I saw a LinkedIn post this week that stopped me.

No, it wasn’t negative political commentary that somehow now dominates that platform.

Because people have this innate need to correct.

As in:

“Hey I saw in my notes that you’re working with around $50K budget for this.”

Then just sit back and wait for them to fix it.

Clever, right?

Apparently, because the comments were full of:

“Genius.”
“Underrated tactic.”
“Trying this next outreach!”

Thankfully a few people pushed back on this BS.

But they were drowned out by applause. Most likely from people who spend their day scrolling LinkedIn instead of making calls.

And that right there…is a pet peeve of mine that I am going off on in today’s Big Lesson..

Yes, I know this will irritate some people. Good.

If someone’s strategy depends on tricking people into giving them information…they are not selling. It’s lying.

They can sugarcoat and rationalize all they want. It’s being untruthful to get the result they want.

And prospects feel it. Maybe not consciously. But something in them says:

“This feels a bit sleazy.”

And once that happens, you’ve already lost the one thing you actually needed.

Trust.

Unfortunately,  this isn’t just one tactic.

It’s a pattern. You see it everywhere.

I didn’t have to think too long or hard to put together other slimy sales examples.

“It’s a business matter.”
“I’m following up…” (When they’ve never actually spoken to the decision maker… but had sent an email, therefore they are “following up.’ Please. Pass the soap.)

That’s not “getting past a gatekeeper.” It’s flat out  lying to someone doing their job.

Needing to misrepresent oneself to get into a conversation isn’t earning it. It’s stealing it.

Professionals don’t sneak in. They get invited in.

“Prospects are more likely to pick up if the caller looks local.”

Right.

If a strategy starts with deception…isn’t it logical that a prospect could wonder what else a sales rep would lie about..

“Hey Art, I really admire the work you do with Smart Calling- Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling.”

Nice. Their AI filled in the “personalization” placeholder with the title of my book. Impressive.

They didn’t personalize anything. They automated pretending to care.

People don’t hate AI. They hate lazy attempts to use it that fail, and look ridiculous in the process.

This one always amazes me.

Someone goes to my site and sees a form that clearly says:

“Contact us about training for your team or an event ”…and thinks:

“Perfect. I’ll use this to get him to contact me.”

So I get the inquiry notification. Of course I respond.

And within about 10 seconds it’s obvious that they’re not a prospect. They’re pitching. And it does not go well for them.

That’s not being clever. That’s  misrepresenting to get a response.

And like all the others…it might get attention. But it destroys trust the moment they open their mouth.

There’s a difference between being persistent…and being deceptive.

Let’s bring it back to the LinkedIn example. (I’m not sharing the post or name. My policy is to not roll in the mud on that platform. Or any social media. Or any mud, now that I think about it. Anyway… if you want to know, email me and I’ll send you the link.)

If someone needs tricks to get basic information…they don’t have the credibility to ask for it.

That’s the real issue.

If you want to know someone’s budget, ask like a professional.

“Let me ask you this so I can make sure we’re even talking about something that makes sense for you… what range of funding has been allocated for this right now?”

Transparent. Direct. Others-focused.

No games. No tricks. And ironically…that’s what gets people to actually answer.

Want something that will instantly separate you from 90% of salespeople?

Do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it.

Simple rule to live by. With enormous trust-building impact that compounds over time.

Say you’ll send something? Send it right away.

Say you’ll follow up Thursday at 2? Call at 2. Not 2:15.

Not “later that day.” 2.

Because reliability and trust aren’t tactics or hacks. It’s an identity. It’s who you are. All of the time.

The tactics that give sales a bad name isn’t the problem. They symptoms, driven by the real problem: the identity of the gray-area (or worse) people who are in sales.

The more someone relies on tricks, the less they’ve built the one thing that actually matters.

Trust.

And professionals don’t look for ways to work people. They become people others want to work WITH.

Be that person. Hopefully you are already.

What I just covered is exactly what separates the top performers from everyone else. And it is pretty much never covered in conventional sales training.

That's why I built the Ultimate Sales Professional program. Because after 40+ years of studying this… working with tens of thousands of salespeople… and paying very close attention to the top 5%… the pattern is always the same.

It's not what they know. It's who they ARE. How they think, how they show up, and how they operate when it matters.

Conventional training gives you scripts, tactics, and "what to say." But it doesn't change the person who's saying it. And that's why so many people stay stuck. They know what to do, but they don't consistently do it.

A person who avoids hard conversations doesn't suddenly become strong because they memorized a script.

And a sales hobbyist doesn't become a rejection-proof, others-focused, disciplined professional who makes the calls, without fail just by watching a YouTube video. Nothing underneath has changed. That's the gap.

That's exactly what we do in the Ultimate Sales Professional program. We don't just give you more things to say. We build the identity and the habits that make high-level performance automatic. So you no longer hesitate, you don't drift, you don't rely on tricks. You execute. Consistently. At a high level.

This is not woo-woo motivational fluff. It's brain science and the proven fundamentals of high performing human behavior. If that's the gap you're ready to close, start here:

https://smartcalling.ultimatesalespro.com/

Go make it your best week ever!