Look Out Salesdrips, Here I Come

When I turned 35, Dad said, "You're 35? Damn! You're almost old enough to have an opinion."
At the time, I chuckled with him at the humor of the comment but also secretly thought "You arrogant, old fart."
Now I'm on the doorstep to 50 and I find myself, yet again, wondering "When is that old fart ever going to be wrong?"
No, I'm not saying people 35 and under don't have opinions. It's just that when I look back on the opinions I had at 25, 35, 45, I realize for the first time why the wisest people in the world always have wrinkles. It simply takes a great many years of opinions, ideas, successes and failures for most of us to finally understand our calling -- our true value to the world -- and until you understand your true calling your wisdom can't find its voice.
Today is November 10, 2007, and I am elated to report that it took only 17,519 days for me to find my true calling:

I will spend my professional life bringing honesty and integrity back to the sales profession and transforming the lives of salespeople around the world.

This may not sound terribly new to those who have known me for years through Honest Selling. After all, I've been teaching people to sell without manipulation for a long time. But those who know me best will spot the core revelation, and I'm sure those who treasure me as much as I treasure them will get goosebumps for me as they grin.
So please consider this post my announcement to the world that every salesdrip on the planet is now fair game. Whether you teach sales that includes lies and manipulation, tell your salespeople to "do whatever it takes" or use lies and manipulation to trick your prospects, you now have a bulls eye on your back.
Sure, there is safety in numbers. I (as of today) am but one voice, and you (you know who you are) are hidden safely among millions. But I have a few arrows in my quiver that will gradually tip the scale:

• People like me, because I'm not a manipulative sleazeball.
• The craptics of traditional salesmanship are the most cowardly form of bully behavior, and I loathe bullies.
• I have a unique talent for organizing crowds.
• Buyers control the fate of all salespeople, and it's easy to teach them how to spot craptics.

I will transform the way selling is done.
I will bring honor back to this profession.
I will expose those who make "salesperson" a dirty word.
I will make salesdrips extinct.
Look out salesdrips, here I come.
 

salesdrip \'salz-drip\ n 1 : dull or boorish person who engages in promoting and selling goods or services by lying to, bullying, cheating or manipulating prospects; also: sales-clown, -dullard, -dummy, -dunce, -idiot

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association