Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Why we start every sale in a hole—and how to climb out without begging.
You’re not trusted.
Not at first.
Not even a little.
You walk into a discovery call, inbox, or cold outreach as a villain in a suit—or worse, a stereotype in a subject line.
That’s not your fault.
But it is your responsibility.
Because in sales, we don’t start at zero.
We start in the red.
The Buyer’s Brain Doesn’t Forget
Think about it.
Your buyer has been burned before.
They’ve sat through tone-deaf demos.
They’ve answered fake personalization.
They’ve nodded politely through five-point pitch decks about “synergy.”
So when you show up, they don’t just see you.
They see every sales rep who made them feel like a transaction.
Every time they were manipulated.
Every time they gave up their time and got a follow-up sequence instead of a solution.
That’s what you walk into.
Not an open mind.
A courtroom—with you on trial.
This Isn’t Cynicism. It’s Psychology.
In Solution Selling, Michael Bosworth called it the reverse Napoleonic law:
In sales, you're guilty until proven innocent.
Buyers don’t owe you attention, trust, or truth.
You have to earn that.
And you earn it by doing the one thing most reps are too scared to do:
Detach.
Detach from the outcome.
Detach from the pitch.
Detach from the need to be liked.
Because neediness is a neon sign that screams:
“I care more about closing than I do about helping.”
The Flip Happens When You Stop Trying to Prove Yourself
The best sellers don’t plead.
They invite.
They show up differently—calm, curious, and not in a rush to prove they’re right.
They ask a real question—and then shut up.
They hold space when the buyer hesitates.
They don’t paint seagulls in the buyer’s picture. (You’ll get that reference soon.)
They earn trust by acting like they already have it.
That’s the move.
Why It’s the Signature
Guilty until proven innocent.
It’s not a motto.
It’s a mindset.
It’s how we sell.
It’s how we protect ourselves from rejection fatigue.
It’s how we turn every “maybe” into a real moment—and every silence into something worth listening to.
This isn’t therapy.
But it is emotional.
And if you’re still here, chances are, you’ve felt it too.
P.S.
Therapy is expensive.
This newsletter is free.
(For now.)
—The Buyer Shrink
🛋️ Guilty until proven innocent.