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The Art of Persuasion: Lessons from Espionage & Sales Mastery · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello, and welcome to the show. Today is going to be a noisy
0:05
episode, so let's just get straight down to business.
0:08
I had promised you guys that we're going to do a book review
0:12
this year, in 2025, and the first book that I had lined up
0:16
was buying, or rather is by Jeremy Hurowitz.
0:20
Hope I'm pronouncing the name correctly.
0:23
I think the book was published in August of 2024.
0:27
Yeah, August 27th, 2024. And the title of the book is
0:32
Sell Like a Spy, the Art of Persuasion from the World of
0:37
Espionage. So it's something that one of my
0:41
juniors in school has been talking about.
0:43
Right now. He's a lawyer in Lagos who
0:45
handles divorce and you know, those sorts of proceedings.
0:50
And he likes to read lots of books.
0:52
And so he put it up and I thought it would be an
0:54
interesting read for those of us who are interested in all things
0:57
sales and marketing related, trying to see what we can learn
1:01
from spies and people who are in the world of international
1:07
relations, diplomacy, you know, those sorts of things.
1:10
What we can learn about convincing and selling.
1:15
Especially since last year. If you've been listening to the
1:18
podcast, you remember when I had to handle some interviews for a
1:23
client of mine, The client of mine, they were in the real
1:27
estate space and they have an app that is supposed to make it
1:32
easier for people to find houses, you know, pay for
1:36
houses, put them in extra, do inspections so you don't have to
1:40
inspect the house by yourself. And I was interviewing someone
1:44
who was going to be a, how do they call it again, the term
1:49
that they use that was virtual inspection agent, I think.
1:53
But my, while I was interviewing the candidate and during the
1:58
training, I have been telling the people that, look, yes, it's
2:00
a fancy title, but more or less what you're going to be doing is
2:03
sales because you're going to be talking to people, you're going
2:06
to be helping them find the perfect house and you're going
2:09
to be helping them do that using the app of, you know, using the
2:16
app and the proprietary algorithm that you guys have.
2:21
So even though it's a fancy title, virtual inspection agent,
2:24
I've been telling them, look, this is just essentially a sales
2:27
role. So one of the candidates that I
2:30
interviewed for the job, if you remember correctly, is she
2:32
studied international relations and diplomacy back when she was
2:35
in her uni days. And that was, excuse me.
2:40
So that was when I so was during that podcast episode, yes, when
2:45
I was talking about the experience of interviewing her
2:48
that I started making parallels between the world of
2:51
international relations, diplomacy, espionage and stuff
2:55
like that. So when I saw this book come up
2:58
on my friends timeline, I just thought OK cool.
3:02
So let's just go ahead with that.
3:04
Anyway, long and short, I promise you guys a book review.
3:07
The honest truth is this is not a book review.
3:10
Rather, what I'm going to do is we're going to explore themes
3:13
from a sales perspective, you know, see what the similarities
3:16
are. Because to do a book review, I'm
3:19
actually going to have to sit down and read the book.
3:21
But to be honest, right now, my life is just up and down.
3:25
You know, the radio show is almost in production now.
3:29
I'm in the middle of moving house.
3:31
And then also have some outstanding, what will I say,
3:36
some things outstanding with clients.
3:38
So for me to sit down and read the book right now and then
3:41
we're going to go through a chapter, chapter page by page,
3:44
that's unrealistic. So right now we're just going to
3:46
skim and go through some of the themes that are addressed in the
3:51
book. And then I will show you how
3:54
from a traditional sales and business development perspective
3:58
and from the sorts of things we discussed over here on the
4:00
podcast, you know, what is the overlap?
4:04
Sorry about that. So yeah, the book sound like a
4:08
spy, the art of persuasion from the world of espionage.
4:12
Now, the main thesis of the book, the main idea of the book
4:17
is that the techniques that are used by intelligence operatives,
4:21
the techniques that are used by, you know, diplomats, the
4:24
techniques that are used by the James Bond, the techniques that
4:27
are used by the was like a Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.
4:31
And pick your favorite spy movie, whether fictional spy,
4:35
real life spy, you know, whatever.
4:38
OK, that woman was her name. Was it Mata Mata Hari also, I
4:43
think I was in primary school back then and there was this
4:45
buzz about this book. I think it was an auto not an
4:49
autobiography, a story about some famous and female spy.
4:52
I can't remember which of the world was I think Mata Hari
4:54
also. So if you've read the book,
4:56
think of Mata Hari, think of Tom Cruise and Mission Impossible,
5:00
think of James Bond, think of, you know, whichever spy that you
5:05
like. So the main idea behind this
5:08
book is that intelligence operatives, whether end up in
5:11
the, you know, in sexy spy scenarios or whether there are
5:15
diplomats out in the field, they have to do certain things that
5:19
also apply to sales and kind of relations.
5:23
In other words, there are things that diplomats have to do.
5:26
There are things that spies have to do that also the same thing
5:30
that sales people have to do. And with that, I wholeheartedly
5:35
agree. And three of the things that
5:38
Jeremy Horowitz talks about in his book that we all share in
5:42
common. So me and Tom Cruise and James
5:46
Bond. So there's some things we have
5:47
in common. We have to do information
5:50
gathering. Now, James Bond's way of
5:53
information gathering is much more exciting because he always
5:56
ends up with, he always ends up with a beautiful woman.
6:01
OK, well, I have a beautiful woman as a wife, but The thing
6:03
is I only have one and James Bond has multiple.
6:05
So in that case, you can say that his own case is different.
6:09
His, you know, he has more perks.
6:10
But bottom line is the same thing that James Bond does, I
6:15
have to do and you have to do as well, which is information
6:19
gathering. Now the second thing is
6:22
understanding human behaviour. So James Bond, Tom Cruise,
6:26
Mission Impossible, Mata Hari, you know, whoever, we also need
6:30
to understand human behaviour. We need to understand who it is
6:34
that we're talking to right now, people that we're going to come
6:36
in contact with in the future. Because selling, spying,
6:41
diplomatic relations is all about understanding different
6:43
people's motivations, what makes them take, how can you bring
6:46
them over to our side? How can we be on the same side
6:50
as theirs to move an agenda forward?
6:52
You know, all these horse trading back and forth.
6:54
And then the third thing that Jeremy here, which talks about
6:57
is building rapport. I don't even have to stretch
7:00
that one because if you've been listening to this podcast for
7:03
any length of time, you've heard me talk about building rapport,
7:06
building rapport, building rapport.
7:08
So that is Jeremy Hurwitz main thesis, not spies, James Bond.
7:15
Who else? I don't know, I'm only thinking
7:17
of two spies right now, James Bond and Mission Impossible, but
7:19
there are lots of other movies anyway.
7:22
So they all have to do information gathering, they all
7:25
have to understand human behaviour and they all have to
7:28
build rapport. And it's the same thing, I have
7:31
to do information gathering, I have to understand human
7:34
behaviour, I have to build rapport.
7:37
Absolutely essential in my role as a business consultant.
7:40
And you have to do information gathering no matter what your
7:43
business is, you have to understand human behaviour no
7:46
matter what your business is. And you have to build rapport no
7:49
matter what your business is. So those are the, that is the
7:54
main thesis of the book essentially.
7:58
Now information gathering, how do you do that?
8:00
We will get into that in detail. I think chapter one of the book
8:05
is the art of the approach, the art of the approach.
8:07
Understand your audience and tailor your approach
8:09
accordingly. So we'll get into some of that
8:11
with when we get to Chapter 1, but for now, let me just give an
8:15
overview of how all this relates from a traditional sales and
8:19
business development perspective.
8:22
So information gathering in traditional sales, how do we do
8:25
this? If you listen to the previous
8:27
episode, or rather the last two episodes, then you're ready.
8:30
You already know what we're talking about essentially.
8:32
So information gathering or investigation or whatever it is
8:36
that you want to call it because people call it different things,
8:39
but it's all the same. Information gathering is done by
8:42
qualification and discovery. If you listen to the last two
8:45
episodes, you already understand if this is your first time
8:48
listening to the podcast. After you're done listening to
8:50
this episode, just hit rewind. Listen to sorry, hit skip
8:54
because you can't rewind the podcast.
8:56
So hit skip, skip one, skip 2, and then listen to the last two
9:00
episodes. Essentially, qualification and
9:03
discovery. What that means is we're having
9:05
conversations with people because we're trying to figure
9:07
out what is their problem or what is their vision, what is
9:10
their motivation is the same thing if you're a diplomat.
9:13
So if you're a member of the civil service and they put you
9:15
as diplomatic attache to America or whatever, the moment you land
9:20
Washington DC, your assignment is OK, OK, I don't have direct
9:24
access to Trump, but for the attache, I'll be for the
9:28
diplomat or for the, you know, whatever, whatever, all the
9:31
people that have to interact with.
9:36
Well, first of all, you have to understand what the diplomatic
9:40
thrust of America is as a whole. But then individually, the
9:44
people that you're going to meet, the diplomats you're going
9:46
to meet, the people that you're going to meet in that world,
9:49
each of them is going to have, you know, the thing that is
9:52
choking them, what their own problem is, what their own
9:55
visions are, what their own motivation is.
9:57
I mean, if nothing else, the people that you're going to meet
10:00
are going to be worried about, you know, advancing up the
10:02
career and doing a good job and things like that.
10:05
So if you meet them in the diplomatic service, you
10:08
understand what it is, that they are priorities, what they're
10:10
trying to achieve, and you help them to achieve those sorts of
10:13
things. Of course, you scratch my back,
10:15
I scratch yours, I help you out, you help me out.
10:18
You know, that's just how these things work.
10:21
So it's also the same thing in business, in sales,
10:23
qualification and discovery. We're trying to figure out what
10:25
is this person's problem or what's this person trying to do?
10:28
What motivates this person? The reason why we're doing that
10:32
is because we're trying to get alignment between the other
10:35
person and you. So let me stop you from being
10:38
theoretical. Let me see, OK, last episode, I
10:40
think I spoke about a fashion designer who somebody has to
10:45
make peplum for a wedding dress. So let me use that.
10:49
So if you're a wedding designer, of course for you, your
10:53
motivation is that you want to collect big money.
10:55
Then your motivation is also that you also want to show off
10:58
your work and you want to show off your creative flair, because
11:01
I know that it doesn't give wedding designers any joy.
11:05
You know, when you design things and you know nobody wears it or
11:08
nobody sees it or people see it and then they don't like it.
11:10
So those are our motivations. Now, the client on the other
11:14
hand, the lady who has come to meet you, her motivation is
11:17
this. Her sister is getting married.
11:18
OK, she's still single or whatever, but anyway, she wants
11:22
to slay. She wants to look fab.
11:24
She wants to look fabulous when the professional wedding for
11:27
photographs comes out. She wants to look, you know,
11:30
Ganga, you know, yeah, it's her sister's wedding, but you know,
11:33
she, she can't carry last as well.
11:35
So if you're able to figure out what her motivations are as the
11:42
customer, what your own motivations are as the artist or
11:45
as the designer, and you're able to create alignment, then you're
11:49
not going to be able to have a profitable business
11:52
relationship. The sister of the bride will go
11:55
away happy because she will have a peplum dress that will kill
11:58
it. And you will go away happy
12:01
because when you hear ping him and you look at your account
12:05
balance, you'll be able to pay your tithes and you'll be able
12:07
to do Internet. You'll be able to eat your armor
12:09
and you'll be able to, I don't know, do whatever it is that you
12:12
want to do. So information gathering, you
12:16
see how it is important in the world of espionage and how it is
12:19
important in the world of business qualification and
12:22
discovery. Who is this person?
12:23
What's the problem? What are they trying to achieve?
12:26
What are their motivations? Oh, OK, this is this person.
12:28
OK, no problem. Me.
12:30
This is what I want to get out of the deal.
12:31
Oh, yeah. There's an alignment from their
12:34
profitable relationship for both parties.
12:37
So how we do information gathering is through
12:42
conversations essentially that's it.
12:45
The other forms of doing information gathering and in the
12:48
book by Jeremy Horowitz, he's going to talk about other forms
12:50
of information gathering which we should also be doing as
12:53
business people. But from a sales perspective.
12:55
You know, the first thing or the easiest thing or the most
12:57
primary thing we'll do is through conversations as per you
13:00
are talking with the person or you are pinging with the person
13:06
in order of preference. Our preferred talking.
13:08
You can see the person face to face or phone call, you know
13:11
year to year. Then after that, you know,
13:14
pinging, typing and all the others.
13:17
Well, primarily we're going to do that through having
13:19
conversations and by asking questions.
13:22
The questions should be focused on the other party and the
13:25
question should be open-ended to get them talking.
13:28
If this is your first time listening to the show, so excuse
13:31
me, if this is your first time listening to the show, then OK,
13:37
hop on YouTube or you can check Spotify because Spotify also
13:40
allows you to search within the podcast.
13:42
So within the podcast, if you just put the keywords open-ended
13:47
conversation, let me see what else you just put open-ended.
13:51
Yes, if you're on Spotify, you're listening to the podcast
13:53
right now. Just go to the search function.
13:55
It's going to say search within the podcast.
13:57
Just put open-ended in there and then see what comes up or put
14:01
conversation in there. And you see all the episodes
14:03
that I've made about that. And he'll tell you guys how to
14:05
have open-ended other focused conversations.
14:09
If you go there and he's mono like you're talking about sorry,
14:11
monologue. Yeah, monologue.
14:13
You're talking about me, me, me. I'm the greatest, I'm the best,
14:16
I'm the finest. I'm the smartest.
14:18
I'm the this, I'm the that. That's a very, very, very, very
14:21
boring conversation. And it's not going to get you
14:23
far in business and it's definitely not going to get you
14:25
far in the world of diplomacy and international espionage.
14:29
You're going to be a very bad spy if everywhere you go, you're
14:31
talking me, me, me, me, me, me, me.
14:33
In fact, in the world of James Bond and in the world of Tom
14:37
Cruise, Mission Impossible. If you talk about me, me, me all
14:40
the time, it'll just get you killed because everybody, you
14:42
know who you are, how they can find you, you're a loudmouth,
14:45
you're lousy, you're useless, they'll just mond you and that's
14:48
the end of the film. Then understanding human
14:52
behaviour, there's a chapter on, let me see, I think chapter 3 in
14:58
Jeremy Hurwitz book That's the Art of Elicitation.
15:00
I think he talks more about understanding human behaviour,
15:03
but from a traditional self perspective, the reason why
15:06
we're trying to understand human behaviour is because if we
15:10
understand people's behaviour profiles in general, if we
15:15
understand people's preferences in general, and if we understand
15:18
customer trends, it will help us when we're talking to a
15:21
particular somebody. So that's the reason why I'm
15:24
having some conversation with some people.
15:26
And I know that OK, this guy, I do not want to do business with
15:29
this guy because I understand human behaviour that I've dealt
15:33
with particular kinds of customers, in particular kinds
15:36
of context. And when they say this and they
15:37
say this, I now know that OK, this guy is a 419, it is time to
15:42
withdraw. Or this person is an honest
15:44
business person, but this is a quarrel.
15:46
Some individual it is time to withdraw.
15:49
You're not going to give me headache or top small money.
15:52
So this is the reason why we need to understand human
15:56
behaviour. It helps us to understand our
15:58
customers better. If we know them, we know those
16:01
people to run away from. We know those people to work
16:04
with and the people we choose to work with, we're going to know
16:07
what it is that they enjoy. So from a let me see, let me
16:14
see, let me see, let me see. OK, wow, I can't think of any
16:17
example right now, but bottom line is yes, you will know what
16:20
it is that your customers like because OK, let me just look at
16:23
cars, for instance, cars, there's some people that are
16:25
technical minded. So for the technical minded
16:29
person, if you know those kind of consumers, those kind of
16:32
customers when you're talking to them about the car, hey, yes, my
16:35
G8, not G8 car, sorry, GS 8 that I like by GAC, Xiaomi, the
16:41
Chinese manufacturer, their showroom is in is in Gherki.
16:46
Just Google it For those of you in Abuja, you go and see some
16:48
correct cars that real nice. So if you're the technical
16:51
person, Oh, sorry, some notification came in, I just had
16:55
to mute it. So if you're the technical
16:57
person and you're trying to sell that car, that's how you now
16:59
start. Excuse me, you now start talking
17:01
about all The thing is V8 engine something, something, something
17:05
horsepower, whatever, whatever, kilometers and blah, blah blah.
17:11
Sorry about that. This summer time is really
17:12
killing me here. So if you're with a technical
17:16
person, you now know they're trying to stress all those
17:18
technical things. But then if you're with someone
17:21
who is much more not technical, but much more functional minded
17:25
or something, you know, you'll be able to say, of course, you
17:29
have some also called some rapport with the person you
17:33
know, have some nice conversations and you'll be able
17:35
to talk more in terms of benefits like look, OK, this
17:38
tank, this fuel tank is massive. If you feel this thing once you
17:41
will drive from here to Zarya and back, you will do it 10
17:44
times. You see, that's a different
17:46
thing from talking technical specs like, you know, 60, you
17:51
know, 60 litre gallon engine something, something, something,
17:54
you know, for someone who is much more experience
17:57
experiential and you're talking in terms of benefits.
18:00
You just say, look, Olga, you know, the next time you have to
18:03
travel home, if you feel this tank from here to Zarya, you
18:06
drive down back five times you say, wow, five times you say,
18:09
yes, Olga, no, you know, and you know all and on.
18:11
So it's by understanding human behavior that we're going to be
18:15
able to tailor our communication, tailor our
18:18
approach, tailor our conversations to the particular
18:21
individual that we're talking to.
18:23
And we know that because we understand in general behaviour
18:26
profiles, people's preferences and some customer trends.
18:31
Now, how do we understand human behaviour?
18:36
Sorry, how do we understand human behaviour?
18:39
Yeah, so like I spoke about, when we're talking about
18:42
qualification, it's the same thing, qualification and
18:44
discovery. That's how we understand human
18:46
behaviour. We also understand human
18:48
behaviour by doing active listening.
18:51
Active listening is not just when you sit down and then you
18:53
shake your head, but you actually have to engage.
18:57
Oh really? Can you tell me more?
18:59
You know, stuff like that. In fact, women do this very,
19:02
very, very well as. And when babes are talking
19:05
together, just watch them, you know, because guys can be
19:07
talking and the main person is telling the story.
19:10
Everybody just keeps quiet and listening and maybe they laugh.
19:12
But women are different, you know, Women are talking, saying
19:15
no, you don't mean it. He what?
19:17
He's a bastard is a lie. You know, that is essentially
19:21
what active listening is. You are asking questions, you
19:25
are engaging, you are eliciting feedback, you are prompting, you
19:31
know, so it doesn't even have to be articulate like this, like
19:37
what I just said is a lie or you don't mean it.
19:41
So even you don't mean it is good active listening because if
19:44
somebody says something, I say you don't mean it.
19:47
It's an invitation for the person to talk some more and
19:50
venture some more details. So that essentially is what
19:53
active listening is. It doesn't mean just listening
19:57
with your ears, but you're going to elicit feedback, you're going
20:02
to be asking questions, you're going to be probing, and you're
20:05
going to be looking for, what will I say, looking for
20:10
particular. Storylines in the conversation
20:13
that you have to probe through. So we have to do that in
20:15
business to try and figure out what's going on with our
20:17
customers. And if you're in the
20:19
international world of espionage, you have to do that
20:20
as well. So that if Donald Trump doesn't
20:23
like Nigeria and his plan is to blow us all to bits, you know,
20:26
you have to be able to figure that out early so that you can't
20:28
want anyone. And if there's anything we can
20:29
do, we can defend ourselves. So essentially, that's how it
20:33
works. Then let's see, what did he say
20:37
again? Yeah, so he said three things
20:39
that we need to do. Information gathering,
20:40
understanding human behaviour, and then building rapport.
20:43
Now, building rapport, for those of you who've been listening to
20:45
the podcast for more than a year, you will know about
20:49
building rapport. Newbies, you won't know.
20:53
So building rapport, the easiest framework that I like to use for
20:56
building rapport is something out of Tom Hopkins, who's an
20:59
American sales trainer in the real estate space.
21:02
Please, those of you who are new, don't say real estate, but
21:05
what I do is fashion. There's no connection.
21:07
There is a connection because sales and business principles
21:12
are universal, but the application depends according to
21:15
the context. So whatever principle I say here
21:18
will apply to your fashion business and will also apply to
21:21
your cement making business. It will also apply to your
21:24
catering business. You just have to find out how.
21:27
So building rapport achieved through three things,
21:30
credibility, commonality, competence.
21:33
Tom Hopkins calls that the three CS, credibility, commonality and
21:38
competence. Credibility just means I look
21:40
the part. I sound believable.
21:43
That's what credibility means. So you want to be build rapport.
21:46
You have to be able to look or sound believable.
21:50
You are not going to achieve rapport.
21:52
OK, let me put it this way. Sometimes I'm going out and then
21:55
my wife will say, why are you dressed like that?
21:57
And I'm like, it's just a casual informal thing.
22:00
And my wife will say, look, you are a consultant.
22:03
When you show up, show up like a consultant, you're going out now
22:07
looking like a wife beater. If you go out like this, who
22:09
will take you seriously? No, no, seriously.
22:11
My wife says things like that. So that is the thing.
22:15
If someone is going to have a meeting with a caterer or a
22:18
meeting with a business consultant or a meeting with AI,
22:21
don't know with a diplomat. If you do not look like a
22:26
diplomat, if you do not sound like a diplomat, if you do not
22:30
look and sound like a consultant, if you not look and
22:32
sound like a caterer, you are not going to start building
22:35
rapport because the person would be like something is off.
22:39
This guy says he's a business consultant, but the guy showed
22:41
up. Now he looks like a bricklayer.
22:43
You can see that rapport is beginning to break down because
22:48
the guy or the girl was expecting to see one thing, but
22:51
the person that showed up is looking like another thing.
22:54
So credibility, make sure you look the part, make sure you
22:58
sound the part. For people like doctors and
23:01
architects, they always like to have the testimonials or third
23:04
party validation. That's why if you go to the
23:07
doctor's office as you're sitting down, if it's his own
23:09
private practice, look to the left, look to the right.
23:13
You will see there that OK, he graduated OAU first class.
23:17
If you look the other way, you will see that from OAU he went
23:19
to Birmingham and did his orthodontic something, something
23:23
and he finished first class. Then if you look again, maybe on
23:27
his desk, you see an award or something that he received for
23:30
professional education in something, something, something.
23:33
But I mean, so doctors do this in very well.
23:36
If you visit a Doctor Who has his own private practice, just
23:40
just check it. As you're sitting in the lobby,
23:42
look around, you'll be seeing the certificates.
23:43
When you enter into the office, look around, you'll be seeing
23:45
the certificates. That is part of the building,
23:48
the rapport. He's looking the part or she is
23:51
sounding the part. They have their testimonials up
23:53
there. So to build rapport, make sure
23:56
you show up credible. If the person is expecting to
23:59
see a fashion designer where it look like a bricklayer, there's
24:03
a problem. They're not building rapport.
24:04
Next is commonality. Commonality just means I'm like
24:07
you and we can show that. Well, the whole thing about I'm
24:12
like you is because people have to do business to people that
24:16
they like. OK, well, people say no like and
24:19
trust. No like and trust, but there has
24:21
to be that likeability factor there.
24:23
In fact, I told you that there's some clients.
24:24
No, no more. I see them, I hear them and I'm
24:28
like, God forbid you're not going to mess up my day.
24:32
And I just look for ways to weave the conversation because I
24:36
don't like this person. In fact, sometimes it's easy
24:38
because I don't like you. You don't like me.
24:41
So back in my wedding photography days, there was one
24:43
wedding planner that was like that.
24:45
Every time we tried to work here, the whole thing was off.
24:47
So after a while, it was just convenient.
24:49
I don't like you, you don't like me, and it was cool.
24:53
So commonality just means I'm like you.
24:57
So in the conversation, you stress a common history or you
25:01
stress common likes. You stress common interests,
25:04
show your opening to listening. Just stress that you have things
25:07
in common. In fact, those of us who finish
25:10
from OAU, you know, it's something that we do a lot like
25:12
that. I owe you a more affair, blah,
25:15
blah, blah. Greatest affair.
25:17
Great. Oh, before you know it, we feel
25:18
like we're friends. Why?
25:20
Because we finished from the greatest school on the African
25:25
continent. No apologies to you.
25:27
You know, like people, by the way, and the University of Ebado
25:29
and the rest of you state schools.
25:31
People are not even anything. We don't even read you.
25:34
So that is one way that people show commonality from the things
25:38
you have in common for those of you who are dating or who are
25:41
just newly married, you know, in the early courtship phase,
25:44
commonality, that's what happens a lot like, Oh my God, you like
25:47
this? Is this on Netflix?
25:49
I just love the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
25:50
And then you guys know, excuse me.
25:52
And then you guys now Netflix and chill, that is commonality.
25:56
You like this. Oh, I don't believe this.
25:58
I like this too. We must be soul mates.
26:01
So it's the same thing in business as well.
26:03
Commonality. I'm just like you.
26:05
So as you're having the conversations, the qualification
26:09
and discovery conversations, you should be stressing common
26:11
areas. Do you guys go to school
26:12
together? Are you guys the same tribe?
26:14
Do you both like Ungwabi? Let's see what else.
26:21
I don't know. I can't think of anything right
26:22
now but just stress areas of common history.
26:25
Common likes, common interest. Now competence just means I can
26:29
do what needs to be done. No need to stress this because
26:32
it sounds a whole lot like credibility.
26:34
But the bottom line is if you want to build rapport, show up
26:38
and look credible, make the person feel like you and me, we
26:42
they relate, we are the same, we are vibing.
26:45
And then you also want the person to leave that
26:47
conversation or feeling like this guy, this girl, they are
26:51
legit, they can do the job. Now if you use the simple
26:54
framework, this is one easy way to start building rapport.
26:58
Like I say, this is not the only framework for building rapport
27:02
that exists and just talk about it a lot because it is easy to
27:07
remember. It is 3 CS, credibility,
27:09
commonality, competence. It's easy to remember.
27:13
And like I keep saying on the podcast, easy to remember means
27:17
easy to apply because I'm all about application.
27:20
There's no point in learning something fancy that when the
27:23
time comes you'll be thinking what's nothing, what's nothing,
27:26
what's nothing. No, simple, easy to remember,
27:30
easy to do. So, yeah, let me just wrap it up
27:35
here. We can start going into chapters
27:38
next. We'll look in chapter one.
27:39
That is the art of the approach, how to understand your audience
27:42
and tailor your approach accordingly.
27:44
But in summary, this is an introduction to the book.
27:48
What Jeremy Hurwitz is saying is that if you are an intelligence
27:52
operative, if you're a James Bond or a diplomat, you have to
27:56
do information gathering. You have to understand human
27:58
behavior. You have to build rapport.
28:01
And he's now telling us, those of us in the business community
28:04
that you, Ma, you guys and girls, you will need to do the
28:07
same things as well. So for your business, you're
28:11
listening to the broadcast right now firmly resolve that you're
28:15
going to get good at information gathering, you're going to get
28:18
good at understanding human behaviour, and you're going to
28:20
get good at building rapport. And you see the difference that
28:23
it makes in your business. But a caveat, there is nothing
28:27
that you're going to do when it comes to sales that is automatic
28:31
and that works overnight. So please don't want to tell
28:35
anybody that. I said if you do information
28:37
gathering, you understand human behaviour and you build rapport,
28:40
you will double your business in one week.
28:42
It doesn't work that way. It takes time to gather the
28:46
skills and the know how to do information gathering, to have
28:50
good conversations so you can understand human behaviour and
28:53
to build rapport. So it's about applying things
28:56
daily in our business communications, in our WhatsApp
29:00
communications, when we're meeting people, you know, it's
29:05
just small, small habits that we apply every single day.
29:08
And as we get better cumulatively over time, we will
29:11
now see the benefits. So let me bring that to a close
29:16
because we're already at 30 minutes.
29:17
Thank you very much for your time and attention.
29:19
If you'd love to connect with me, the phone number is
29:21
08064662140. The country code is +234.
29:27
For those of you who are not Nigerian, then connect with me
29:29
on socials, I'm on LinkedIn name establishment, IED.
29:32
Please ignore other social media handles, I have none.
29:38
I have started deleting them so by the end of January they would
29:41
all be gone. And if at the time of listening
29:44
to this podcast, you see any other social media handle that
29:47
purports to have my name, it is not me telling you guys.
29:51
Now, they already tried to hack me a couple of times.
29:53
And I'm shocked because, I mean, who am I?
29:56
I'm not a big boy. I have one hammered while you're
29:58
trying to hack my handles. I have no idea.
30:00
So you find me on LinkedIn, the name to look for, establishing
30:04
my idea. So thanks for your time and
30:05
attention. I'll catch you guys at the next
30:07
episode. And yeah, that's it.
30:09
Bye.