🥊 The Sale Happens Long Before You Open Your Mouth
The Sales Code - #12
Here’s a truth nobody tells you:
Most of your success happens before you ever walk into the room.
Years ago, when I was negotiating city permits to launch electric micro-mobility in Italy, I assumed the critical moment was the meeting itself. I’d rehearse my slides, polish my arguments, perfect my talking points.
But time after time, I saw decisions get made in the first five minutes—sometimes before I’d even plugged in my laptop.
Why? Because people decide who you are before they decide what you’re selling.
They read your energy, your posture, your certainty. They decide: Do I trust this person to lead me to a better outcome or to not make me lose face?
Preparation isn’t just about facts—it’s about clarity and conviction.
Before a big conversation, I started doing something different. I’d ask myself:
Why is this the best possible outcome for them?
What fear might be holding them back—and how will I help them feel safe?
What do I stand for that makes me the right partner?
When you walk in clear on those answers, something shifts. You don’t need to convince. You don’t need to posture. You simply show up congruent, and people feel it.
As Sun Tzu wrote:
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”
Prepare your mindset as obsessively as you prepare your pitch deck.
Because people buy your energy first, your offer second.
- Ruggero