MMM 1162

Date 18th August 2025

Video & Transcript  

The #1 Secret to Selling Your Services in Any Situation

Many consultants are accidentally positioning themselves as underpaid amateurs.

Here's what I mean...

When we watch a world-class tennis player serve an ace at Wimbledon, we're witnessing the result of thousands of hours of practice.

That serve didn't just happen—it was rehearsed until it became second nature.

The same applies to actors delivering a flawless performance night after night, or musicians playing a complex piece without missing a note.

Yet here's the fascinating paradox: 

Whilst we expect these professionals to rehearse relentlessly, some consultants, coaches, speakers, trainers, and accountants often wing their most important moments—the very conversations that determine their success.

There's a fabulous expression that captures this perfectly:

"Amateurs practice till they get it right, professionals practice till they cannot get it wrong."

The Magnetic Presence Paradox

We've heard of consultants describing their discovery calls and admitting that they were fumbling for the right words when asked about their methods, or that they were uncertain when they had to discuss the money aspect.

What we're witnessing here is the difference between prepared confidence and improvised uncertainty. The irony is that the more we rehearse, the more natural and relaxed we appear. It's counterintuitive, but that's exactly how magnetic presence is created.

Professional performers understand something that many business professionals miss: rehearsal doesn't make you robotic—it makes you free.

When our core messages are so well-rehearsed that they flow effortlessly, we can be fully present with our prospect rather than scrambling for what to say next.

Most professionals approach their sales conversations like amateur performers.

They have a rough idea of what they want to say, perhaps some bullet points scribbled down, and they hope inspiration will strike in the moment. They believe over-preparing will make them sound scripted or inauthentic.

This approach creates exactly the opposite result. When someone hasn't rehearsed their key messages, they often sound uncertain, use filler words, orworse—they oversell because they're not confident in their core value proposition.

We need to rehearse our essential business conversations with the same dedication that a concert pianist brings to the performance of a lifetime.

This means practising our questions until they sound conversational, - after all...

The selling takes place in the gathering stage as people sell themselves in their answers to our well-crafted questions

It means rehearsing our method explanations until they're crystal clear, and knowing our money conversations so well that we can deliver them with quiet confidence.

At one of my paid up club live meetings I saw a fellow member deliver a fabulous presentation that was so obviously rehearsed—their confident, natural delivery made every word count and held the room's complete attention.

The magic happens when our rehearsed content becomes so natural that it doesn't sound rehearsed at all.

This is what creates that magnetic presence that premium clients find irresistible.

So let's look at your rehearsal strategy...

My suggestion would be you could start by implementing this idea as soon as possible.

Let's begin by identifying our six essential business conversations:

1. What I often call the elevator pitch—you and I know we're not delivering that in a lift or an elevator, however you know exactly what I'm talking about.

2. Next, your series of questions that enable you to discover what it is that your client is potentially looking for, on the basis you're looking to see if that matches what you're able to offer.

3. Next, how you explain exactly what you do for the client, and I would suggest you use my version, which is when you're describing your offering: what it is, what it has, what it does, and why you have decided to do it in this way. It's this "why you've decided to do it this way" part that sets you apart from any potential competition or others in the marketplace.

4. Then we need to consider objection responses, and I've found so often in life that so many of the objections aren't real objections—they're simply badly phrased questions that have been made as statements rather than questions. But nevertheless, we need to consider our responses.

5. A conversation about the money, what I would call the offer stage.

6. How we actually ask for the business. That certainly wants crafting, rehearsing, and perfecting.

We need to rehearse each one until we can deliver it naturally, without notes, and of course with complete confidence. I'd even suggest you could practice them in front of a mirror, or you could record yourself, or you could run through them during a period when you're out walking or even exercising.

And as we both know, the goal isn't perfection—it's fluency.

When we master this approach, something remarkable happens, and I'm sure you'll find this.

Your conversion rates improve because clients sense your expertise through your confident delivery. Your fees can increase because rehearsed confidence commands premium positioning.

And most importantly, I'm certain you'll find that sales conversations become enjoyable rather than stressful in any way at all.

Let me take our minds back to the expression I mentioned earlier...

Amateurs practice till they get it right, professionals practice till they cannot get it wrong.

I wish you every success in all your adventures — and I’m sure there are many more to come.

Peter

Peter Thomson

‘The UK’s Most Prolific Business Development Author’  

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