Tom couldn’t let it go.
Tom had realised what he was doing had to change.
But how ?
He believed looking for the next flashy trick was not going to work. Anyway, he didn’t want to be like Phil.
How was Mike closing deals in this market? What was he doing differently? One afternoon, Tom swallowed his pride and asked him.
Mike leaned in with a grin. “I’ve got a secret weapon,” he said. “A mentor. Bit of an enigma. Showed up when I needed help most. Doesn’t give advice lightly though.”
Tom raised an eyebrow. “So how do I meet him?”
Mike just smiled and shrugged. “You don’t. He finds you.”
Tom laughed it off, but something about the way Mike said it stuck with him.
A week later, Tom was sitting alone in a corner café, replaying a difficult call from earlier that day. He’d tried everything—built rapport, explained benefits, answered questions—and still, the buyer backed away with a vague, “Let me think about it.”
He realised that prospects didn’t want chit chat. They now had less time for small talk or surface-level rapport. They wanted relevance and clarity. But how could he do this ?
His thoughts were interrupted as someone slid into the seat beside him in the booth. An older man with thinning, grey hair and wrinkly skin on his arms. He had calm eyes and a presence like gravity.
“You’re looking for answers,” the man said without introduction.
Tom blinked. “Sorry, do I—?”
“No,” the man said. “But I’ve heard you’ve been asking the right questions.”
A silence passed between them.
Tom said, “You’re the guy that’s been helping Mike ?”
The older man responded. “I can show you another way,” he continued. “But there’s a price.”
Tom hesitated. “Money?”
The man smiled. “No. The price is purpose. If you accept my help, you don’t get to use it to manipulate. Or to win for winning’s sake. You use what I teach you to serve others. To help them get what they truly want. That’s the deal.”
Tom felt a strange sense of gravity in the words and connected with the sentiment. He nodded in agreement.
“Good,” the man said. “Then your first shift begins with how you connect. Not with charm, not with chatter—but with something deeper. There’s a new way to reach people. Learn to use it, and everything else becomes possible.”
The mysterious man explained the new process and role played a little with Tom. And then he was gone !
Tom wasn’t sure if he should follow the advice of the old guy. After all he had years of sales experience himself.
Then he remembered the words of his father. “Son, you are going to get a lot of people give you advice as you go through life. Just remember the dumbest person can still have valuable advice. I suggest you take any advice, try it and see for yourself if it works.”
So, Tom decided to try the advice of the old man.
The very next day, instead of opening a call with his usual banter, he tried what the old man had suggested. The surface-level rapport didn’t matter. This was something else—something more subtle. Halfway through the conversation, the prospect leaned in. Literally ! And opened up. It felt effortless. Genuine.
Tom left the meeting feeling something he hadn’t felt in months: momentum.
A week later, Tom stepped into the same café. The mentor was already there.
“You saw it, didn’t you?” he asked.
Tom nodded. “They leaned forward. It’s like they felt safe.”
“Good,” said the mentor. “You see, we now live in the Post Trust era. People are more skeptical. You’ve started to change and they sense it. You’re ready for the next step.”
This one was deeper. The mentor guided him beyond the surface of what prospects said they wanted—toward what really mattered to them.
Tom learned he had to focus on trying to understand what his clients wanted and valued. And, he had to stop himself from talking so much about features and benefits. He discovered a process to find out what people wanted and why. He became more focused about their outcomes, their frustrations, and what a better future would look like for them.
Tom tried it. On a hesitant lead, he asked some simple , carefully chosen questions. The buyer blinked, smiled and then, almost whispering, explained the pressure they were under from their board. That insight changed everything. The next day, the deal closed.
And so it continued.
Each week, another lesson.
Sometimes the mentor appeared in person. Other times, there’d be a note—tucked under a coffee cup or scribbled on a napkin—nudging Tom toward something unfamiliar.
He was beginning to have different conversations. To hear more than what he used to hear. To understand what prospects wanted.
He was having fun again and having more successful sales calls.
But even as his confidence returned, he sensed more was still to come.
The mentor had hinted at more skills —subtler tools, sharper edges - but not till Tom was ready.
A new way to speak.
A new way to guide minds without resistance.
And a way to transform even the hardest objections into breakthroughs.
Something was changing in him. He eagerly anticipated the next appearance of the old man.
What treasures would he divulge next time ?