New Book · Publishing Fall 2026 · Join the Pre-Release List
A New Book by Michael DeLon · Founder of Paperback Expert

If the first call is awkward, the problem isn't the call. It's everything before it.

Already Trusted shows you how five short, automated videos — sent between booking and your first meeting — persuade prospects before the first sales call, so they arrive already trusting you.

Publishing fall 2026 — the pre-release list hears first, with the emails Michael is writing from the book.

You're on the list. You'll hear about Already Trusted before anyone else — watch your inbox for the pre-release emails this fall.
  • Repel misfit prospects before they ever reach your calendar
  • Educate right-fit prospects so call one feels like call two
  • Reveal your process and your prices — before the meeting
  • Close more sales in less time — you don't sell, they buy
Already Trusted: How Simple Videos Persuade Prospects Before the First Sales Call, by Michael DeLon, shown as a hardcover book
“People buy who you are more than what you do.” From Already Trusted
Front cover of Already Trusted by Michael DeLon — How Simple Videos Persuade Prospects Before the First Sales Call

You can build trust before you meet

Most business owners believe their sales problem is what happens on the sales call. It isn't. If the first call is awkward and ineffective, it's not because you're doing something wrong on the call — it's because you're not doing something right before the call.

Already Trusted teaches Appointment Preconditioning: five short videos, sent automatically at specific moments between booking and the first meeting, that repel misfit prospects, educate right-fit prospects, and take all the pressure off the first call.

It works in Michael DeLon's own business. A prospect who had “spent” an hour with him on video before they ever met asked, twenty-three minutes into their first call, “How do we get started?” — and became a $30,000 client. Another told him: “This was not like our first conversation. It seems like we've been friends for a while.”

Every buying decision is emotional first and logical second. These videos win the heart — through authenticity, familiarity, and consistency over time — so the mind can justify the decision. The result: prospects arrive Already Trusted, and the first call feels like a second call.

Get the Book First
Michael DeLon, founder of Paperback Expert and author of Already Trusted

About the Author

Meet Michael DeLon

Michael DeLon is the founder of Paperback Expert and known to his clients as The Credibility Coach™. For more than a decade he has helped business owners — financial advisors, attorneys, and other high-trust professionals — turn their expertise into published books and credibility marketing systems that grow their practices.

He built Appointment Preconditioning in his own business in October 2022, after years of full calendars and too few clients. Since then: revenues up, close rate up, speed-to-close up — and his free time up by weeks per year, not hours. As his wife Jill puts it: “It's about time you did something to get off the phone so much!”

Michael and Jill live near Lexington, Kentucky. They have four children and two grandchildren. Michael is a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, a lover of the Bible, and finds great joy in teaching his fourth and fifth grade Sunday school class. His family verse is Proverbs 22:1 — “A good name is better than riches.”

Inside the Book

The 5-Video Appointment Preconditioning SystemFive videos. One persuasion window — the days between booking and meeting.

Each video has one job, sent at one exact moment — together, they do your persuading before you ever say hello.

Appointment Preconditioning — The 5 Videos Automated · Set it and forget it
1

The Filter Video

Lives on your scheduling page and answers your top five FAQs on camera, so prospects sort themselves — misfits filter out, yes-fits book with confidence.

On your booking page
2

The Excitement Video

Arrives the moment they book. Affirms their decision, kills pre-buyer's remorse, and lets them get to know the real you through personal show-and-tell.

Immediately on booking
3

The Program Video

Reveals your process, your programs, and your exact prices on camera — nobody likes walking into a dark room. Misfits cancel with dignity; yes-fits arrive money-ready.

48 hours before
4

The Anticipation Video

Two minutes of high energy that frames the meeting: the agenda, the pain they feel today, and the future they want. Butterflies fly away; anticipation builds.

24 hours before
5

The Waiting Room Video

Autoplays in your Zoom waiting room — the one video every prospect is guaranteed to see. Client success stories replace dead air, so clients do the selling for you.

In the Zoom waiting room

See It Work

Watch it happen in a real conversation

Damian Rothermel went through these very videos before his first call with Michael. A few minutes into the call, Michael asked him what that was like.

Damian Rothermel, CFP® — Rothermel Financial Services, Portland, Oregon · From a real first call, October 2026

What You'll Learn

Everything happens before the call

Real Results

Less is more

The fastest way to increase your profit is to increase your close rate — on the calls you already have. Higher closing rate → more clients → more revenue → more profit, with no added ad spend.

23 minutes

into his first call, a prospect who had only ever met Michael on video asked, “How do we get started?” — and became a $30,000 client.

65–95%

of prospects watch each preconditioning video all the way through at Trent Benedetti's California accounting and financial planning firm — arriving better educated and more motivated.

$18,000 a year

is what 20 hours a month on misfit calls costs a business owner whose time is worth $75 an hour — for the privilege of calls that go nowhere.

Weeks per year

of free time gained since Michael installed the system in October 2022 — measured in weeks, not hours — with revenues and close rate up alongside it.

The Misfit Math · From Chapter 4

What are misfit calls costing you?

Run the book's five-minute exercise with your own numbers. Misfit prospects aren't bad people — they're just not a good fit right now. But they are expensive.

Calls with tire kickers, info seekers, and “almosts” who were never going to buy.

Include the FAQs, the small talk, and the follow-up that goes nowhere.

Annual income ÷ 2,000 working hours is a fair start.

What a right-fit client is worth when they say yes.

Already Trusted publishes fall 2026 — the list hears first.

You're on the list. The 5-video system is waiting for you in the book — first word goes to this list.

Who It's For

Written for business owners, not salespeople

This book isn't written for trained salespeople. It's written for average business owners who are great at what they do — and tired of what selling does to their calendar.

Owners Who Sell

You didn't start your business to become a salesperson

Yet you're stuck on the awkward emotional rollercoaster of first calls. Preconditioning takes the pressure off every one of them — no new persona required.

Advisors · Attorneys · Consultants

Your business runs on trust

In high-trust professions, prospects choose who they know, like, and trust. These videos manufacture that familiarity before you ever meet — at scale.

The Calendar-Full

Busy, but with the wrong people

A full calendar of misfit calls is worse than an empty one. Filter first, educate second — and spend your live time only with qualified yes-fits.

Questions

Before you ask

When does the book come out?

Already Trusted publishes in fall 2026 from Expert Press. Join the pre-release list and you'll hear about it before anyone else — along with the pre-release emails Michael is writing from the book.

What exactly is Appointment Preconditioning?

It's the process of preparing a prospect with the intellectual and emotional information they need to feel comfortable and confident meeting with you, being transparent with you, and hiring you — delivered as five short, automated videos sent between the moment they book and the moment you meet.

I'm not a salesperson. Will this work for me?

It's written for you. The system exists precisely because most business owners didn't start their business to sell. The videos do the persuading in advance, so on the call you don't sell — they buy.

Do I need to be tech-savvy or buy new tools?

No. Michael describes himself as “far from tech-savvy,” and the whole system runs on tools most owners already have — Calendly for scheduling, Loom for recording, Vimeo for hosting, Zoom for meetings. The book's appendix walks through every setup step.

Won't filtering scare away good prospects?

The opposite. Right-fit prospects thank you for the clarity — and about 10% of prospects cancel after the pricing video, which is the system working: a misfit just saved you both a meeting. The book even teaches you to celebrate cancelled calls.

What do I get for joining the pre-release list?

First word when the book publishes this fall, plus Michael's pre-release email series drawn from the book — the stories, the misfit math, and the 5-video system unpacked one piece at a time.

From the Prospect's Chair

He showed up already trusting

Before that same call, Damian watched the intro videos most businesses never bother to make. Here is what he told Michael about them — unscripted.

Damian Rothermel, CFP® — Rothermel Financial Services, Portland, Oregon

Your next prospect could arrive
already trusting you.

Join the pre-release list for Already Trusted — five videos between booking and the first call that change every call you take. Publishing fall 2026.

Already Trusted: How Simple Videos Persuade Prospects Before the First Sales Call — Expert Press, 2026.

You're on the list. You'll hear about Already Trusted before anyone else — watch your inbox for the pre-release emails this fall.