Have you ever gotten off a sales call and thought, "Do I sound like the exact salesperson I can't stand?"
I have.
It usually hits after you've hung up and the silence sets in. You're replaying the conversation in your head when you hear it. The forced enthusiasm. The "just checking in." The "wanted to touch base." The pitch that started before you'd earned the right to give one.
And for a second you wonder if you're becoming one of those salespeople.
Here's the good news. The fact that you're asking that question means you're probably not. It means you're paying attention.
The salespeople who become pushy and self-centered rarely stop to examine themselves. They don't listen back to their calls. They don't question their approach. They just assume the prospect is the problem.
You're different. You noticed. Something feels off, and you don’t like it. That's where change starts.
I remember sitting with a sales rep reviewing some of his recorded calls. After we listened to a couple, I asked, "What do you think?"
He winced.
"I never realized I sound exactly like the guy I don't want to sound like."
That wasn't a failure. It was a breakthrough. Until then, he thought prospects were reacting to him. In reality, they were reacting to the script, the habits, and the language he'd unknowingly picked up over the years.
Once he recognized that, he could finally start changing it. And if you've ever had that same realization, you're in exactly the same position. And it’s normal.
The truth is, you don't sound like the salespeople you dislike because that's who you are. You sound like them because you were handed the same playbook.
Maybe it came from a sales manager. Maybe it came from a script. Maybe it came from years of hearing everyone around you open calls the exact same way. Nobody ever sat you down and said,
"Here's how to sound like every salesperson prospects try to avoid."
But somehow that's what gets taught anyway, and it's how we end up saying things like "just checking in," "wanted to touch base," "do you have a quick minute," or "I know I'm catching you out of the blue."
Every one of those phrases creates resistance before you've even made your point. Prospects aren't rejecting you. They're reacting to language they've learned almost always leads to a pitch they don't want.
The problem isn't you. It's the playbook. And playbooks can be replaced. Let’s look at how.
Here are a few places to start with changing the playbook you might be following.
Stop borrowing the language of mediocre salespeople. If you sound like the salespeople you dislike, it's often because you're using their words. Cut the filler, the weak language, the techniquey faux-clever lines, and speak plainly, the same way you'd talk to a colleague you respect.
Lead with relevance, not your agenda. The salespeople prospects avoid usually open with what they want. You can open with why the conversation might matter to the other person. Show you've done a little homework. Give your questions context by making them relevant to the prospect's situation, not just "personalized" because you found something on LinkedIn. Earn the conversation instead of forcing it.
Get others-focused. When your objective is to make a sale or just get the meeting, everything you say sounds like that. Like you are desperate. When your objective is helping someone make a better decision, whether that's with you or not, your tone changes without you having to fake it. Selling stops feeling like persuading and starts feeling like serving. Ironically, that's usually when people become more interested in buying.
Listen to yourself. Record a few calls. No one enjoys doing it, but don't listen to criticize yourself. Listen as if you were the prospect. Where do you create resistance? Where do you sound scripted, going through the motions, or like you're performing instead of just having a business conversation? Would you want to keep talking to you? Those answers are worth more than another book, webinar, or AI prompt.
I've been doing this for more than 40 years. The salespeople who build long, rewarding careers aren't the ones who never cringe after a call. They're the ones who learn from it and don't let the bad habit become permanent.
The professionals you admire probably aren't more charismatic than you, and they're not naturally smoother. They simply stopped trying to sound like "a salesperson" and became trusted business professionals who know how to create conversations instead of resistance.
So the next time you catch yourself thinking, "That didn't sound like me," don't beat yourself up. Smile. You just caught an old habit trying to sneak back in. Replace the playbook, because underneath all that borrowed language is the salesperson you wanted to become when you chose this profession. That person is still there.
And that brings me back to The Salesperson’s Oath that I developed:
First create no resistance.
Everything else follows from that.
If you'd like some help making that change, here are a couple of places to start.
If your biggest challenge is getting rid of the words and phrases that create resistance in the first few seconds of an outreach conversation, that's exactly why I created The First 20 Seconds Formula. It's a practical system for replacing resistance-causing language with openings prospects are far more willing to engage with.
If this feels bigger than wording, if you're ready to become the confident, trusted, others-focused sales professional you've always wanted to be, that's exactly what Ultimate Sales Professional Mastery is designed to help you do.
Ultimate Sales Professional Mastery will help you change who you become.
Both matter. But becoming the kind of sales professional people actually want to talk with is what changes careers.
A Quick Favor... Would Love Your Thoughts
I've been investing a lot of time experimenting with AI to discover practical ways it can help sales professionals become even better without sacrificing the human element of selling.
There are already a lot of AI tools for sales… probably too many. Some are excellent. Some are little more than ChatGPT with a different logo. And quite a few promise to save time but end up giving you another system to learn or more work to do.
I'm interested in something different.
Instead of using AI to replace the salesperson, I want to explore how it can help sales professionals think better, prepare better, ask better questions, listen better, communicate more effectively, and ultimately have better sales conversations. In other words, AI that makes us better sales professionals, not just busier ones.
Rather than guess what would be most valuable, I'd much rather hear it from you.
Simply hit Reply with your thoughts on any or all of these. Don't overthink it. Even a sentence or two is incredibly helpful.
What's one part of your sales job that consistently takes more time than it should?
What's the most valuable way you're using AI in your sales work today?
What's one thing you wish AI did better than it does now?
If AI could help you become a better sales professional without sacrificing the human element of selling, what would you want it to help you do?
I genuinely appreciate your input. I read every reply myself, and I personally respond to every one.
Soon I'll also send a very short survey to gather a little more formal feedback. But I'd really value your candid thoughts first.
Thank you for helping me create something that serves sales professionals and makes us invaluable, instead of trying to replace us.
Go make it your best week ever?
