John Maybury

It's a sales skill that we all need reminding of. Asking the right questions. Particularly open-ended questions. Try this exercise.

Technical skills are important but having better conversations is always the starting objective right?

One of the key learnings from training Samsung retail sales ambassadors over the last three years is the retail experts needed to be better at building rapport and curiosity by asking open-ended questions.

Yesterday I trained 75 ambassadors to sell in retail and this is always the focus.

To ask great questions.

To find out about the human, first.

Not if they're interested in buying a new car, phone, jacket or widget.

That will come.

But who are they? What's the most exciting thing they've done this week? Where did they buy those cool shoes they're wearing? Who's the most important person in the world to them?

Have a conversation.

And listen (really listen) to what they're saying and take your next question from their answer.

We can all dive into the "conversation of sales" but it's a damn sight easier if you build a connection first.

Remember these?

Who? What? Where? How? Which? Why? Tell me.

So, try this today.

With a client, prospect, colleague, partner, random in the street or when you buy your lunch from the attendant....

ASK THREE OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS, FOLLOWED BY A CLOSE-ENDED

Build some rapport.

Find out something you didn't know.

Try it and report back in the comments. What did you learn?

You do not need to be louder to become known ❌
Experts think visibility means posting more, speaking more, and putting themselves out there more often.

For introverted professionals, that usually leads to one of two things:

silence.
burnout.

Who wants that?

If you want to be known, you do not need a louder voice.

You need a clearer message.

I'm working with a young, smart ambitious software developer at the moment who said "I'd rather send an email to people than speak to them in a public setting".

We're working on a framework to communicate his message.

PREP

Point
Reason
Example
Point

The experts who build real authority are usually the ones who can do three things well:

explain what they do simply,
show they understand a real problem,
and communicate consistently enough to be remembered

That is especially true if you work in an advisory, technical, or professional-services business.

You do not need to perform.

You need to be understood.

That is what creates trust.

And trust is what creates opportunity.

Grateful to work with biz dev leads like Adrian who is getting 2-3 leads per week from his two videos. He said to me today, that the his last video might get five leads! It works!! 💥

90% was a statistic I couldn't ignore. That's the percentage of 10x10x10 clients who couldn't succinctly articulate the problems they solved.

We've filmed over 150 clients since 2024.

Accountants, advisers, coaches, consultants, sales people.

Smart and capable people with years of experience but they struggled communicating the actual pains their client had.

Which got me thinking.

It takes guts to get on camera and go through that process so what about all the other kiwi leaders and founders who communicate everyday on calls, in meetings, presentations, networking etc

There's no camera in sight but are 90% getting it wrong?

Or maybe they're saying too much to illustrate their point.

The 150 people we've filmed are the tip of it.

For every one of them, there are thousands more who'll never sit in front of a camera, but who lose the exact same battle every time they open their mouth in a meeting, a pitch, or a hallway conversation.

It's a problem that I love solving.

Messi vs Mbappé vs Kane. ⚽ The stats don't settle it. ❌

Right now at 39, Messi is level with Mbappé on 7 goals in this World Cup.

Mbappé edges the Golden Boot race on assists.

Messi still holds the all-time World Cup goal record.

Kane sits two behind on 5, but he's the one who turned himself into a goalscorer through pure repetition, not natural gifts.

Three totally different paths to the same scoreboard.

Messi does less, late in the game and still decides outcomes.

Mbappé is built for the big moment, the header, the spot kick, the score that arrives right when the game needs it.

Kane is neither the flashiest nor the most gifted. He just refuses to miss twice in a row.

I see this split in every speaker I coach.

Some clients are Messi.

Quiet in the room until the moment that matters, then one line lands and the whole room shifts.

Some are Mbappé.

Big stage, big energy, built to command attention from the first word.

And some are Kane.

Not naturally gifted speakers at all, they just do the reps. Over and over until it's second nature.

What's the message here?

You don't get to pick which one you are. You work with what you've got.

Stop trying to be a Mbappé when you're a Kane.

Stop performing a version of "confident speaker" that isn't yours.

The goal isn't to copy the loudest voice in the room.

It's to find your version of scoring, and then repeat it until it's undeniable.

Nobody asks Messi to play like Mbappé.

Don't ask yourself to either.

Maybe you want to be a Haaland after his brace this morning.

Who are backing for the Golden Boot and why?

Quiet thinkers, meet your trajectory 📈
This is the journey I take students through
The KNOWN framework 👇

You're an expert but no one knows how good you really are

What if they did?

What if you got recognised for your work and thinking?

Winning business or a promotion

I use a framework called KNOWN

K - Knowledge, communicated clearly (PREP)
N - using stories to connect with stakeholders
O - ownership and talking to small groups