Background reading

Background for understanding only: the rules themselves live in the proof and guardrails chapter, and every legal point is research, not legal advice (Karl Foster confirms).

Sales-training myths never to quote or teach. LinkedIn SSI uplift claims; "84% of training is forgotten within 90 days"; "74% of deals go to the first rep to add value"; mutual action plans "lift win rates 26%", "13%" or "60% versus 29%"; Korn Ferry "27% higher win rates"; Gong's "43:57 talk ratio"; "category kings take 76% of the value"; "habits take 21 days" or "66 days" as a precise figure; the Challenger 53% loyalty figure attached to the rep study; "product-qualified leads are five times more likely to convert"; MEDDIC revenue claims; Lavender "3rd to 5th grade reading level" and "50 to 125 words"; the SPIN 47-rep and photo-store numbers; the Golden Circle's "limbic brain" neuroscience; priming and ego depletion; Mehrabian 7-38-55; power posing; the Yale or Harvard "3% with written goals" study (it never happened); Ariely's honesty findings (data reported fabricated); "buyers decide in seven seconds"; "croc brain", "lizard brain" or "95% of decisions are unconscious"; the 2017 Edelman "45%" figure as current (use the 2025 report).

Advertising law behind the claims rules. Maktura sells mainly to businesses, so the main rules are the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 (BPRs) and the CAP Code, enforced by Trading Standards and the ASA. A freelancer buying mainly for non-business use may be a consumer, so Maktura meets the consumer standard anyway. For sellers it means: every claim must be true of the build today, and omissions count (BPRs reg 3); no unsourced comparison with a named competitor in writing (reg 4; CAP 3.32 to 3.34); hold evidence before a claim (CAP 3.7); no "best", "most advanced", "only", "leading", "number one"; 31 December never moves or extends, countdowns must not reset, and founding pricing never reappears under another name ("Founding 2", "launch offer" in January) (CAP 8.17.4.e); seats-remaining figures only from live billing data, checked on the day, with a safe fallback text (CAP 3.1, 3.7, 3.31); Standard (£250 stepping down to £100) is the price that will apply, so never a "was" price and no "save 72%"; only the website testimonial is usable, with no invented or composite customer stories; affiliate content carries "Ad" at the start ("#Ad" on X), and "affiliate" alone, "#collab", a bottom disclaimer or "may receive commission" is not enough, with Maktura and the affiliate both responsible (CAP 2.1, 2.3); state price per user per month and how many users, and company page pricing is AMBER (never volunteered; if asked, "let me confirm that for you in writing").

When the buyer follows up engagers. Sellers say only: "How you follow up with people is governed by your own policies and data protection rules. It's worth your compliance team looking at that before you start." Background: under UK GDPR, names and roles of people who engage are personal data, even in a business capacity and even when public, so prospecting them needs a documented lawful basis and privacy information, and objections must be honoured absolutely. Under PECR, LinkedIn direct messages count as electronic mail: messages to sole traders and some partnerships (common in recruitment) need consent or the soft opt-in; messages to companies and LLPs must identify the sender, give an opt-out and be backed by a suppression list. Fines can reach £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover (Data (Use and Access) Act 2025; commencement reported by two secondary sources, not confirmed). SRA Code paragraph 8.9 bars unsolicited approaches that target members of the public individually; a post that is a financial promotion still needs the firm's own approval (FCA FG24/1).

Staff monitoring. Firms should tell staff how Maktura is used. ICO guidance (October 2023) expects monitoring to be necessary, proportionate and transparent. The honest framing: each person connects their own LinkedIn, sees their own compliance record, and Maktura does not watch what anyone posts outside it. Dashboards that rank staff on engagement are monitoring.

The pre-send check. A review against the last version or a list of facts finds only what is wrong or changed, never what was never there. Check the work against what it must contain first (why we built it, the buyer's problem as friction, a buyer action at the end), and against the facts second.