Hi {{first_name}},

I closed the sale and felt nothing.

Actually, that's not true. I felt relief. 

Relief that I'd said the right things, hit the right pressure points, navigated the objections correctly. Relief that another month of bills was covered.

But no satisfaction. 

No sense that I'd actually helped anyone.

This was early in my coaching business, back when I was still treating sales conversations like a game 

I needed to win rather than a genuine exploration of whether I could help someone. 

I'd learned all the techniques. 

Overcome objections. Create urgency. Handle resistance. Close the deal.

I was good at it. Getting better each time.

And I hated it.

The client paid. We scheduled the first session. 

I should have been celebrating. Instead, I sat there wondering if they'd actually get results or if I'd just convinced them they would.

That distinction - between convincing someone you can help them and actually being able to help them - kept me up that night.

I'd spent so long learning how to sell that I'd stopped asking whether what I was selling would genuinely transform their business. 

The focus had become closing deals, not creating value.

The shift didn't happen overnight. 

It took months of working with clients where the transformation was real and immediate, contrasted against clients where I could tell they'd bought because I'd sold well, not because the fit was right.

The ones who got results were the ones I'd been honest with and told "this might not be right for you" before explaining why it actually was. 

Where I'd spent more time listening than pitching.

The disappointing results came from the people I'd convinced. Persuaded. Closed.

That realisation changed everything. 

Not my techniques - my intention.

I stopped trying to get people to buy and started trying to find out if I could genuinely help them. 

The sales conversations became shorter. 

More direct. Less pressure, more clarity.

Paradoxically, more people bought. And the ones who bought actually got results.

The mindset shift from "tricking people into giving me money" to "receiving money for providing genuine value" sounds obvious when you write it down. Living it is different.

Every time I catch myself in a conversation thinking about what I should say next instead of listening to what they actually need, I know I've slipped back into old patterns. 

The temptation to perform instead of connect is always there.

But the difference in outcomes is unmistakable. 

Clients who buy because they genuinely believe you can help them show up differently than clients who buy because you convinced them well.

They do the work, follow through and get results.

And those results build your business better than any sales technique ever could.

The sale I closed that day? 

They got some value, but not transformation. They were polite about it. Didn't ask for a refund. Just quietly disappeared after the programme ended.

I think about them sometimes. 

Wonder what would have happened if I'd been honest instead of persuasive. If I'd asked better questions instead of delivering better pitches.

That's the cost of treating sales as persuasion rather than qualification. 

You get the money, but you lose the impact. 

And eventually, the lack of impact catches up with your reputation.

Think about your last three sales conversations. 

Were you trying to convince them or trying to find out if you could genuinely help them? 

Reply with your honest answer - I'm curious whether you can feel the difference in the moment or only afterwards.

Jack