The 11th Minute

The customer does not owe you an hour. You earn the next part of the conversation by making the current part useful.

The 11th Minute is a practical training guide for business owners, salespeople and professionals who want to build confidence, earn attention and agree a useful next step with customers.

If you know your product but sometimes struggle to start a conversation, explain its value or decide what to ask next, this guide gives you a clear process to practice and use.

Chris Davies takes you through five stages of a customer conversation:

• Before You Enter — prepare around the customer's business, likely pressures and the people involved in a decision.
• The First Ninety Seconds — open clearly and give the customer a reason to listen.
• Questions That Earn Time — explore what is happening, why it matters and what needs to change.
• Prove, Don't Pitch — use relevant evidence to help the customer assess your offer.
• The 11th Minute — respect the time you asked for and earn permission to continue.

The Ten-to-Ten Approach begins with a small, reasonable request: ten minutes of the customer's time. Prepare properly, make those minutes useful and keep your promise. If the customer chooses to continue, you have earned minute eleven.

Throughout the guide, teaching material, worked examples, practical exercises and business tasks help you apply the ideas to real customers. You will develop your preparation, rehearse your opening, improve your questions and plan the smallest useful next step.

Use a notebook alongside this ebook to complete the written exercises. Say the important words aloud. Try the method in a real conversation, record what happened and choose one thing to improve.

Prepare. Practise. Act. Look back. Improve. Repeat.

Sales confidence grows through useful action. Start with one customer and one conversation.