Nicolas ColeCo-Founder Ship 30 for 30, Premium Ghostwriting Academy

How To Not Lose Control Of The Conversation When Talking To Clients #business

26 Apr 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:50

In this instructional segment, Nicolas Cole explains how salespeople and consultants can regain control when a prospect—typically a business owner—begins dominating the dialogue. He emphasizes that business owners are accustomed to steering conversations and that this behavior is not malicious but a habit formed by their daily responsibilities. Cole advises professionals to first remind themselves of this context, then to reassure the client that they don’t need to stay in that controlling mode during the meeting. The core tactical method he outlines is to answer the client’s question in a single sentence and immediately follow up with a question of your own, thereby steering the conversation back to a balanced, consultative flow.

Chapters

How do you take control or take back control when the prospect starts talking and they start taking control? You have to remember that you are talking to business owners and business owners are used to being the one responsible for taking control of the conversation. And so when you see a client doing that, the first thing is you have to remind yourself they are not doing this maliciously. They're not doing this with like any sort of ill intent. This is just what it's like talking to a business owner. And second is you have to also remind yourself that the person is in that state because they are in that state all day long. And so it's your responsibility to help give them the reassurance that they don't have to be in that state right now. So what does that look like? If I'm having a conversation with a client and the client starts talking and then they start asking me questions, it's very simple. I take their question, I give them maybe a one-sentence answer, and then I go back to asking the questions.