And if it does… that might not be your fault
Let’s start here.
Does sales give you the ick?
Be honest. Not the idea of helping people. Not the idea of building a business. But the feeling of selling.
That moment when:
You have to talk about price, you feel like you’re “pitching”, you worry about coming across pushy, you second guess what you’re saying, that slight internal cringe, The hesitation, the “this doesn’t feel like me” moment. That’s the ick.
Do you want to know something?
You’re not imagining it. A lot of sales does feel off. Because a lot of sales has been taught… badly.
For years, the industry has pushed:
- scripts
- pressure tactics
- “always be closing” mindsets
- confidence that looks more like bravado
And if you’re someone who values:
- honesty
- relationships
- doing good work
…it’s no wonder it doesn’t sit right. Of course it gives you the ick.
But here’s where it gets interesting
Avoiding sales doesn’t fix the problem., it just hides it. Because whether we like it or not:
👉 Sales sits at the centre of every business
👉 Sales sits at the centre of most careers
👉 Sales sits at the centre of decision-making conversations
And if you don’t get comfortable there…You don’t grow, not properly.
The last five years haven’t helped
Let’s add another layer. Over the last 5+ years, something shifted. COVID didn’t just change how we work. It changed how we interact.
Less face-to-face.
More screens.
More distance between people and conversations.
Less attending business events, workshops, training courses…trust me, as an organisation who has an events part to our business, it has not been easy. It never was, it always took effort to market and fill an event, but since 2020…wow, it’s a whole other level of effort.
And at the same time:
- training budgets got cut
- development got deprioritised
- people were left to “figure it out”
Especially in sales.
Which means we now have a generation of professionals who:
- have never properly been taught how to sell
- feel uncomfortable in key conversations
- rely on guesswork instead of structure
- and quietly avoid the moments that matter most
So when sales feels awkward or unnatural…It’s not because you’re bad at it. It’s more likely because you’ve never been given the space to understand it properly.
The real problem isn’t “sales”
It’s how sales has been framed. Because when most people think of sales, they picture:
- pushing
- convincing
- closing
- persuading
Which immediately creates resistance. And let’s face it, if you listed out all your experiences of sales (on the receiving end of the years, most of the list wouldn’t be pleasant, so WHO in the right mind would want to be in sales or admit they are in sales. But good sales…real sales…isn’t that.
It’s:
- understanding
- listening
- guiding
- helping someone make a decision
It’s being a good human being, sat with other good human beings, helping them figure out their challenges, fears, hopes and dreams, helping them make a decision, and that decision can mean not you, not your product, not your service, and THAT is OK! That’s a completely different experience.
And when sales is delivered like that…experienced like that…felt like that…enjoyed like that. Trust builds, fears dissipate, conversations expand, relationships grow and do you know what…?
The ick almost completely disappears.
So why does the ick still show up?
Because even if you believe that…Something changes in the moment. You’re in a real conversation.
The client asks: “So… how much is it?”
Or:
“I’m not sure…”
Or:
“Let me think about it…”
And suddenly:
- your confidence dips
- your thinking speeds up
- your behaviour shifts
You talk more. You explain more. You justify.
Not because you want to. Because the moment feels uncomfortable. And we don’t know what to do in those moments.
That’s the bit no one teaches.
Sales isn’t about what you say
It’s about how you behave when it matters. You can know everything.
You can:
- read the books
- watch the videos
- attend the webinars
But if your confidence drops in key moments…Everything changes. That’s why so many people feel like:
“I know what I should be doing… I just don’t do it.”
It’s not a knowledge gap. It’s a confidence-under-pressure gap.
And for us at Sales Academy, we believe this is where most training gets it wrong
Traditional sales training says:
👉 “Here’s what to say”
But it doesn’t prepare you for:
👉 “Here’s how it feels when things get uncomfortable”
So people leave with:
- more information
- more techniques
- more things to remember
But not more confidence where it counts. So nothing sticks.
So what’s the alternative?
Let’s bring it back to the original question:
Is it possible to grow in sales without being “salesy”?
Yes. But only if you change how you approach it.
Step 1: Understand what’s actually happening
Sales is not about convincing. It’s about navigating uncertainty. Both sides are figuring things out. When you understand that, everything softens.
Step 2: Focus on behaviour, not scripts
It’s not about saying the perfect thing. It’s about:
- staying calm
- asking better questions
- listening properly
- not rushing to fill silence
That’s what builds trust.
Step 3: Practise the real moments
You don’t get better at sales by reading about it. You get better by working through:
- price conversations
- objections
- hesitation
In a space where you can:
- think
- reflect
- adjust
Without pressure.
This is the gap we’ve been seeing for years
And if we’re honest…It’s why we avoided running sales workshops for so long. Because we didn’t want to add more noise.
More scripts.
More tactics.
More “sales energy”.
That’s not what people need.
What people actually need
They need:
- a space to slow down
- a way to understand conversations properly
- the chance to practise without feeling judged
- the ability to build confidence that lasts
Not just for a day. But in real life.
So we built something different
That’s where The Sales Room® came from.
Not a bootcamp. Not a seminar. A room. A place where people can:
- rethink how they approach sales
- understand the psychology behind conversations
- work through the moments that usually create the ick
- build confidence without pretending
No hype. No pressure. No “just say this” or “just do this”. No close more!
Let’s come back to you
If sales gives you the ick…That shouldn’t mean avoid it. It means something about your experience of it needs to change.
Because on the other side of that discomfort is:
- growth
- opportunity
- better conversations
- better results
But only if you approach it differently.
A snippet from years of being a sales professional myself and teaching others, how to be a better human in this role:
You’re not broken at sales. You’ve just been shown a version of it that doesn’t fit. And maybe now is the time to find one that does.
If you’re curious about what that looks like in practice, you can explore The Sales Room® here: