According to extensive psychological research, sociopathic drives can be found in everyone. There are times and situations where perfectly honest salespeople may sense a temporary thrill when considering keeping the wrong change, by not mentioning the extra quantity discount a new prospect or “forgetting” to remind a custom of an existing credit from erroneous double payment.

When these inner drives are released without the controls of the conscience, the salesperson will take the first step across the boundaries separating right from wrong. When these inner drives become the major mode of operation, the psychopathic con artist emerges.

Below are 10 typical behavior characteristics of the con artist in selling:

1. Unusual calmness in anxiety producing situations. A con artist can act “cool” in situations that would cause a minor heart attack in normal people.

2. Inability to display deep emotions. The con artist may go through all motions, even with dramatic flair, but will stay detached as if rehearsing for a performance.

3. Little respect for other people’s feelings. He or she views people as fully interchangeable. They are only as good as they are able to serve the pathological need of the con artist.

4. Highly skilled in establishing exploitative relationships. Their exceptional ability to charm, flatter and persuade other people allows the con artist to win people’s trust and confidence in a very short time.

5. Unusual talent for crafting a nearly flawless image of complete trustworthiness and confidence. The hard core con artist carefully dresses the part. He or she is creative in developing a “clean as a whistle” image through legitimate looking brochures, testimonials from people in impressive positions and even paid references.

6. Appearance of perfect psychological health. Most con artists will appear completely unaffected by the stresses and strains of everyday life. They tell everyone that everything in their lives is absolutely fantastic, terrific and completely trouble free. They derive pleasure from the effects produced by their masks of sanity.

7. Unfazed by threats of punishment for their asocial behavior. They know that risking a jail sentence is part of the game, but their false belief that they are special and outside the rules compels them to press on until they get caught.

8. Irrational belief that they have been treated unfairly in the past (Examples: unhappy childhood, abandoned by parents, mistreated by company, etc.) and the conviction that their current scams are only designed to “even the balance.”

9. Distorted views of the world which include beliefs like: “Everybody has a gimmick,” or “Everybody has a price,” or “Everyone does it.

10. Savvy and quick in finding and exploiting minor character flaws in others. Always interested in the schemes and techniques used by master manipulators, impostors an other con artists.