Hear what sits beneath the ask.
Use Mask On / Mask Off to look beyond the surface conversation, ask better questions and listen for what matters — so the real opportunity has a chance to emerge.
Keynote 04 · Sales & Client Relationships · Kirryn Zerna
Ahead of the Ask
The Connect Effect for Sales and Client Relationships
Why clients choose you — and choose you again.
Recently booked by
SoftwareOneREIWAAussie Home LoansRSM AustraliaCarsales
Why this matters now
“I didn’t realise you did that.”That’s not a product problem. It’s a connection gap.
For a sales team, those words reveal both an opportunity and what may have been missed. Growth depends on how well people understand the client, share what they know and connect the right expertise to the right opportunity — inside the business and across the table.
With clients facing more choice, tighter budgets and competing demands, another product pitch can miss the real conversation. Drawing on her work with sales and client-facing teams across financial services, professional services, retail and construction, Kirryn explores the human dynamics that turn connection into commercial opportunity.
What happens in the room
The latest thinking.
Current research on buyer trust, client behaviour and relationship-led growth, translated into the conversations your people have every day.
A room that takes part.
Interactive moments that get people talking, laughing and recognising where opportunity is being created — or missed.
Stories from their world.
Examples tailored to your market, clients and sales cycle, so people can see their own relationships in the story.
Something to take home.
Shared language for trust, collaboration and anticipation — and One Human Move each person commits to before they leave.
What your audience takes away
Trust → Tribe → Thrive
Through The Connect Effect, audiences discover how to:
Make the whole business easier to buy from.
Turn “my customer” into a shared commitment to the client. Build rhythms and rituals that connect expertise across teams and bring the right capability to the table.
See the opportunity before the client names it.
Use RADAR to notice changing needs, test assumptions and act before the client has to ask — strengthening relevance, confidence and the right to do more together.
One Human Move
Every person chooses one practical action to strengthen an important client relationship or unlock the next opportunity.
Proof in practice
Commercial connection, made real.
Two very different sales environments. The same commercial truth: growth gets easier when people understand the client, connect the right expertise and move as one.
Case study · SoftwareOne
Two sales organisations. One way forward.
The brief: SoftwareOne’s Springboard 2026 sales kick-off brought together two recently merged organisations — salespeople from different locations, functions and selling styles who needed to move forward as one commercial team.
What Kirryn did: Kirryn opened the event with Trust → Tribe → Thrive, connecting the “We Are One” message to how sales teams build trust, collaborate across boundaries and bring the strength of the whole organisation to every client.
“I really appreciated the energy you brought to the room with your keynote at SoftwareOne Springboard 2026, and the way you helped lift the entire event.”
General Manager, Australia & New Zealand · SoftwareOne
Case study · IVE Group
One client. A whole business behind them.
The brief: IVE’s annual sales conference brought together 110 delegates selling an unusually broad end-to-end offer — from creative and data to print, logistics, merchandise and customer experience. The opportunity was to move beyond individual services, connect expertise across the business and make IVE’s full capability easier for clients to buy.
What Kirryn did: Kirryn tailored The Connect Effect to IVE’s world, connecting buyer trust with cross-team rhythms, service consistency and the human side of AI. The session showed how stronger internal connection creates better client conversations — and unlocks more of the opportunity already inside existing relationships.
“Your keynote was a big hit with the team. You were well-researched across our services and right on point with the importance of human connection — reinforcing earlier sessions about AI and how it’s affecting our business.”
IVE Group
Built for
Sales kick-offs, national roadshows, partner and franchise conferences, business-development events and client-facing team days.
Length: Choose a 45, 60 or 90-minute keynote, or a half-day or full-day workshop.
Business outcomes this keynote supports
- Stronger consultative selling
- Better cross-team collaboration
- Growth within existing accounts
- New business, retention and referral
Why Kirryn
Connection from every altitude.
Kirryn Zerna is a Sydney-based international keynote speaker on trust, sales, leadership and customer experience, and the creator of The Connect Effect.
She has advised CEOs, led engagement for more than 40,000 employees, and worked with sales and client-facing teams across financial services, professional services, retail, construction and real estate.
A Certified Speaking Professional and practising company director, she connects the realities of the client conversation with the commercial decisions made in the leadership team and boardroom.
Planning your event
A few useful answers.
What is a sales keynote?
A sales keynote gives sales and client-facing teams a shared way to strengthen buyer trust, understand client needs, collaborate across the business and turn stronger relationships into growth, retention and referral.
Is Ahead of the Ask sales training?
It is not a script or a product-pitching session. Ahead of the Ask focuses on the human dynamics behind consultative selling: listening beneath the surface, connecting expertise across teams and acting on changing client needs before the client has to ask.
Can Kirryn tailor the keynote to our market and sales cycle?
Yes. Kirryn uses your client environment, service lines, internal hand-offs and commercial priorities so audiences recognise the real conversations and opportunities in their work.
What formats are available?
The session can be delivered as a 45, 60 or 90-minute keynote, or as a half-day or full-day workshop. Kirryn is Sydney-based and travels nationally and internationally.
What will audiences leave with?
Audiences leave with practical tools including Mask On / Mask Off, rhythms and rituals, and RADAR — plus One Human Move to strengthen an important client relationship or unlock the next opportunity.
Explore the other keynotes
One framework. Your audience’s world.
Bring The Connect Effect to your event
What opportunity should your people see next?
Tell Kirryn who’s in the room and what you want to be different afterwards.