CONVINCE ME! –
Making Your Case, Negotiating and Selling
As apprentices progress through their training, they take on more demanding responsibilities.
They contribute ideas, explain their work, advise customers and find ways to reconcile different interests. This takes more than a confident manner: they also need to build clear arguments and understand the other person’s perspective.
In this practical advanced workshop, experienced apprentices and students on work-study programmes practise presenting their position convincingly, identifying needs and interests, explaining benefits and responding professionally to objections.
Activities inspired by debating clubs, insights from the psychology of persuasion and realistic sales and negotiation exercises provide varied opportunities to practise. The focus is on clear, fair and purposeful conversations.
Content
- Develop and present a convincing position
- Build clear arguments supported by reasons and evidence
- Consider counterarguments and respond appropriately
- Explore debating techniques and different perspectives
- Understand psychological principles of persuasion
- Ask questions to identify needs, interests and motives
- Present products, services and ideas in terms of their benefits
- Respond professionally to objections
- Prepare negotiation goals, areas of flexibility and limits
- Distinguish stated positions from underlying interests
- Develop additional options before settling for a compromise
- Respond to demands and common negotiation tactics
- Conclude conversations with clear agreements
- Practise through debates, sales conversations and negotiations
How Does Your Organisation Benefit?
Apprentices Present Ideas, Services and Interests More Convincingly
Apprentices who ask useful questions and listen carefully can better understand what customers and colleagues need. They learn to explain the practical value of an idea, service or solution, rather than simply listing features or facts.
When interests differ, they have more ways to move the conversation forward. Instead of giving in too quickly or insisting on their original demand, they can explore additional options and reach clear agreements.
Selling is understood broadly here. Even apprentices who do not work in sales regularly need to communicate the value of products, services, ideas, work results or suggestions for improvement.
What Makes This Workshop Different?
Experience Persuasion, Selling and Negotiation in Practice
Effective conversations take practice. Participants develop arguments, represent different positions and respond spontaneously to objections.
Short debates help them experience the importance of a clear structure, relevant examples and fair responses to opposing arguments. Switching sides encourages them to consider a situation from the other person’s perspective.
Sales exercises focus on asking questions to understand genuine needs, explaining relevant benefits and confidently asking for a decision. Participants develop their own approach rather than memorising scripts.
In negotiation exercises, participants receive different confidential information, objectives and priorities. This reveals why a quick compromise is not always the best solution — and how questions, additional issues and package agreements can create better outcomes.
Exercises are adapted to the participants’ occupations and typical situations within your organisation. These might include customer conversations, internal discussions, project decisions, deadlines or negotiations about prices and services.
What Do Apprentices Appreciate About This Workshop?
Practise Challenging Conversations Without Real-World Pressure
Many apprentices have already discovered that a good argument does not automatically convince someone. Sometimes the structure is unclear; sometimes there is too much talking and too little questioning. A disagreement or critical question can also make a conversation feel difficult.
The workshop gives participants space to try different strategies and compare their effects. They experience how a conversation changes when they listen more closely, explore interests or acknowledge an objection before responding.
Exercises challenge participants in a supportive setting. Several practice rounds, specific observation tasks and constructive feedback help them improve their approach step by step.
They also discover that successful negotiation means reaching an agreement that serves their own objectives while remaining workable for the other party.
Target Group
Apprentices in the later stages of their training and students on work-study programmes who have gained initial workplace experience and want to develop their skills in more demanding discussions, sales conversations and negotiations.
The workshop suits participants with direct customer or sales contact, as well as those who want to present ideas, work results or proposed solutions more convincingly within their organisation.
Venue
At the company’s premises or at a conference or training centre
Format
- One-day workshop, approximately 8 training units, for example from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., including breaks.
- The ideal maximum group size is approximately 12 participants.
- The content, format and duration can be adapted to the organisation, target group and local context.