Stephen Pike, Sales Manager at Williams Corporation, was preparing for a five-minute presentation at a wealth creation seminar — a brief but high-stakes opportunity to represent the company, inspire interest in Christchurch Central, and open the door to future investor conversations.
The Challenge
This wasn’t just about selling. In fact, the biggest challenge was not to sell.
Stephen needed to:
- Represent the company without sounding like a sleazy salesperson.
- Capture attention immediately, even though he was speaking after a long accounting presentation.
- Keep his delivery natural and engaging, not robotic or rehearsed.
- Honour the allocated five-minute slot — a short timeframe, made more daunting by a generic pre-built slide deck filled with hard-sell language.
On top of that, Williams Corporation’s CEO, Mathew Horncastle, had a commanding presence. Stephen’s instinct was to match that style — but doing so would’ve come across as inauthentic.
The Focus
To turn this challenge into a win, we focused on five key areas:
- Accountability: Stick to five minutes. No more.
- Integrity: Do what he said he would do — show up prepared, finish on time.
- Trust: Remove all selling language. Let the message speak through value.
- Liking: Show genuine enthusiasm. Be himself, not a mimic.
- Group rapport: Use confident physiology and movement to engage.
The Process
We ran three sessions together, each with a clear goal:
Session 1
🎯 Define outcomes, identify barriers, and review the original deck.
🎥 Recorded a delivery run-through to diagnose delivery habits.
Session 2
🧠 Rebuilt the deck — swapped salesy copy for strong imagery and city-focused storytelling.
👀 Reviewed the video together and gave delivery feedback.
⏳ Introduced a sand timer — a powerful visual symbol to signal time commitment to the audience.
Session 3
💬 Polished the final delivery: strong open and close, purposeful movement, and enthusiastic energy.
🎤 Practised until it felt natural, authentic, and sharp.
The Outcome
Stephen nailed it.
He opened his talk with integrity — showing the sand timer and telling the audience he’d stay within five minutes. This immediately built trust and set him apart.
He spoke with enthusiasm, clarity, and purpose. The audience engaged. They listened. They approached him after the talk — ready to connect, not be sold to.
💥 Within those five minutes, Stephen sold two properties valued at over $1M.
💥 He also generated multiple follow-up conversations and leads.
The Lesson
You don’t need to talk fast, sell hard, or be someone you’re not.
You just need to show up as a confident, trustworthy version of yourself — and let that do the talking.
