The results we create often begin with the conversations we choose to have.

That includes conversations with customers.

Conversations with teams.

Conversations between leaders.

And perhaps most importantly, the conversations we have with ourselves.

I recently joined Gerhard Gschwandtner of Selling Power for a discussion about my career in sales, leadership and professional speaking.

Looking back at the experiences we discussed, I noticed a common thread:

Whenever the conversation changed, the opportunity for a different outcome appeared.

Change the Focus

Gerhard asked me about speaking in front of large audiences.

Even after decades of professional speaking, it is natural to feel some nervousness.

But nervousness becomes a problem when it turns your attention inward.

Will they like me?

Will everything go well?

Am I going to perform the way I want?

Those questions make the situation about you.

So I learned to change the conversation.

Instead, I ask:

What does this audience need?

That shift immediately moves my attention from myself to the people I am there to serve.

Sales professionals can make the same change.

When the primary conversation is about the salesperson’s quota, product, pitch or closing strategy, it becomes easy to miss the customer’s real needs.

But when the conversation changes to the outcome the customer wants to create, everything becomes different.

Change the Conversation From Problem to Solution

One of the stories I shared with Gerhard came from my early sales career.

I inherited a major Wall Street account where hundreds of machines had serious problems.

The customer was angry.

The relationship was damaged.

The easy response would have been to become defensive.

Instead, I focused on fixing the problem.

That changed the conversation.

Once the customer saw that I was committed to solving the issue, trust began to develop.

Eventually, I was invited into planning meetings for a major expansion.

That damaged account ultimately became one of the most fulfilling sales experiences of my career.

The breakthrough wasn’t a better presentation.

It was a different conversation.

Change the Conversation Around Value

Gerhard also asked me why organizations hire me.

My answer:

I’m not about theory. I’m about execution.

I have worked with organizations that were struggling not because they lacked a good product or smart people, but because the way they were approaching the market wasn’t producing the outcome they wanted.

In one case, we helped reposition a company from being viewed as a commodity to being viewed differently by the customer.

In another, a medical-device company had a best-in-class machine it was struggling to sell.

The conversation changed.

The way the market responded changed.

And the results changed with it.

Change the Conversation After Success

Sometimes the most important conversation happens after you win.

Early in my career, I closed the biggest deal I had ever landed.

My manager congratulated me.

Then she immediately asked:

“What’s your next deal?”

I remember thinking:

I just closed the biggest deal this company has ever had, and you’re already asking me what’s next?

But eventually I understood the lesson.

Success creates energy.

Confidence.

Momentum.

The question is what you do with it.

You can allow the conversation to end with what you accomplished.

Or you can change it to what you are capable of creating next.

Listen to the Conversations Around You

If you are not getting the outcomes you want, listen carefully to the conversations happening around you.

Are people talking about obstacles or possibilities?

Are salespeople talking primarily about products or customer outcomes?

Are leaders talking about activity or results?

Are teams discussing what cannot be done or what needs to happen next?

And what conversation are you having with yourself?

The words we use influence what we focus on.

What we focus on influences our actions.

And our actions influence our results.

So when you want a different outcome, don’t immediately assume you need to do more.

First ask:

What conversation needs to change?

Because changing your conversations may be the first step toward changing your outcomes.