How Sales Keeps Breaking Trust at First Touch

I tried to write this as one article. It wasn’t working.

So this is two parts. Please read both.

The second shows how AI is accelerating a trend I’ve pushed against my entire career.

Part 1: Stop Lying to Get the First Touch

Sales has always had a habit of inventing shortcuts.

They’re rarely framed as deception. But that’s what they are.

Local presence dialing is the cleanest example. It took off around 2010 and went mainstream fast. Suddenly reps could make an outbound call look local.

Connect rates jumped. Because people thought it was their kid’s school. Or their doctor.

Not a salesperson.

Marketing had its version too. Slap “re:” on a mass email to fake a reply chain. That trick’s been around since the late ’90s. Still shows up today.

These tactics appear to work to the shortsighted leaders and users employing them.

Then they rot things underneath.

My old boss, mentor, and friend Peter Weyman used to call this “Sales 0.2.” Not progress. Regression.

I’ve had the argument a hundred times:

“It’s not that bad.”
“Everyone does it.”
“It gets results.”

That’s the wrong frame.

The question isn’t whether it lifts response rates.

It’s this: why start a relationship with a lie?

Most reps (and leaders unfortunately) aren’t thinking about relationships. They’re thinking about transactions.

So they justify it.

Until buyers stop answering.

Or worse: they answer, realize what happened, and trust plummets.

Shortcuts like this don’t just burn prospects.

They burn the channel and they burn your long-term brand.

Part 2: AI Personalization Is the New Local Presence

AI didn’t invent bad behavior. But it is scaling it.

There’s a new version of Sales 0.2 showing up in inboxes right now.

It looks like personalization.

It’s not.

It’s AI pretending the rep did something they didn’t do.

Here’s how it usually shows up:

“Saw your post on SDR hiring—great insights. Congrats on the growth.”

They didn’t read the post.

They don’t know what it said.

They let AI fake familiarity.

Seems harmless.

It’s not.

People can smell it.

And when they can’t, they eventually figure it out. Then they feel duped, or worse, stupid for engaging.

Same outcome as local presence.

I’m not anti-AI. I use it aggressively myself (you can even buy mine on my website). And I train leaders and reps on it weekly.

But use it clean.

Bad (inauthentic flattery):
“Saw your post on SDR hiring. Congrats on growing so quickly…”

Worse (fake insight):
“Saw your post on ramping SDRs—really insightful…”

Good (relevance):
“Looks like you’re hiring SDRs every quarter but not adding managers. How are you handling ramp and coaching?”

No pretending. No fake reading. No borrowed credibility.

Just a sharp observation tied to a real problem.

That’s the line.

AI should help you think.

Not help you lie faster.