Building Authority in Sales
- Uncategorized
- May 26, 2026
I began my career trying to fit in.
Like many in media sales, I learned quickly what success was supposed to look like: polished, persuasive, and always a step ahead. My early roles at Harrods, The Mirror, FHM and Heat taught me how to sell in high-performance environments where results mattered, and confidence was currency.
So when I later stepped into the online coaching industry, I assumed I’d simply adapt those skills to a new space, and that I would learn how to build authority in sales.
But something didn’t sit right.
The louder the industry became, the more uncomfortable it felt. I watched as sales advice became increasingly performative, urgency manufactured out of thin air, scarcity used as a default tactic, and persuasion repackaged as “strategy”.
It wasn’t just ineffective; it was eroding trust. And perhaps more importantly, it was making many women resent selling altogether.
This wasn’t authentic sales. It wasn’t ethical selling. And it certainly wasn’t the kind of sales for women that builds long-term success.
I saw coaches shouting into viral reels about closing techniques, while the very people they were trying to attract quietly disengaged. It was hustle dressed up as ambition, and burnout reframed as commitment.
And beneath all of it sat a more damaging narrative: that if brilliant female entrepreneurs weren’t selling, the problem must be them.
It wasn’t them.
Time and again, I met talented founders who were exceptional at what they did, yet hesitant to talk about it. They underpriced their work, softened their message, and avoided visibility, all in the name of humility. But it wasn’t humility.
It was learned avoidance, shaped by an industry that had confused volume with value and ignored the importance of a strong sales mindset.
So I went looking for a different approach. Someone who was teaching selling with integrity, a model rooted in trust-based selling rather than pressure tactics.
I couldn’t find her.
So I became her.
I don’t teach sales in the traditional sense.
I teach founders how to stop apologising for it. How to communicate the value of their work without contorting themselves into someone they’re not. How to build confidence in sales and embrace personal brand sales in a way that feels natural and aligned.
Three years on, that approach has done more than just resonate; it’s worked.
Recognition as Businesswoman of the Year, a book, a podcast, and stages across the country have all been built on a philosophy many claimed wouldn’t sell: more heart, less hustle.
Because the truth is, good selling has never been about pushing harder. The best salespeople have always understood that trust outperforms tactics.
They don’t rely on false urgency or exaggerated scarcity, and don’t need to be the loudest voice in the room to sell without pressure.
They are the most trusted.
If you’ve been led to believe that you need to be sharper, louder, or more relentless to succeed in sales, it’s worth questioning where that belief came from. Much of what the online coaching industry promotes today is designed for attention, not integrity.
There is another way.
A way grounded in authentic sales. A way where your experience speaks for itself. Where your work is positioned clearly and confidently. Where selling with integrity feels like a natural extension of what you do, rather than something you have to force.
If you’ve been waiting for permission to sell without pressure, in a way that actually aligns with you, consider this.
The most experienced person in the room should never be its best-kept secret.
Hi, I’m Suman. I transform sales and messaging for ambitious founders – so they become the obvious choice in their space.
Keynotes. Strategy Days. Workshops. Author of More Heart Less Hustle.
