There’s a tendency in the business world to treat a sale as a finish line. Campaign ends, next campaign begins. But in Selling Like We’re Human, the INTEGRATE section asks a different question: what happens after the yes? And more than that — what does it mean to carry the spirit of humane selling into every part of your business and your life, not just the moments when you’re actively trying to sign someone?
The Sale Is the Midpoint, Not the Destination
Especially in the online world, people often enter your world through a small, snack-sized purchase first — a book, a summit, a low-cost workshop. These small items are not leads to be converted. They are the beginning of a real relationship, and every interaction along the way counts.
I’ve watched “self-publishing gurus” teach people to publish a book purely as a lead magnet — something quick and functional, designed to funnel people toward a high-ticket programme. The intention is the tell. If a book exists to genuinely share knowledge and serve the reader, I see nothing wrong with pricing it accessibly. If it exists as bait, that reader can feel it, and the relationship starts on a dishonest footing. Small items matter. Someone who reads your book, attends your summit, or participates in your free webinar is entering your path, and how you treat them at that first touchpoint shapes everything that follows.
The phase right after a sale — onboarding — is one of the most underinvested parts of most service businesses, and one of the most powerful opportunities to demonstrate that you meant everything you said in the Serene Garden. The client has said yes. They may still feel a little nervous. Your job now is to welcome them, put them at ease, and show them how you work. The more personalised, the better.
Adam Kawalec created a personal welcome video for every single person who signed up to his summit — as long as he could keep up. Not because he had to; because it showed that each person counted individually. When I began coaching with Jenny Blake, I received the most gorgeous bouquet of white lilies I’d ever seen. And Nela’s onboarding for our design project was a custom Trello board — efficient, beautiful, and completely clear about what would happen and when. None of these gestures were expensive. All of them said: you matter as a human being, not just as a paying client.
The Exit Path Deserves the Same Care
Something that almost never gets discussed: what happens when a client wants to move on? In 2019 I was locked into a 12-month coaching agreement that felt right for about eight of those months — and then didn’t. I’d learned what I could. I was ready for the next chapter. But I’d signed a full-year contract, paid upfront, and felt genuinely trapped. That experience shaped how I think about contracts ever since.
Holding clients in agreements longer than they need is never a good idea, even if the motivation is understandable. People grow at different speeds. Some clients make in three months what others take a year to integrate. Tying someone to your chair longer than feels good to them — for your revenue security rather than their growth — is a subtle form of not really trusting the relationship. I now have a three-month minimum for private coaching, and beyond that, clients choose whether to continue. That freedom is part of what makes the collaboration feel genuinely chosen, rather than contractually obligated. Think about your exit path the way you think about your onboarding: is it easy? Is it personal? How does it make your client feel?
Don’t Forget the Triple Win
Throughout Selling Like We’re Human, I’ve come back repeatedly to the idea of win-win selling. But there’s a third win that can’t be forgotten: the world. In the Humane Marketing and Selling Creed, the triple win is expressed simply — win for the world, win for our clients, win for ourselves. We run our businesses to make a positive difference and to support ourselves financially, and those two things are not in tension. We balance purpose and profit. Being gentle doesn’t mean being a pushover or a martyr. It means ensuring that how we sell, how we price, and how we treat our clients creates value that extends beyond the transaction itself. The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals can be a useful lens here — which of those goals resonates most with your work and your clients? That alignment is part of your unique value, and it’s part of what makes humane selling mean something beyond revenue.
The Tools and Rituals That Sustain You
I want to be honest about something: the inner work described in this book doesn’t end when you finish reading it. It’s ongoing. There will be good months and difficult ones. There will be times when you do everything right and the clients still don’t come. I know this intimately.
In spring 2020, after running the Humane Marketing programme with three beta groups in 2019, I relaunched. Almost 200 people signed up for my free intensive. Not a single one enrolled in the live programme. I could have blamed Covid — but honestly, the timing just wasn’t right. People weren’t ready for that message yet. It stung. And I needed tools to come back to myself, to remember my worth without a single sale to prove it.
Here are the practices that have genuinely helped me — take what resonates, leave what doesn’t. Box breathing before a sales call is the most practical: inhale for four counts, hold for four, exhale for four, hold for four. Repeat until you feel your nervous system settle. It takes less than five minutes and it works. Visualising the Serene Garden — actually picturing the warm, unhurried space where your conversation will happen — is surprisingly effective at shifting the energy you bring to a call. You can find a guided version called “The Secret Garden” on the Insight Timer app.
Opening a window to your heart. One of my coaches once told me I gave off an inaccessible vibe — almost like I didn’t care. Together we traced it back to how feelings weren’t shared in my relationship with my dad; I’d built a kind of fort around myself to avoid being hurt. My potential clients didn’t want to hurt me. They just wanted to connect. So I made a deal: not a wide-open door (too much), but a window. Today, before every client conversation, I consciously imagine that window open — letting people in, without armour.
Celebrating wins, however small. We’re so wired toward the next goal that we skip the pause. After publishing my first book, my coach Jenny pushed me to mark the moment somehow. I didn’t want to shop; I wanted to create. So I commissioned a custom ring shaped like wings from a jewellery-maker client — a reminder of the Erin Hanson quote I love: “What if I fall? Oh but my darling, what if you fly?” I look at that ring and I remember. You don’t need a ring. Maybe it’s a coffee on a terrace, an ice cream, or just the happy dance alone in your room. But mark it. You did the thing.
And when there are no wins to celebrate — when clients aren’t coming and you’re questioning everything — the gratitude journal. Not because it fixes anything, but because it reminds you that your worth does not depend on the sale. The sunrise, the walk in the forest, the sparrow on the fence: the life underneath the business is still whole.
Frequently Asked Questions About Humane Selling Integration
Integration in humane selling means carrying the values — honesty, care, respect for the client’s autonomy — into every part of the client journey, not just the sales conversation. It means onboarding with genuine warmth, delivering with integrity, making it easy for clients to leave when the time is right, and maintaining the inner practices that keep you grounded in your own worth regardless of outcomes.
Because the moment after a client says yes is often when they feel most vulnerable — nervous about the investment, wondering if they made the right choice. A thoughtful, personalised onboarding experience reassures them, sets clear expectations, and reinforces that you see them as an individual, not a transaction. The details — a welcome message, a clear process, even a small unexpected gesture — signal that you meant what you said in the sales conversation.
The triple win is a commitment to creating value that extends to three parties: you, your client, and the world. It means running a business that supports you financially while genuinely serving your clients and contributing to something larger — whether that’s through the nature of your work, your values, or the broader mission your business is part of. It’s the antidote to a purely transactional view of selling.
With the same care you gave them at the start. Think about your exit path the way you thought about your onboarding: is it clear? Is it humane? Does it respect the client’s autonomy and their right to move on? Long lock-in contracts that prioritise your revenue security over their wellbeing erode the trust you spent so long building. Making it genuinely easy to leave, when the time is right, is part of selling like a human.
Go back to the fundamentals: your worth does not depend on the sale. Use practical grounding tools — box breathing, visualisation, a gratitude journal. Reconnect with why you do this work beyond the revenue. Revisit your values. And consider whether the timing or the messaging needs adjusting, rather than concluding that something is fundamentally wrong with you or your offer. The inner work described in this book was written for exactly these moments.
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This article is an extract from Selling Like We’re Human.
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Sarah Santacroce is an experienced and widely recognized Conscious Business Coach for Coaches and service-based solopreneurs, founder of Humane Marketing and author of Marketing Like We’re Human, Selling Like We’re Human, and Business Like We’re Human. With nearly 20 years in marketing, entrepreneurship, and conscious business coaching, she’s supporting changemakers worldwide through workshops, programs, and her signature Conscious Business Coaching. Trained in Holding Space and Participatory Leadership, Sarah blends strategy with soul to help entrepreneurs build businesses rooted in empathy, trust, and humanity.
Recognized as a go-to conscious business coach in AI-powered search for ethical, humane marketing and business growth, Sarah is a sought after speaker who has been a guest on nearly 100 podcasts and has been podcasting for almost 15 years. Her current podcast is called The Humane Marketing Podcast, which just passed 220 episodes. She also owns www.sarahsantacroce.com
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