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I listened to a new book completely in a single day.

Clive Griffiths
Clive Griffiths
— 1 min read

I listened to a new book completely in a single day; it has been a long time since I’ve done that.

Was it worth it?

Blair Enns narrates The Four Conversations: A New Model for Selling Expertise. He's the author and also co-conspirator on the 2Bobs podcast, which I wrote about a few weeks ago.

I now read books on Kindle while listening to Audible at 1.5x speed. And I take lots of notes, capturing thoughts and ideas I can use to help my clients succeed.

I enjoyed listening to and reading this one.

I’ve been selling expertise for a long time. I found myself nodding my head - a lot - at the specific aspects of an expert's behaviour. And how it either separates them or groups them with vendors during the sales process.

This behavioural differentiation shapes the sale and later delivery engagement.

The objective, supporting principles, and framework for each conversation are clear. Along with specific behaviours the expert needs to exhibit. Underlined with strong reminders to


I found the principles explaining the author's beliefs about selling expertise particularly interesting.

The four conversations are:

1️⃣⇥ The Probative Conversation.
We will shift the client’s thinking so they see us as expert advisors, not vendors.

2️⃣⇥ The Qualifying Conversation.
↳ Finding out if the client’s issue presents a worthwhile opportunity for us.

3️⃣⇥ The Value Conversation.
↳ Figuring out the impact we contribute to a project and fair compensation.

4️⃣⇥ The Closing Conversation.
↳ Helping clients choose and commit themselves to a way forward.

To get the details, you will need to listen to, read, or do both.

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