Selling is not a crime

Your talent is too good to stay a hobby.

You are good at something people would pay for. And still you are not making a living from it, because selling feels like you would have to become someone else. I clear that blockage first. Then you learn selling as a craft that fits who you are. Without contorting yourself.

Let’s talk
30 minutes, free. No pitch. Afterwards you know what is actually holding you back.
René Ricklefs
I only earn once you earn. Revenue share instead of a fee, I carry part of the risk. How that works is something we clarify in the call.
Why it is not working (yet)

You do a hundred things, just not the one that counts.

The offer is there. The skill is there. And still you keep going in circles: new idea, new channel, new tool... anything to avoid the one uncomfortable thing. Showing people what you can do. And asking money for it.

This is not a discipline problem. Someone who forces themselves every day to work on the wrong thing does not have a time problem, they have an avoidance pattern. And no calendar fixes that.

  • You optimise and tinker instead of talking to people who could buy.
  • You do not want to contort yourself, so you leave revenue on the table, out of fear of the cliché salesman.
  • You have activity, but no movement: a lot of effort, few predictable enquiries.
  • You wait to be asked, and you call it principle when it is fear.
  • Your talent stays a hobby. Not because you lack skill, but because something inside you says „no“.
My stance, and what sets me apart

There are two blockages. That is why nothing has stuck so far.

Most sales trainers start with scripts and tactics. If selling feels wrong to you, no script repairs that belief. And most mindset coaches stop exactly where it gets uncomfortable: at the first real conversation. I work on both, in that order.

Blockage 1

“I am not enough.”

You do not charge what you are worth, because part of you does not believe it is worth that. So you deliver more instead of asking. That is not modesty, that is a price you pay every single month.

Blockage 2

You learned selling in someone else’s colour.

Everything you have ever seen about selling was loud, hard, pushy. No wonder you reject it. You are rightly rejecting a version that is not yours. There is one that is.

“No script repairs a belief. So we start where selling really begins: inside you.

René Ricklefs at work
How I work

Craft and stance. Both. From someone who walks with you.

There are two camps in this market: the mindset coach without craft, and the loud closer without a conscience. I am the third option. I do not just show you how it is done. I go into the first real conversations at your side, until the first deal is closed.

The stance

A clear head

First we clear what makes selling feel wrong, so that you actually want to do it and still sleep well at night.

The craft

A clean sales process

Together we find in record time where your process is stuck, build your language and a clear path from first contact to close.

What that means in practice

Four things that are different. And what you get from them.

There is material, but you are not left alone with it: no dusty video archive, no AI-generated modules, no community where you have to motivate yourself. Four concrete things you will recognise my work by.

01 · Order

Head first, then craft

We clear the blockage before we touch technique. No script that you reject inside and therefore never use.

What that means for youYou actually apply what you learn instead of just knowing it. That is why it sticks this time.
02 · Support

I go into the first conversations with you

Not just role play in a safe room, but real conversations with real prospects, and direct feedback right after.

What that means for youYou build confidence on real cases. The first close comes in weeks, not months.
03 · Commitment

Tasks we put in writing

After every session it is in black and white what happens before the next one. With numbers, not with good intentions.

What that means for youYou stop circling. And after the second session you can already see whether something is moving.
04 · Risk

Revenue share instead of a fee

I take a share of the result instead of being paid upfront. If you do your part and nothing comes of it, you pay nothing.

What that means for youYou do not have to believe me. You only have to be willing to work. The rest I prove.
The core

One loop that brings clients predictably.

Not five channels, no tool jungle. One repeatable movement that you hold in your own hands, and that I get going together with you.

01

The right ten

We build a short, precise list of the people who genuinely fit your offer.

02

Reach out

You go out with an approach that does not push, but serves. I join you for the first real conversations.

03

Close

Lead the conversation cleanly, show value, guide them to a decision. No pressure, but with direction.

04

Repeat & learn

Next ten. We track what works, and exactly that becomes your predictable system.

Voices

What people say who have already worked with me.

Most of these voices come from my work as a marketing consultant, not from the coaching on this page. Those cases I am only building now. I am showing them to you anyway, because they describe the thing that does not change, no matter what we work on: what it is like to work with me. The quotes were originally given in German and are translated here.

Julian Bohnhorst, freelance illustrator and designer
“Before, I could not really get a grip on it and was somewhat lost in planning, wanting to make the right decisions. René helped me get clarity on what the next steps are. It definitely helps me get moving and make progress.”
Julian Bohnhorst Freelance illustrator & designer From the coaching
“In marketing especially it is easy to get lost in detail. You bring calm into it, ask the right questions and make sure ideas turn into concrete steps. And you never come across as lecturing, always supportive and solution-oriented. With you it is not about loud promises, but about substance and clean execution.”
Laura Bertsch Managing Director, PACK UG
“I work in a fairly new field and try a lot of things. René has always taken the time to patiently follow my leaps of thought, slowed me down when I was going too fast, or suggested tools that make things easier for me. At no point do I feel like just one of many.”
Karin Intveen Owner
Why I carry part of it

You pay me out of the revenue that would not exist without both of us.

I believe that anyone who burns for their cause and is not afraid of work can make a living from it, without betraying themselves.

To “earn” means to serve fairly. First serve, then earn.

Whoever turns that around has to push, press and afterwards explain to themselves why that was necessary. Whoever gets the order right will at some point stop experiencing the work as work. That is how I live. And that is why I carry part of your risk: I am a sales director today and I do not live off this coaching. I am building the cases that will mean I have nothing left to explain in two years. Which is why you can get something right now that will not exist in this form later: I work on a revenue share and only earn once you earn.

You do your part, revenue comes in

I get a share of the newly created revenue. Capped, predictable, agreed in advance. After that you keep all of it.

You do your part, nothing comes in

Then that was my mistake, not yours. You pay nothing. Missing results are my risk.

You do not do your part

Then the regular programme price is due. I invest my time in people who invest theirs.

What “your part” means exactly, meaning eight to sixteen hours of work between two sessions, we define together before anything is signed. You do not have to be brave for this. You only have to be willing to work for it.

Is this for you?

I deliberately work with few people. The right ones.

This is not about your industry, it is about your stance. And about one condition that is not negotiable: you have to be willing to look inside and to get into action.

For you if you…

  • have a real talent people would pay for, as a consultant, coach, creative or professional in your field.
  • are building something that genuinely means something to you, and are looking for coherence, not hacks.
  • already get asked, but charge too little... or never ask in the first place.
  • are ready to block fixed time for this in your calendar and actually use it.

× Not for you if you…

  • want to scale physical products, dropshipping or pure e-commerce.
  • are only after “more revenue”, with nothing behind it that you burn for.
  • are looking for a done-for-you agency that “takes it off your plate”.
  • want to “squeeze the work in somehow” instead of planning it in properly.
René Ricklefs
Who I am

I know how the doubt feels. And how you get out of it.

I had phases myself where I doubted selling. Not the craft. Myself. I did not get out of it by getting louder, but by understanding where my process was stuck and which version of selling fits me.

That is exactly what I pass on: as an active sales director, as a trainer of salespeople and as the author of “Verkaufen ist kein Verbrechen” (Selling is not a crime). Pragmatic, results-oriented and always with respect for the person on the other side.

Still selling today I do not coach in hindsight. I sell myself and I know how the market actually reacts right now.
Trained salespeople I have trained team members and run the foundations seminar, as one of the youngest team leads.
A stance in book form “Verkaufen ist kein Verbrechen”. My position, in writing, before you ever speak to me.
My basic stance: selling is a fair exchange of two values, not a character flaw. Once you truly believe that, you never have to force yourself again.
The only next step

The first conversation.

30 minutes, free, no presentation. We look together at what is actually holding you back right now: your head, your process, or both. You walk away with a clear answer, even if we never speak again.

  • Where you stand. What you offer, what you charge for it, and which of the two fits the other.
  • What is holding you back. We separate it cleanly: is the craft missing or is the stance blocking?
  • What is next. One concrete thing you can act on afterwards, whether we continue or not.
  • Whether we fit. We both decide that, at the end of the call. And if we do not, we say so.
“... that our exchange is not limited to the websites, but delivers further value along the way. That is why these are always valuable conversations.”
Stefan Wickenhäuser Managing Director, Rethinking Job GmbH
Your next step

Let us find out what is actually holding you back.

No pitch. A conversation in which we both check: what is stopping you, and do we fit?

Let’s talk
I deliberately work with few people. Not every enquiry leads to working together, and that is intentional.