Author: Paul Bunn

Practitioner, student, and trainer and coach in High Probability Selling for over a quarter century.

The 90-Day Myth — How HPS Adoption Actually Happens — Forum Conversation on Fri 1 May 2026

This Friday’s Forum:  The 90-Day Myth — How HPS Adoption Actually Happens

There’s a story that has been circulating in the HPS community for at least 30 years.

You’ve heard it. A handful of highly successful practitioners who saw the light, dropped everything, implemented HPS in its entirety, and never looked back. Total transformation. Ninety days. Done.

It’s a great story.

It’s also not how it happened.

What actually happened — almost certainly — is that HPS gave those practitioners language and structure for things they were already doing intuitively. The fit felt immediate because they were already disqualifiers at heart (or at least primed for the shift). The “transformation” was more recognition than revolution. And the messy parts — the backsliding, the hybrid period, the old habits that came roaring back the first time quota and expectations pressure spiked — those got edited out in the retelling, because they don’t make for a clean narrative.

Thirty years later, that edited version has been converted into gospel.

And it does real damage.

Because when your adoption looks nothing like that — when you’re in the messy middle, running two approaches in parallel, defaulting to old patterns under stress — the myth tells you something is wrong with you. That you’re not committed enough. That you don’t get it.

You get it fine. You’re just human. And humans don’t change in 90 days. They change the way they actually change — nonlinearly, imperfectly, and over much longer than anyone’s highlight reel suggests.

This Friday, we’re burning down the origin myth.

We’ll talk about how HPS adoption actually unfolds, why the Hollywood version persists, and what a more honest — and ultimately more useful — story might look like.

This Friday’s Community Forum — “The 90-Day Myth: How HPS Adoption Actually Happens” The truth is less sexy. It’s also a lot more helpful.

Topic:  The 90-Day Myth — How HPS Adoption Actually Happens
Date:  Friday 1 May 2026
Time:  10:00 AM (USA Eastern Time)
Cost:  Your name and email.  No charge.

The video recording of this conversation is available here for $25 USD.  Transcript and chat are included.

Assuming the Sale, The HPS Way – Forum Conversation on Fri 17 Apr 2026

HPS has a long and proud tradition of absolutes.

Never use the word “interested.” Never say “just.” Never assume the sale. Jacques Werth’s poison word list. The rules handed down from on high by white-haired gurus. Stated with authority.  Based on five decades of experience. Accepted almost immediately. Rarely examined. Only challenged in private or in our thoughts.

Here’s the thing about absolutes: they work great in a classroom. The moment you step into an actual conversation with an actual human being, who didn’t attend the same workshop, reality takes over — and absolutes help no one.

So when someone says “assume the sale,” the good HPS practitioner’s knee-jerk response is: never do that. Fair enough. But is it true? Always? In every context? 

Or is the real answer — as it so often is — a matter of degrees, definitions, and the situation you’re actually in?

This Friday, we’re going after the sacred cows.

We’re going to take every absolute HPS proclamation we can think of — including “never assume the sale” — hold it up to the light, and see if it survives contact with reality. Some will. Some won’t. Some will turn out to be right for the wrong reasons.

Come ready to challenge. Come ready to be challenged.

This Friday’s Community Forum — “Assuming the Sale the HPS Way”
Bring your absolutes. We’ll bring the grill.

The video recording of this conversation is available here for $25 USD.  Transcript and chat are included.

MPPs and Sasquatch – Do They Exist? HPS Forum Conversation on Fri 10 Apr 2026

Let’s talk about something that seems reasonable…
but quietly creates confusion in sales.

What if someone is not clearly a Low Probability Prospect…
and not clearly a High Probability Prospect?

What are they?

  • Medium Probability?
  • Medium-Low?
  • “Somewhere in between”?

After all…
it’s a common belief that the world isn’t binary.

That people can’t be placed into categories like:

  • High Probability
  • Low Probability

Because that would mean we’re judging people.
Treating them like objects.

And High Probability Selling doesn’t do that.

So what actually happens?

In practice…

When we try to measure or define:

  • “medium probability”
  • “kind of interested”
  • “not a no, but not a yes”

We introduce something subtle:

Fog.

Not complexity.
Fog.

And once the fog rolls in:

  • Decision-making slows down
  • Conversations lose clarity
  • CRM pipelines freeze
  • “Interested” starts to look like progress

But nothing actually moves.

Here’s the real question

How do we measure:

  • Inside the sales role?
  • Outside the sales role?
    (marketing, service, fulfillment…)

If we’re trying to align an entire business
with HPS principles?

What we’ll explore in this Forum

  • Why “Medium Probability Prospects” appear to exist
  • Why they don’t actually exist (for measurement)
  • How this confusion shows up in:
    • inbound
    • outbound
    • email / DM
    • CRM pipelines
  • The mindset shift that removes the fog
  • What to do instead — in real conversations

A simple idea… that gets complicated

This is actually simple.

But for all the human effort to simplify things…
we tend to complicate them.

Sometimes so much that:

The simplicity itself becomes hard to see.

Who this is for

  • People using HPS
  • People exploring HPS
  • People trying to align sales with the rest of the business
  • Anyone noticing their pipeline feels… unclear

We talked about this during a Zoom conversation on Friday 10 April 2026. The meeting was well attended.

The meeting was recorded.  The video recording is available for sale on our website for $25 USD. 

The Most Expensive Lie in Sales: Selling the Outcome Without the Get

Most prospects will say they want the outcome.

Better results. More security. Increased revenue.

That’s easy.

What’s not easy — and almost never clarified — is whether they’re willing to do what it takes to produce that outcome.

In High Probability Selling, that’s the Get. What it takes to get the outcome.

And when the Get is unclear or avoided:

  • Prospects say yes too quickly
  • Pipelines fill with non-buyers
  • Deals fall apart late

Not because they didn’t want the result…
but because they were never willing to do the Get.

We took a direct look at that gap in a recent HPS Community Forum meeting.

When:  Thursday 19 March 2026
Format: Live Zoom Forum (discussion-based)
Video Recording: Available here for $25 USD

Do You Have Undiagnosed Hopiumitis?

A year or so ago, one of our HPS Forum participants introduced a word that perfectly describes a common challenge in selling. He called it Hopium.

Hopium is an odorless, colorless, tasteless gas that tends to affect salespeople more than most. Its symptoms are subtle. Its impact is predictable.

Hopium is what keeps us pursuing prospects who ghost us.
It leads us to “add value” excessively in the hope that someone will buy.
It convinces us that because someone needs what we offer, they must therefore want it — and will eventually do business.

Under the influence of Hopium, we:

  • Set appointments with people who have shown no intention of keeping them.
  • Refer to prospects as “clients” or “customers” before they have ever bought.
  • Continue conversations long after intention has failed to appear.

Hopium replaces clarity with optimism.

You arrive at an appointment. The prospect says, “You’ve got 10 minutes to pitch me,” even though they previously agreed to 30 minutes of uninterrupted time.

Instead of disqualifying, Hopium whispers: Maybe I can still make this work.

So we compress, persuade, and perform — abandoning process in favor of possibility.

Hopiumitis often goes undiagnosed.
Some label it “attachment” and attempt to appear detached.
Some fill their calendars with low-probability appointments under the belief that more activity will produce more results.
Others experience it intermittently — especially when pipeline anxiety rises.

A colleague once described regularly driving up to two hours for appointments without first asking the Conditional Commitment Question. The outcome was predictable: four-hour round trips and no business. Nothing unethical. Nothing aggressive. Just an unexamined assumption that interest might convert to intention.

That is Hopiumitis.

The challenge with Hopiumitis is that it feels productive. It feels positive. It feels like perseverance.

But in High Probability Selling, clarity replaces hope.
Intention replaces assumption.
Commitment replaces optimism.

The remedy for Hopiumitis is not force or effort. It is awareness — and adherence to principle.

The symptoms may appear externally, but the cure is internal.

Every moment presents the choice:
Proceed on hope — or proceed on probability.

We discussed the ghosting problem and how it is related to Hopiumitis in a HPS Community Forum conversation on Zoom. The video recording of that meeting will be available starting 6 Mar 2026 on our online store for $25 USD. 

What do I do when unexpected events screw up my well planned HPS sales process? – Forum Discussion 8 Jan 2026

Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963, was once asked the question, “Considering all of your experience and preparation, what is most likely to blow a government off course?”

His famous reply was, “Events, my good man, events.”  Or as Frederick the Great 18th century soldier’s warning, “All is for naught if an angel pisses on your flintlock.”

No matter what you are selling, products, services, software, advice or ideas, sales is a people business. People, language, and perspective often matter more than product or service or price.

And people have a tendency to move in unpredictable ways and say unpredictable things, often at very unexpected moments.

HPS has been, since the writing of the book, first considered to be a linear process that will produce high probability sales.  And most of the time, with the right implementation and mindset, HPS works reliably well.

However, as a process alone, as our wise old Prime Minister says above, sometimes, sometimes seemingly often, “events, my good man, events” or unpredictable external events occur and we get ourselves lost as to what to do or where to go next.

The next HPS Community Forum will discuss common ways that our best laid HPS intentions can go awry, our prospects can go in completely unexpected directions.

AND, we will provide strategies and ideas on how to get your sales process back on track, both from a one-on-one sales situation, as well as a holistic perspective on the business in which sales take place.

It is essential that one’s own HPS Principles, Values, Standards, and experience are considered in the sales recovery process and we will cover those as well.

High Probability Selling Community Forum Discussion

Live and Interactive Video Discussion on Zoom,
led by Paul Bunn and Carl Ingalls

Thursday 8 January 2026
9:30 AM (USA Eastern Time)
Supported by Voluntary Donation

If you want to attend this Live Forum event, please register here. 

If you want the recording for this Forum event, please wait until the following day (Fri 9 Jan) and then order the recording from the HPS Online Store. 

Invitation: How to Evaluate Whether High Probability Selling is Right for Your Business – Thu 20 Nov 2025

In this session, we explore how to evaluate High Probability Selling as you would evaluate a new hire for your business — calmly, objectively, and on your own terms.

I’d like to invite you to a session where we’ll take an objective look at whether High Probability Selling (HPS) is the right fit for your business.  Instead of simply asking whether HPS will work for you, for which the stock answer has traditionally been “yes”, we will show you a new way to conduct this evaluation for yourself, as a business owner (even if you don’t see yourself this way, we invite you to try on that identity for this exercise). 

We will be changing your perspective from “will HPS fit what I am doing now?” and treating the question as if you’re “hiring HPS as an employee”.

When you hire someone for your team or business, you’re not just buying a service; you’re evaluating their skills, their fit with your culture, and how they’ll contribute to the long-term goals of your business.  In the same way, HPS can be considered a new hire for your business — one that could guide the transformation of your sales process and approach.

In this meeting, we’ll explore:

  1. What it means to “hire” HPS
    Instead of simply purchasing a sales methodology or a training program, what would it look like to employ HPS as an expert within your business?  We’ll discuss how to evaluate whether it’s a good fit as you would with any prospective team member: Does it have the expertise?  Does it align with your values?  Can it help your business grow in the direction you want?
  2. Shifting from “tool or thing I have to learn” to “team member”
    In this context, HPS isn’t just something you “use.”  You’re hiring an expert to integrate into your business.  This shift in perspective requires thinking beyond the individual actions and behaviors you might need to adopt and focusing on the broader, organizational impact HPS can bring.  How would you onboard and integrate HPS into your processes?  What type of culture and systems would need to be in place to successfully employ this new “team member”?
  3. Evaluating HPS from a hiring perspective
    We’ll discuss the criteria you would use to evaluate any new hire:
    • Skills and Expertise: What does HPS bring to the table, and how does it match your business needs?
    • Compatibility: Will HPS integrate smoothly with your existing sales processes, mindset, and culture?
    • Long-Term Impact: What are the expected outcomes if you decide to hire HPS?  What does success look like, and how do you measure it?
  4. Addressing potential barriers to hiring HPS
    Just like hiring a new employee, the process may require shifts in how you think about sales, systems, and organizational culture.  What are the challenges to hiring HPS?  How might existing systems, mindsets, or business philosophies create friction during the integration process?
  5. How to approach HPS as a “new hire”
    Once you’ve decided whether HPS is a good fit, we’ll discuss how to onboard it into your business and begin the implementation process.  What’s involved in bringing this “new employee” on board, and how do you align HPS with your current sales team, CRM systems, and processes?

The goal of this session is to provide a framework for hiring HPS as an expert to guide the transformation of your sales process, rather than simply adding another tool to your existing system.  We’ll help you evaluate if this “new hire” is the right fit for your needs, culture, and goals.

If you’re interested in this perspective and would like to discuss how to decide whether HPS is the right “employee” for your business, you are welcome to join us on this week’s HPS Community Forum. 

Date:  Thu 20 Nov 2025
Time:  9:30 AM (USA Eastern Time)
Where:  Zoom (instructions will be provided after registering)
Cost:  Pay what you decide

Click Here to register. 

Recognizing Leakage: The Subtle Signs of Persuasion

Leakage is when old habits and beliefs subtly intrude and interfere with what we are trying to become — an internal conflict between conditioning and intention. In High Probability Selling, we learn to recognize it, release it, and return to calm respect where real communication begins.

Leakage happens when a salesperson says they are not selling but their tone and timing say otherwise.  It shows up as tiny manipulations — the tie-down question, the overly warm laugh, the pause meant to create pressure.  Once you have seen it, you cannot unsee it. 

The human brain, especially the limbic system, detects those signals instantly.  The prospect may not know why they feel uneasy, but they feel it.  Leakage destroys clarity. 

In High Probability Selling, we learn to notice it first in ourselves.  Whenever you feel the urge to “get them,” pause.  Check your body.  Tightness in the chest, rush in the voice — those are signs of attachment.  Release them.  Return to respect. 

The goal is not to appear calm; it is to be calm.  When manipulation stops, communication becomes real again.  The prospect senses that there is nothing hidden, and the conversation becomes simple, direct, and free.  That freedom, not persuasion, is what makes agreements possible.

The Small-Town Agent and the Circle of Relationships

In a small town, every sales conversation echoes. In High Probability Selling, manipulation is not just ineffective — it’s dangerous. The small-town agent learns to stay truthful, respectful, and part of the same circle they serve.

Selling in a small town is different.  You are not the chicken dropping an egg and walking away.  You are the pig at breakfast — part of the meal.  Your life and your reputation stay inside the same circle. 

In that environment, High Probability Selling is not optional; it is survival.  Every conversation must be free of manipulation, because every prospect is also a neighbor.  A single attempt at persuasion can ripple for years. 

The small-town agent learns to qualify quickly and clearly.  “No” is not a failure; it is maintenance of peace.  Disqualifying someone for what you offer does not remove them from your circle.  It keeps the circle intact. 

The discipline of neutrality — saying exactly what is so, no more and no less — becomes a way of life.  Respect replaces performance.  When you treat each conversation as part of your ongoing community, not as a transaction, you stop chasing trust and start living inside it.

Adapted from a conversation between Paul Bunn and a student of High Probability Selling.

Protecting the Conversation: How to Keep the Container Clean

Every conversation has a container — an invisible boundary that defines safety and purpose. When persuasion enters, it becomes contaminated. In High Probability Selling, our goal is to keep that container clean so truth can be spoken without defense.

Every conversation has a container — an invisible boundary that defines safety, clarity, and purpose.  When manipulation enters, the container becomes contaminated.  The goal in High Probability Selling is to keep that container clean.

If you bring a subject-matter expert or partner into a meeting with the prospect, make sure you first tell the prospect, “I’ve asked this person to help with the details.  I’ve told them not to try to convince you of anything.  If they slip into selling, I’ll stop them right there.”  Then tell the expert the same thing.  That single statement protects everyone involved. 

A clean container allows each participant to speak truthfully without defense.  It turns the conversation from a contest into an exploration.  When people know they will not be persuaded, they begin to listen differently.  They relax.  They tell the truth.

The salesperson’s job is not to control outcomes but to maintain integrity within the dialogue.  When you respect the container, the conversation itself becomes the proof of who you are.  No presentation can match that.