In your head, they always agree.
Rosby’s counterparts don’t. Rehearse the pay conversation, the refusal and the difficult feedback out loud, with someone who pushes back on what you actually say.
The other person is the hard part
Rehearsing in your head skips the only genuinely difficult part, which is what they say back: the objection you didn’t plan for, the long pause, the push.
You can’t practise that alone, and the people you could practise with are usually the ones you’re about to have it with.
Hear them first
Every conversation starts with the other person. Here is how three of them might open.
“Thanks for making time. You said you wanted to talk about your package?”
“Quick one. I need you to pick up the migration as well. You’ve got room, right?”
“I’ve got about four minutes before my next thing. Where are we?”
They answer what you said
Your counterpart responds to the words you use, not to a script. Speak your side, or type it when you need to. They listen, hold their ground and keep going until the conversation reaches an end.
What landed, in your words
Afterwards you see the moment that landed and the one thing to change next time, quoted in your own words.
Then take the conversation again and hear it go better.
“Sorry, I know budgets are tight. I’m asking for eight percent, because I led the vendor migration and it shipped two weeks early.”
- LandedThe number, then the reason. Then you stopped talking.
- ChangeDrop the apology in front of it. You opened with “sorry” twice.
A sample, written for this page.
Questions people ask
Do I have to speak?
Speaking is the point, but you can type any turn.
Is it recorded?
Your voice is never kept. Each spoken turn is turned into text and the audio is discarded.
Can I practise my own situation?
Yes. Describe it in a sentence and Rosby sets up the other person, including their position and how hard they push back.