In this weekly sales‑training tip, Ryan Dohrn answers a listener question from Dabney in London about handling sales calls that drift into personal chit‑chat. He stresses that politely steering the conversation back to business is not rude, and offers a concise, repeatable line: “May I cut to the chase as to why I wanted to meet with you today?” He explains why the phrase works, notes the natural discomfort people feel before adopting new tactics, and encourages listeners to embrace the slight “pain” as a sign of growth. The video closes with a brief self‑promotion, inviting viewers to book Ryan for speaking or training and reminding them that sales is challenging but rewarding.
Questions this video answers
Use the line: “May I cut to the chase as to why I wanted to meet with you today?” It signals respect for time and quickly redirects the conversation.
Chapters
Hey friends, Ryan Dohrn here. This is your sales training tip of the week. I'm answering your listener questions sent in to ryan@ryandohrn.com. Love answering your listener questions. All right, next one here across the pond. This is from Dabney, uh, that is in the UK, specifically in London. And Dabney's question is this: Ryan, very often on a sales call, we will get sidetracked with personal conversations. How do I politely bring the conversation back to business? I love this one. Now, when I give this piece of advice, some of you are going to go, I don't know, it seems a little rude. It's not. It's not. I promise. People want you to stay on time. People don't want you to waste their time. And sometimes conversations just get off in a little rabbit hole and you're like, oh wow, how do I get this back to a business conversation? Very simple. This is what I say. May I cut to the chase as to why I wanted to meet you today? May I cut to the chase as to why I wanted to have this meeting with you today? You'll be amazed with that response. People say, oh my gosh, yeah, yeah, how did we get off talking about my cat? Or how do we get off talking about vacation? Would you, if you don't mind, could I cut to the chase as to why we wanted to meet, why I wanted to meet with you today? And what you'll find is people will bring the conversation back really, really quickly. Now, Just remember something. If I share a piece of advice with you and you're like, oh, I don't know. Normally there's a little bit of pain before you grow. It's a little angst inside. That's not— I'm not asking you to do something unethical. That little voice inside is you. You're about ready to grow. When you feel that little bit of, you're about ready to grow. Trust me on that, friends. May I cut to the chase as to why I wanted to meet with you today? And people will immediately say, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Why? I don't know how we got off on that subject. Well, because you took us off on that subject, right? Great question, Dabney from London. I hope that you find that helpful. And I don't think that's cheeky or anything. If you don't know what cheeky means, friends, why don't you look it up? All right, friends, I'm Ryan Dohrn. If I can be of help to you, speak at your conferences, train your sales team, whatever the circumstance is, reach out to me. More information over at ryandohrn.com. Never forget, friends, if sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it. And they're not. We're not crazy. Well, maybe we are a little bit. We found careers, friends, that are awesome in sales. They'll feed our family for a lifetime. All right, take care. More listener questions next week.
