we make the offer? Can we guarantee they will see Jesus? None of us knows when Jesus will return, so we can’t offer a face-to-face meeting with the King of kings. But as Jesus did with the first two disciples, our conversations with others could include a well-timed question.
The question Jesus asked them was, “What are you seeking?” There are many ways an engaging conversation showing interest in others could lead to topics such as: What are your aspirations? What is important to you? What gives you a sense of purpose or accomplishment?” And many more. Genuine engagement with another person can and maybe should include questions about them and their interests. This is a simple step we can take in our work as disciples.
One of the disciples reciprocated with a question to Jesus: “Where are you staying?” The two who were questioning Jesus were first disciples of John the Baptist. They had heard John the Baptist declare that Jesus was the Lamb of God. They wanted to know more, so they turned to follow Jesus. In their conversation, they called Jesus “Rabbi,” acknowledging that he was a teacher. If they wanted to learn more from a teacher, they had to know where the teacher lived or region where he taught. Learning from a rabbi meant the disciple or student would literally follow him around to glean every aspect of his teaching by word and observation.
What will they learn?
If we engage others with a genuine desire to understand them, we might enter a new friendship. Friends know much about each other. Where they live, what they do for hobbies, if they have a family, and on and on. So back to the question. If we invite our new friends to come and see, would they see Jesus? I suspect you agree that our discipleship included an invitation for Jesus to live with and in us. We, by our confession of faith and through our obedience to the lordship of Christ, are not only in the family of God but we are now ambassadors who are to reveal Jesus to others through our actions and with our words.
We are now ambassadors who are to reveal Jesus to others through our actions and with our words.
Inviting someone to come and see is a wonderful offer. If we are daily walking with Jesus, then it is likely they will in fact discover him in us. If on the other hand, we are not taking our discipleship seriously, they will develop an inaccurate view of Jesus. This may be another aspect of the warning of James I wrote about earlier when he said, “Not many should become teachers.” Following Jesus is a life-changing business. And it is work. The good news is that Jesus knows it’s work so he offered to give us rest when we come to him.
The way we live out our genuine faith, expressing love, grace, and mercy to others, might just create a word-of-mouth situation where someone might say, “You ought to meet (fill in your name).” You might be described as kind, wise, helpful, or any number of adjectives that one might use when we reflect the love of Christ in everything we do.
Your time with God’s Word
John 1:35-46 ESV
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