I often share memories of wise old men who gave me good advice.

I have a grandchild turning 17 today, so I will play the part of the old man.

The person I am advising is you.

Always deliver the negative truth while the sale hangs in the balance. If you smile and make the sale and keep quiet until that predictable moment of crisis arrives, the truth will no longer ring true. It will just sound like you are making excuses.

Tell your customer what they deserve to know while they still have the chance to walk away. Look them in the eye and warn them. Make it a moment they will never forget.

Fools are attracted to slick and shiny liars who will tell them what they want to hear. But when you tell the negative truth while the sale hangs in the balance, you filter out the fools.

When a fool hears your warning and walks away, dance and sing. Rejoice! You don’t want to live your life surrounded by anxious, nervous, finger-pointing fools.

Tell the truth when it is not in your best interest. Smart people will trust you. Your relationships will last for decades.

When everything is upside and there is no downside, you can be certain that someone is lying.

The downside of the advice I gave you today is that you will definitely lose sales you could have made.

The upside is that you really didn’t want to make them. Not only would you have lost that client within a few months, you would have eroded your integrity and lost your self-respect in the process.

And if you keep eroding your integrity, you will soon become slick and shiny.

Roy H. Williams

I have a weirdly excellent rabbit hole for you to explore today. Do you know the way in? – Indy Beagle

Ken Paskins witnessed his grandfather and his father struggle to run a successful business. He was determined to find a better way. So Ken went to work for giant companies like Oracle and BEA Systems. Today Ken is the co-founder of a CEO coaching and peer advisory community that shows owners and CEOs of companies with 100 or fewer employees how to achieve their goals. Rather than rely on a single guru for sage advice, Paskins tells roving reporter Rotbart, his clients learn from experts and peers