Selling Convinces. Training Doesn’t Need To.

Most people in sales spend their whole day trying to convince someone of something. I stopped doing that a long time ago — and honestly, I stopped needing to.

Here’s why. Before I ever sold a house, I spent twelve years as a tennis teaching professional, including junior instruction and summer camps. And the thing you learn fast on a court is this: yelling instructions at someone mid-swing doesn’t make them hit a better shot. What works is training them, over weeks and months, until they can see the right shot themselves, before you ever say a word.

The problem with convincing

Convincing is expensive. It has to happen every time, in every conversation, from a standing start. You override one doubt, and three more show up next week. It’s exhausting for you, and it doesn’t feel great for the person on the other end either — most people can tell when they’re being managed instead of talked to.

Training is different. It’s slower up front. But once someone understands how the market actually works, what to look for, and why your process is different, you’re not re-litigating those points every time you talk. They already know. You’re just confirming what they’ve already come to believe.

What this looks like in practice

In my real estate practice, this shows up as teaching before I ever pitch — walking a first-time buyer through how financing actually works, or explaining why a certain neighborhood is pricing the way it is, long before there’s an offer on the table. By the time we’re negotiating, there’s nothing left to convince them of. They’re already there.

That’s the whole shift, whether you’re in real estate, financial services, or software sales: stop convincing in the moment. Start training for the long run. The people you’ve trained don’t need to be sold. They already decided.

Trained, not sold. It’s the idea behind my flagship keynote — if this resonated, I’d love to bring it to your team or your stage. Get in touch here.