"A successful life is an authentic life. Happiness and creativity rest on a foundation of transparency to yourself and others. Knowing your own heart and speaking clearly to others keep you on the path."

Gay Hendricks

Let's think about the beginning of this quote together, "A successful life is an authentic life." I believe happiness and creativity rest on a foundation of transparency to yourself and others.

This is about deeply knowing your own heart and speaking clearly to others that will keep you on the straight and narrow with your clients.

Let's breakdown this quote using the Selling from the Heart framework.

1. "A successful life is an authentic life."

This mirrors our core philosophy of success in sales and in life starts by showing up as your true self. You simply can’t fake authenticity., as eventually you will get called out on it. Sales professionals lead with their heart, not a mask. This aligns with the AR (Authentic Relationships) part of the Trust Formula, by building success through genuine connection.

2. "Happiness and creativity rest on a foundation of transparency to yourself and others."

This speaks to emotional integrity and the inner work emphasized throughout Selling from the Heart. My challenge to the sales world... It's time to get radically honest with yourselves, as you clean the inner mirror.

Transparency fuels trust. It’s the non-negotiable currency of sales. This ties directly into the Trust Formula’s Disciplined Habits (DH), which is knowing and aligning WHO you are, HOW you show up, WHAT you bring, and WHEN you act.

3. "Knowing your own heart and speaking clearly to others keep you on the path."

This is all about intentional self-awareness and communication, which are cornerstones of authentic selling. To sell from the heart means to start leading from the heart.

Knowing your why fuels your conviction and empowers you to speak from a place of meaningful value (MV). When you speak clearly and honestly, you're also delivering an Inspirational Experience (IE), the third pillar of trust-building.

Final Connection to the Trust Formula:

Trust = AR (Authentic Relationships) + MV (Meaningful Value) + IE (Inspirational Experience) + DH (Disciplined Habits)

This quote, it’s a blueprint for how the best sales professionals lead their lives and build their careers.

When you know your own heart, you can show up with authenticity. When you lead with transparency, you become trustworthy. When you speak with clarity, you create real impact.

Because when it's all said and done, it’s not your product, your pitch, or your playbook that sets you apart, it’s your heart.

The path to success isn’t found by copying others, it’s walked by those courageous enough to be themselves.

Know your heart, speak your truth, and build trust. This is how you Sell from the Heart.

Time to Get Uncomfortably Honest

Sales isn’t broken; trust is.

As salespeople, you’ve felt it, ghosted emails, dodged calls, skeptical stares. The truth? The modern buyer, your clients and future clients, may not trust you. This might hurt but they've been trained to not trust.

Salespeople have taught them to expect hype, half-truths, and hollow pitches.

What caused all of this to happen?

Salespeople traded authenticity for automation, relationships for quotas and truth for tactics.

The net result? A post-trust business world where people don’t believe what they hear and don’t want what we’re selling.

What repairs and rebuilds all of this?

Transparency, consistency and heart. This is your edge, your differentiator and you know what? This is your responsibility.

It’s not about being perfectly polished, it’s about being perfectly real.

This means:

• Showing up authentically

• Delivering meaningful value

• Creating inspirational experiences

• Living out disciplined habits

That’s the Trust Formula and it's your roadmap out of the mess.

Here's the bottom line... Sales didn’t lose its value; it's lost its soul.

The time is not to reclaim it. Become the sales professional who leads with truth in a world built on doubt.

The most disruptive thing you can do today, sell with heart.

The Transparency Crisis in Sales

Sales has a trust problem and salespeople have earned it.

• Overpromising and underdelivering

• Dodging direct questions

• Hiding self-interest behind fake partnership talk

This isn’t a messaging issue, it’s a heart issue and it’s costing the sales world real connection, credibility, and revenue.

You can’t fake authenticity, you can’t script sincerity, and you surely can’t outsource trust.

Transparency demands vulnerability and vulnerability requires self-awareness. In fact, most sellers skip that step as they show up with borrowed words, canned phrases and bulletproof facades.

The result? Empty suits, acting the part, saying the right thing, and trusting the script more than themselves.

Clients don’t need actors. What they crave are real humans who tell the truth even when it’s uncomfortable.

The way out of the crisis? It's not charm, not tech stacks, nor better pitch decks, it’s the Trust Formula:

• Authentic Relationships

• Meaningful Value

• Inspirational Experience

• Disciplined Habits

This isn't theory, it’s a framework for showing up as a trustworthy human in every conversation, meeting, and message.

Ask yourself...

• Where am I sugar-coating instead of sharing the truth?

• Do I deflect tough questions or lean into them with confidence?

• Do I show up scripted or sincere?

Recite this daily... In a world of overpromising, I will be a truth-teller. In a world of empty suits, I will lead with heart. In a world of mistrust, I will become trust.

Why Transparency Is Mission Critical

Transparency Builds Trust

Trust is the currency of sales. Without it, you’re broke. People can Google specs and compare options faster than you can finish your value prop slide.

What they can’t Google is your character. When you own your limitations, admit when you don’t know, and clearly communicate risks or trade-offs, you instantly become more trustworthy.

Why? Because honesty is rare and it stands out.

Trust isn’t built on perfection; it’s built on openness.

Vulnerability isn’t weakness; it’s your superpower in a skeptical marketplace.

Transparency Accelerates Decision-Making

Clients delay decisions when they smell smoke and mirrors. They don’t want slick and scripted; they want straight talk.

Transparency breaks down uncertainty and speeds up clarity. When people feel informed and respected, they feel empowered to decide.

Transparent sellers remove friction by removing fear.

When people trust your intent, they stop second-guessing your words and start taking action.

Transparency Deepens Relationships

Sales isn’t a transaction, it’s a transformation. The best relationships are forged in truth, not tactics.

The soft skills yield the hardest dollars.

Transparency is how you move from being a vendor to becoming a valued advisor. It’s not about closing the deal, it’s about opening the relationship.

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Tough Questions for the Sales Professional

1. Where am I sugar-coating instead of sharing the truth?

Are you avoiding hard conversations because you're afraid of losing the deal or your image?

Truth builds trust, but many sellers hide behind inflated claims, vague timelines, or polished responses that mask reality. When you gloss over risks or oversell outcomes, you don't protect the deal, you poison it.

Ask yourself this... What truths am I withholding that could actually earn me more respect and credibility if I just said them out loud?

2. Do I deflect tough questions or lean into them with confidence?

Every tough question is an opportunity to build trust or erode it. When people ask about pricing, delivery issues, or shortcomings, your reaction reveals your character. Confidence doesn't come from having all the answers, it comes from being unshakably honest.

This is what transparency says, you can count on me, even when the news isn’t perfect.

Ask yourself this... How do I respond when things get uncomfortable, do I educate, or do I avoid?

3. Do I show up scripted or sincere?

Clients can smell a rehearsed pitch. They’ve heard the same tired lines a dozen times, all day every day. What they haven’t heard is you, your perspective, your heart, and your story.

If you sound like a brochure, they’ll treat you like one, skimmed and forgotten. When you show up with sincere intent and real curiosity, you become memorable and trustworthy.

Ask yourself this... Am I showing up as a professional or a person with purpose?

The Action Plan, How to Practice Radical Transparency

If you’re serious about building trust, then you need more than theory, you need action.

Here’s your blueprint.

1. Audit your process and your heart

Ask yourself... Where do I hold back? Where do I embellish?

This isn't about shame, it’s about growth. Rewrite client moments with honesty and empathy.

2. Lead with the truth, right from the start

Be clear about your intent. When people know you’re here to help, everything shifts.

Don’t wait for trust to build, start with it.

3. Be honest about your limitations

You earn more respect by naming what you can’t do than by overpromising what you might.

Proactively call out where your solution may not be the best fit.

4. Share the why behind your questions

Let your clients peak behind the curtain. Transparency breeds safety and safety leads to truth.

Tell them why you ask what you ask.

5. Follow through like it’s personal, because it is

Say what you’ll do, then do it every single time. Of you miss the mark, then own it, quickly.

Radical transparency isn’t a tactic; it’s a way of showing respect.

Whether you believe me or not, you're the face of business. The sales world is drowning with spin doctoring. It's your time to become the voice of truth.

You can’t sell authentically if you’re not being authentic with yourself first.

Transparency isn’t a tactic, it’s not a strategy, it’s a way being. The way you show up matters because in this post-trust world, how you sell is more important than what you sell.

Parting Shots

If you want to rise above the noise, and we know there's a ton of noise out there, stop sounding like a salesperson.

Become the voice of clarity in a marketplace drowning in confusion. Become the one people trust when they don’t trust anyone.

Here’s the truth, even if it stings... You can’t win hearts while hiding behind a mask.

Clients aren’t looking for perfection, they’re looking for someone who is real, someone who is bold and someone who is willing to show up with truth and heart.

I encourage you to take off the armor, stand in your value, and go sell like a sales professional that they’ve been waiting for.

The time is now to go sell from the heart.

Originally published on Larry Levine's LinkedIn.