"Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen."

Brené Brown

You got to admit, this quote gets right to the heart of what matters.... Vulnerability and authenticity are required to truly connect with others. I ask you to think about your clients.

As you start thinking about them, let’s apply this quote to how salespeople can embody this courageous mindset as they engage with their clients.

Sales isn’t just about products or services, it’s also about trust, connection, and value.

Applying this quote to the sales community:

1. Show Up with Presence

• Salespeople must be fully engaged, not just going through the motions.

• Salespeople must do the prep work, understanding the client’s needs, and being ready to listen, adapt and collaborate.

2. Letting Themselves Be Seen

• Clients respond to authenticity. When salespeople are honest, genuine and give a rip about what they can and can’t do, it builds trust.

• Salespeople who share personal stories, admitting when they don’t know something, or show genuine enthusiasm makes them relatable and human.

3. Courage in Vulnerability

• It takes courage to ask tough and brave questions, to challenge a client’s assumptions, or to admit a mistake.

• Vulnerability often leads to deeper conversations and stronger relationships.

4. Creating a Safe Space

• When salespeople show up authentically, as who they truly are, they invite clients to do the same.

• This creates a space where clients feel heard, respected, and more willing to share their real business secrets leading to more meaningful outcomes.

Trust isn’t something you ask for. It’s something you earn through how you live, lead, and love your clients every single day.

Your mirror moment... Are you building trust or eroding trust by how you show up for your clients.

Allow this to settle inside your heart, not just your head.

You see, every call you make, every conversation you have, every proposal you send, every follow-up or lack thereof, every single moment you interact with a client or even a prospect... You’re either making a trust deposit or a trust withdrawal.

You know what? It’s not their job to figure out who you are. It’s your responsibility to show up in such an authentic, consistent, and value-driven way that it becomes undeniably clear that you can be trusted.

Time for some reflection:

• Are you showing up with authentic relationships, or just pushing your product?

• Are you delivering meaningful value or repeating what’s already in the brochure?

• Is your client’s experience inspirational, or are you just checking the box?

• Are your habits disciplined, or reactive and inconsistent?

Trust Is Built Or Broken When No One's Watching

I believe the business world has become numb from the sales noise, your presence is your power. And your heart is the hidden engine of trust.

You don’t have to be perfect. But you do have to be present. You do have to care. You do have to choose courage over convenience.

The question isn't whether your client will trust you. The real question is... Have you become someone who is worthy of that trust?

Trust, it’s forged in the small, unseen moments:

• The silence when someone needed empathy, not expertise.

• The distracted glance on a virtual call.

• The follow-up that came too late or not at all.

• The promise quietly left unmet.

These aren’t minor missteps, they’re signals. Because in every moment, you’re either building trust or breaking it. There is no neutral.

Trust is not a tactic; it’s a way of being.

Trust gets revealed in how you show up when it’s inconvenient. When someone ghosts you. When the deal slows down and when the camera’s off and no one’s watching.

The real you is the one who shows up in those moments and that’s who your clients are deciding to trust or not.

In this post-trust world, people aren’t listening for your pitch, they’re listening for your intent.

What they crave isn’t perfection, it’s presence, consistency and someone who is real.

Trust Isn’t a Tactic. It’s a Testament.

You can’t fake trust. You can’t automate it, and you surely can’t shortcut your way to it, though so many in sales try.

They hide behind scripts, flood inboxes with impersonal messages and play the numbers game, thinking that enough touches will eventually wear someone down.

Trust doesn’t work that way. Trust is built in how you show up when nobody’s watching.

This is about whether your intentions match your actions. Whether your words align with your follow-through. Whether you lead with heart or with hidden agendas.

Every interaction tells your client one of two stories:

1. You can count on me.

2. You’re just another number.

Which one are you telling?

Trust isn’t built in the spotlight; it’s built in the shadows. It’s the quiet follow-up after a deal goes cold. It’s remembering a client’s challenge even when there's no quota tied to it.

It’s choosing character over commission when no one’s keeping score. Trust doesn’t announce itself, it reveals itself in your consistency, your sincerity, and your willingness to do the right thing even when it’s inconvenient.

Folks, that’s not a tactic, that’s who you are.

You can't preach trust and authenticity while hiding behind automation.

If your message doesn’t sound like you, if your actions don’t reflect your values, if your relationships are just transactions in disguise, then don’t be surprised when trust doesn’t follow you.

When deals stall, client's ghost, or referrals dry, don’t blame the market, blame the mirror for how you're showing up.

How You Show Up, It’s Your Daily Decision

You don’t arrive at trustworthiness with a title or tenure. You build it moment by moment, choice by choice.

Every day, you’re given the chance to answer the hard questions... Will you respond when it’s inconvenient? Will you follow through when it’s not profitable? Will you tell the truth, even if it costs you the deal?

Trust doesn’t come with fanfare; it’s forged in the quiet.

It's the call you return even when there’s nothing in it for you. In the integrity you hold when nobody’s clapping. In the way you treat people when there’s no spotlight, no KPI, no recognition.

It’s not the pitch that makes the difference. It’s how you show up after the pitch. It’s how you carry yourself when the sale is over. It’s what you do when there’s nothing left to gain.

That’s what people remember. Not your script, not your slick sales material, and not your charm.

They remember whether you made them feel like a real person or a prospect. They remember whether your word meant something when it mattered most.

They remember how you showed up when nobody was watching.

Because trust isn’t built in the close, it’s built in your character.

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Radical Responsibility, The Heart of Trust

If you want to earn deep, lasting trust the kind that doesn’t just close deals but builds legacies, it starts with radical responsibility. It starts with you.

Not just for what you say but for how you show up, day in and day out.

This means asking yourself hard questions, while being brave enough to sit with the answers.

• Am I aware of my blind spots or am I avoiding them?

• Are my actions driven by service or by self-preservation?

• Do my values guide me or only show up when it’s convenient?

• Am I showing up to truly understand or to simply be understood?

This is the real work. The uncomfortable, unglamorous, transformational work.

Because trust doesn’t rise from charisma or cleverness. It rises from congruence, when your words, actions, and intentions all say the same thing.

This only happens when you lead with heart, not with ego. Not with manipulation, not with a closing script, but with presence, empathy and integrity.

You don’t build trust by being perfect. You build it by being real. And realness takes courage, the kind that comes from within, not from a playbook.

So, let's pause for a moment.

Ask yourself... What’s it like to be on the other side of me?

That answer? That's where trust begins.

The Professional Your Clients Remember

Here’s a question to sit with... How will your clients describe you when you’re not in the room?

Will they say:

• "They really listened to me.”

• “They cared about my needs.”

• “They were honest.”

• “They made me feel seen, valued, and understood.”

Or will they say:

• “Just another salesperson.”

• “Only cared about the deal.”

• “Felt like I was being sold to, not helped.”

• “Disappeared after the sale.”

You are writing your sales legacy one conversation at a time.

Because here’s the quiet truth, every interaction leaves a trust residue.

You’re either building trust or eroding it. You’re either elevating the relationship or commoditizing yourself. You’re either someone they talk about with respect or forget entirely.

This isn’t about being liked. It’s about being known for how you made them feel. For the character you brought. For the standard you set. For the heart you led with.

I ask you to pause for a moment, breathe, and ask yourself... What story are my clients telling about me? And more importantly am I proud of it?

What Trust Looks Like When You Show Up

Trust isn’t just a feeling; it’s built through behavior.

Here are a few trust-building actions you can commit to today by how you show up.

1. Be Honest When It’s Hard

If your solution isn’t the best fit, just plain say so. If the timeline isn’t realistic, just say so. If expectations are off, recalibrate them early and gain recommitment.

Truth creates safety, safety creates trust and trust creates long-term clients.

2. Follow Up with Heart

Don’t just follow up to check in or circle back. Follow up with genuine intent to serve, add value, share insights and make it personal.

Show them you remember who they are, not just what they might buy.

3. Do What You Say You’ll Do

So freaking obvious but overlooked.

If you say you’ll call, call. If you promise to send something, send it. If you make a commitment, keep it.

Trust is a deposit. Every broken promise is a withdrawal.

4. Practice Presence, Not Performance

You don’t have to be the smoothest talker or the flashiest closer. You just must be present.

You've heard the saying, "Be where your feet are." Listen like it matters because it does.

5. Lead with Empathy, End with Impact

Don’t rush through discovery process. Get to know what really matters to your client. What’s at stake for them? What are they afraid of? What do they hope for?

Speak to the human behind the title. Dig below the conversational surface. That’s where trust lives.

Final Reflection, What Are You Really Bringing to the Table?

So, here’s your moment of truth... If trust were the only thing your clients could buy from you, would they?

Once you answer that one, then ask yourself... What am I really leaving behind in every conversation?

Because long after you left their office or the virtual meeting, they’ll remember your sincerity.

Long after the conversations fade, they’ll remember how you made them feel. They’ll remember whether they felt safe with you.

That’s what people hold onto, and that’s what they talk about when you’re not in the room.

So, what are you really bringing to the table?

If you strip away the tactics, if you remove the pressure, if you quiet the noise…

What’s left?

Are you someone your clients trust without hesitation? Are you someone whose presence makes people feel seen, heard, and respected? Are you someone who walks in with purpose and leaves behind peace of mind?

You don’t just sell a product; you sell an experience of you.

If that experience is grounded in truth, empathy, and unwavering consistency, you won’t just win deals, you’ll win hearts.

You’ll be the voice they remember, the standard they benchmark others to, and the name they trust when it matters most.

That’s not strategy, that’s legacy. And it’s built one human moment at a time.

You see, that’s how you Sell from the Heart. That's how you show up.

Originally published on Larry Levine's LinkedIn.