For a brokerage leader planning a training session, that is a useful place to intervene. Give the observer a specific question to answer. What did the agent ask? Which detail did they clarify? What would they change if they could try the conversation again?
The session below is a suggested 30-minute format for practising one difficult conversation. It is an original facilitation exercise, not a report of a workshop already delivered or a measure of readiness for unsupervised work.
Start with one conversation
Choose a narrow situation: an agent explaining an unwelcome response to a fictional client. Leave the rest of the transaction outside the exercise.
My recorded webinar for Career College Group, Negotiation Under Pressure, discusses composure, questions and clear language in difficult negotiations. Those themes provide a starting point for choosing what to practise. The session format proposed here is separate from the webinar.
Write a short scenario card
Use invented people and circumstances. Do not ask participants to bring a client email into the room.
Here is a fictional starting point:
Your client expected a positive response to a proposed closing date. The other side has declined that date without explaining why. Your client says, "They are wasting our time. Tell them we are done." Practise the next conversation with your client.
Give the person playing the client one additional detail: the client's main concern is arranging a move around a work commitment. They can explain that concern if asked. There is no predetermined agreement to reach and no instruction to persuade the client to continue.
Keep contractual drafting, disclosure questions and competing-offer procedures outside this exercise. Record those topics for a separate session with appropriate reviewed materials if participants raise them.
Give the observer a small job
Work in groups of three: agent, fictional client and observer. Ask the observer to note only three things:
- The question that helped identify the client's concern, or where a useful question was missing.
- A statement that separated a known fact from an assumption.
- How the agent checked their understanding before suggesting a next step.
Ask for examples of words used. "You sounded nervous" gives the participant little to revise. "You suggested a new date before asking why this date mattered" identifies a moment they can revisit.
The observer is commenting on this practice conversation, not certifying competence or judging a real transaction.
Use the first round to collect evidence
Allow five minutes to explain the scenario and roles, then four minutes for the conversation. Ask the fictional client to respond naturally within the information on the card. Avoid adding a surprise legal problem or making the exercise a contest over who can be most difficult.
When time ends, let the participant speak first. Ask which part they would repeat and which part they would change. Then invite the observer to share one concrete example. Keep feedback focused enough that the participant can act on it immediately.
Replay the difficult minute
Reserve six minutes for the first debrief and four for a second attempt. Restart at the moment the participant wants to improve. There is no need to replay the entire setup.
The participant might replace an immediate suggestion with a question, acknowledge frustration more plainly, or check a detail they previously assumed. Let them choose one change. The observer then describes what was different, without claiming the revised approach would guarantee a better real-world result.
Use the remaining eleven minutes for group discussion and closing notes. This timing is a planning suggestion. Adjust it to the group's size and experience, and rotate roles at a later session so each person has a turn.
Leave with a useful follow-up
Ask each participant to write down one question they want to practise again. As facilitator, keep a separate list of topics needing clarification before the next session. Assign those follow-ups to someone who can prepare the right materials.
For a new team member, place the exercise within your brokerage onboarding workflow. If the discussion identifies a recurring operational step, the note on turning training into transaction checklists explains how to develop a supporting tool.
A clear scenario, an observable behaviour and time to try again give the team something specific to work on at the next meeting.
Sources & further reading
Check the source directly for its full content.
General educational information, not advice about a specific transaction or brokerage. The scenario is fictional and the timing is illustrative.
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