Position Yourself So Buyers Choose You Before You Start Selling
For consultants, speakers, coaches, trainers, agency owners, business owners and experts who want to become the obvious choice in their market.
A 3-hour masterclass on Thursday, 6 August with Jacques de Villiers
Years ago I used to believe that businesses won because they had a better product or employed better salespeople. After working with hundreds of organisations, I'm no longer convinced that's where the decision begins.
By the time many buyers agree to a meeting, they've already been forming opinions about you for days or even weeks. They've looked at your website, glanced through your LinkedIn profile, listened to how someone described you or compared you, almost unconsciously, with someone else.
Something has already happened in their mind before anyone says, "Tell me about your solution."
I've become fascinated by that moment.
Not the sales conversation itself, but everything that happens before it.
Because if we can understand why one business is invited into the conversation while another is overlooked, we've solved a far bigger problem than closing techniques or objection handling.
That's what Become the Obvious Choice is designed to explore.
"Sharp, insightful and refreshingly direct. No fluff. No recycled thinking. Just clear frameworks that change how you think about sales and decision-making."
Louise Krog
Growth Leader, Cinique
Over the past twenty-odd years I've become fascinated by a simple question:
Why do buyers choose one person when several people appear capable of solving the problem?
This workshop is an exploration of that question.
"Jacques shifted the way I think about influence, persuasion and sales. It changed how I approach conversations and what I believe actually drives decisions.
"Marie le Roux
Communication Lead, Totally Morpheus Leadership Development
Together we'll look at how decisions form, why some people seem to attract opportunities before they are formally available, and what separates the obvious choice from everybody else.
We'll also spend some time looking at LinkedIn, not because it is the only place these decisions happen, but because for many of us in the B2B world it is one of the places where they become visible. Long before a buyer visits your website, requests a proposal or takes your call, there is a good chance they have already looked you up.
One of the reasons LinkedIn matters so much is that it has become a public record of how you think. Buyers don't only look at what you do. They look at what you say, what you notice, what you believe and how consistently you show up. We'll spend some time unpacking why that matters and how it influences commercial decisions.
Over the past twenty-seven years Jacques has written more than twelve million words, delivered more than 3 000 workshops and keynotes, edited or ghostwritten more than thirty books and worked with sales teams, entrepreneurs and leaders across multiple industries.
This masterclass brings together many of the observations, questions and patterns that emerged from that work.
This workshop is for consultants, coaches, trainers, speakers, business owners and subject matter experts who know they are good at what they do but suspect the market doesn't always see it.
Perhaps you've found yourself looking at a competitor and wondering why they keep getting invited into rooms you can't seem to access. Perhaps you've watched somebody win an opportunity that you were convinced you could have delivered better. Or perhaps you've simply reached the point where you know your expertise is not the problem.
If those thoughts sound familiar, this session was designed for you.
This is not a workshop about posting more content, gaming algorithms or collecting followers.
It is a workshop about why buyers choose one person and ignore another.
LinkedIn happens to be one of the places where those decisions become visible.
Because before somebody buys from you, hires you, refers you or invites you to speak, they have already made a decision about who you are. Most people leave that decision to chance.
The people who become the obvious choice don't.
Date: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Time: 09h00 – 12h00
Venue: The Tryst, Kramerville
This is a small working session with limited seats available.
Investment: R797
Light lunch included after the session.
If you're already visible but not being chosen, this may be the conversation you've been missing.
Jacques de Villiers
Commercial Decision Design