Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / How to Spot Serious Customers (and Stop Wasting Your Time)

Transcript

How to Spot Serious Customers (and Stop Wasting Your Time) · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to the podcast.
• 0:03
  Today I'm going to keep talking about how to figure out if
• 0:07
  you're dealing with a serious prospect, if you're dealing with
• 0:10
  a serious potential customer, excuse me.
• 0:14
  Now, this is a really important topic in sales because when
• 0:19
  you're trying to grow a business, when you are a
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  founder, when you are a salesperson and in the early
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  days, you have limited time. It's not as if you have a
• 0:28
  massive team behind you. It's really, really important
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  and it's really, really critical who you're going to be investing
• 0:34
  time with, who you're going to be spending time with.
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  You don't want to spend time chasing after 20 people in a
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  week. And it turns out that out of
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  that, 2015 of them were just curious.
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  Therefore, out of the remaining 5, three of them are broke out.
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  Of the remaining two who had money, one of them was just
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  doing research. So if you find that that's how
• 0:59
  you've been spending your time, then excuse me, it's going to be
• 1:04
  demoralizing for you, obviously. And at the end of the day,
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  you're not going to get much revenue because you wasted two
• 1:13
  weeks talking to 20 people and out of the 2019 of them were
• 1:18
  never, ever going to buy at all. As in like there was no hope.
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  There was no hope that they were never going to buy.
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  The thing is just that you did not know that they were going to
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  buy. So if we can come up with a way
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  for figuring out quickly who is likely to buy, who is not likely
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  to buy, we can't quickly shift the 19 people that we know for
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  sure are not likely to buy and then look for 19 other people to
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  talk to. So when we start doing these
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  things, who is likely to buy my product, who is likely to buy my
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  service? Then over time, the outlook, the
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  trajectory for our businesses improve.
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  So this is the reason why I say if you listen to the podcast and
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  you implement some of the things that we talk about over here,
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  it's not as if you become a millionaire overnight, but you
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  start implementing a bunch of stuff today and then next month
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  or in two months, you notice that my bank account is kind of
• 2:25
  heavy. My bank account is getting
• 2:27
  heavier. Before, my bank account was
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  anorexic. Now my bank account is putting
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  on some muscle. So how OK.
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  Now if you've been listening to the podcast for the last 2-3
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  weeks, you've already heard me talk a lot about conversation
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  frameworks. In particular, you've heard me
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  talk about bank. Bank is budget, authority, need
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  and timeline. That is the framework that
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  guides you through conversations with people to make sure that
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  you're talking about money. That is budget.
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  Do these people have money? Do they have a realistic price
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  expectation? Then a authority.
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  Are we talking to someone who is capable of making a decision?
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  Because there's no point in talking to the houseboy if
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  houseboy cannot authorize the contract.
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  You're better off trying to see how you can talk to Auger
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  direct, talk to the person who is in charge, who can make sure
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  that this thing will happen. Then need do these people even
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  have a serious problem? Because if they're talking to
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  you and they're asking all the right questions, but at the end
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  of the day, they don't really have a need.
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  You know, they're just doing research.
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  They're just curious. They're just whatever it is, but
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  they're not going to buy then timeline.
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  Timeline is when are they getting ready to take action, Is
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  there going to be, when are they going to take action and is
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  there any genuine urgency? Can we figure out if there's
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  something that is going to happen today, tomorrow, next,
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  tomorrow, next year, whenever that will cause this, that will
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  increase the odds that these people are going to take action.
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  So if you're talking to people who have the right money
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  expectations, the person has the authority to say yes, let's go
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  ahead and do this thing. Let me make the deposit.
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  The person has a genuine need. They're not just doing research.
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  And then there's a sense of urgency.
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  They're getting ready to take action, you know, next week,
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  next year, whatever. OK, then good.
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  The chances of close of us closing the deal go up.
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  So if you've been listening to this podcast for the last month,
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  I'm sure you're tired of me talking about bands.
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  So don't worry, I'm not going to talk about bands today.
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  I will only talk about just one small aspect of bands and that
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  is T that is timeline. The reason why is I'm
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  interacting with a bunch of you and it looks like, OK, you guys
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  are understanding where I'm coming from.
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  You understand why these things are important.
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  You started asking a couple of questions, but you guys are
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  failing to take it one step further.
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  You're forgetting to ask why. You ask about people's money,
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  expectations and their budget, but you don't ask them why.
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  You ask about people's needs. They tell you that, oh, OK, I
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  need this thing. I need this thing.
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  You don't ask why. You ask about timelines, but
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  you're not asking why. And the problem is this, if he
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  has timeline, the person gives you timeline.
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  You didn't ask why when it comes to follow up, you will not have
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  the full confidence that you need to follow this person.
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  Like if it's close marking that is required, you won't have the
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  full confidence to give this person close marking and be
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  calling them every two, two days.
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  Or if you're going to follow them, like play and relax, you'd
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  be calling them one one month. You won't have the full
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  confidence, the full backing, the full you understand to be
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  able to pursue. Let me give you one concrete
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  example. I'm talking to someone who OK,
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  well if you've been listening for last month, you already know
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  I was talking to Cinderella, not her real name, who sells solar
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  in Lagos. I saw Cinderella.
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  I was talking with someone and she said the person's timeline
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  is 3 weeks. I said OK, cool, no problem.
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  And I asked her why. She said I don't know.
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  I repeat, I asked her what is the person's timeline, when is
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  he getting ready to take action? She said three weeks.
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  I say why? She said she doesn't know.
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  In this situation, if somebody said they're getting ready to
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  take action in three weeks, but you don't know why, can you see
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  how even though three weeks is close, you will be hesitant to
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  call? You won't know, like, am I being
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  an irritant or not? Am I being reasonable in chasing
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  this guy or not or chasing this baby?
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  So it's not just enough to ask the questions, but we need to
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  take things a step further and ask why.
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  So if you're like Cinderella and you're in the solar space and
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  you ask the person, oh, when are you think I'll have?
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  When are you thinking of having this solar and investor system
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  installed? And the person says, oh, in
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  three weeks. You say, oh, OK, you note it
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  down in three weeks, but you don't ask why.
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  You have the full lever to follow up on this person.
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  You won't because they didn't ask why.
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  Now there is another person who used to sell solar.
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  She's no longer in the solar space.
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  And she took this my advice. And she asked the person, oh,
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  how soon are you thinking of having this installed?
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  And the person said September. And she said, oh, you don't mind
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  my asking why? Excuse me?
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  And the person said, oh, my family is relocating.
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  Now. She had done a good job of
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  building rapport with the person because I always advised that we
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  should build rapport and we should be conversational.
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  So when she said, when he said my family is relocating back, of
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  course she said, ah, you people are coming back when some of us
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  are trying to run away and they leftover.
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  I said, my sister, that it's not that everything is not pure like
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  you're seeing it that sure, I'm bringing my family back and you
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  know, the children they were born outside, so they're not
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  used to some kind things. So if wifey and the kids come
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  back and they meet this kind NEPA Valhalla that was seeing
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  now, it won't be easy, it won't be sweet.
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  So this other person, let's call her, what name should we call
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  her? Cynthia.
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  So this other person, Cynthia, she asked how soon are you
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  looking at having your solar anniversary system installed?
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  The person said September. She said, hope you don't mind me
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  asking why? And the person said, my wife and
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  my kids, they are coming back. I came first to smoothen the
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  weight, make everything comfortable, make everything
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  smooth. And I want my children who are
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  born outside and who have never heard of NEPA to come and start
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  facing some kind of things. So for Cynthia, when we were
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  chasing that guy, can you see that we could chase him with our
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  full chest? Because Olga, you said you want
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  this thing to be done by September.
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  Auger, if we are to meet this September date, we need this and
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  this and this to be on ground before then.
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  So therefore, you should have transferred the money by this
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  particular date. In that case, we knew very well.
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  We know the timeline and we know that there's a sense of urgency.
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  We know what it is tied to. It gives us the full confidence,
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  the full authority to be chasing after this guy.
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  And when we are the scope will be bronze September donor Como
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  routine says September day 5 August see September is just in
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  two months. So that kind of person we can
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  stay on the ball because we know why.
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  If somebody just says, excuse me, If somebody just says
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  September, well, the person just says 2 weeks.
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  We say, OK, no problem. Just note it down.
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  When the time comes to call, you'll be lacking in confidence.
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  Am I doing this right? I don't know.
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  Am I justified in following up with this person like this?
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  I don't know. What kind of emotional strings
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  should I pull out? You know, I don't know.
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  I have nothing because I didn't ask why.
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  So yes, I'm glad that you are listening to the podcast and I'm
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  glad that you are learning and you're improving and you're
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  asking some things. But if you ask somebody, how
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  soon are you looking at having XYZ installed?
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  What possible start date did you have in mind?
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  When did you plan to have this sorted?
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  By when would you like for us to start?
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  Do you have any start dates in mind?
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  Is this something that you want to begin in the next quarter of
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  the year? Is this something you want to
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  wrap up by the end of the year? You know any different way that
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  we can be asking questions that will help us to tease out a
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  timeline from this person so that we know their own calendar?
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  Because you are chasing somebody who are doing follow up.
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  Follow up is not according to our calendar.
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  Follow up is according to the other person's calendar.
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  That's all. Tell us for sure or relax is the
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  other person's calendar. It is not our own.
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  That is the difference between being a professional and being a
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  pest. If you're looking at your own
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  calendar or more month end in Hong Kong and need money.
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  I need money, I need money. You'll be calling everybody,
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  you'll be buzzing everybody's. You will be a pest.
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  But if you're following their own calendar, you're following
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  their own priorities, following their own agenda, following
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  their own timeline, you're a professional and you're keeping
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  everybody in step, keeping everybody in queue, keeping
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  everybody in lock. So it's not just enough to say,
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  when would you like us to start? How soon would you like this to
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  be installed? It's not just enough to say that
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  you can say, OK, sorry. I hope you don't mind me asking.
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  I'm curious why and they hear what they have to say.
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  Sometimes there's some things that you can use and guess so
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  for like for Cinderella, again, not her real name.
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  When the person said three weeks, my own guess is maybe the
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  person is tiny to the rainy season.
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  That's my own guess. So in that situation, instead of
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  saying also, I hope you don't mind me asking why, you know, I
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  would just say that, Oh, so is it because of the rainy season
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  and, you know, hear what the person has to say.
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  But if somebody just says September, 3 weeks, how soon
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  would you like us to start Seven weeks time?
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  You didn't ask why. Honestly speaking, when it comes
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  to the follow up, how often should you pursue this person?
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  You won't know. I'm not pursuing with too much
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  force. You won't know.
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  OK, I'm stuck. I've run out of ideas.
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  What kind of possible ideas can I use to revive this
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  conversation? You won't know.
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  So it's not just enough to take all these frameworks that we
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  talk about and then ask on a surface level.
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  Learn to start asking why to get the real reason behind it.
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  It will help us. Selling is a creative endeavor,
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  so we need to use our creative juices.
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  The only way you can exercise your creative juices is if you
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  have something that you can use to create a pond in the first
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  place. So if you ask the average
• 15:00
  Nigerian what's your budget, let's say you're using bands,
• 15:04
  you say what's your budget? Every Nigerian is not going to
• 15:05
  tell you anything. They'll say tell me how much you
• 15:08
  can do it for. So we look for more creative
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  ways of doing this. One way that I've been talking
• 15:14
  about the last month is to use a range, which is to say, OK Sir,
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  based on all the things we've spoken about so far, it looks
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  like we can sort this at the top range of about let's say 450,000
• 15:29
  naira and on the lower end maybe about 380,000 naira.
• 15:35
  Does that match with the other quotes that you're looking at at
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  the moment? So me asking now does that match
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  with the other quotes you're looking at at the moment?
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  You know, it's a much, it's a much more stylistic way of
• 15:47
  asking the person that was your budget or how much is in your
• 15:49
  hand or what are you looking at? If I'm able to ask questions
• 15:57
  like that, I'm able to pull out a range of figures and it looks
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  like we are comfortable talking. It still would be nice to know
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  the why. Oh, OK.
• 16:07
  Oh, cool. OK.
• 16:08
  I'm glad we're in the same ballpark.
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  But Sir, those figures that you got, you know, I'm just curious,
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  you know, how did you come across the other firm or which
• 16:21
  other company are you talking to or you know, asking the why
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  behind it? You never know what kind of
• 16:30
  information you're going to on Earth.
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  So trying to figure out the why, trying to figure out the deeper
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  reason, trying to figure out the deeper motivation behind all
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  these issues, that's the way to go.
• 16:46
  Usha, if you're like Cinderella and you've been practicing
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  timeline, timeline, timeline and you have started asking people
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  when, when would you like us to start?
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  When are you looking at installing XYZ?
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  When did you plan to have this installed?
• 17:04
  If you started asking those sorts of questions, Very good.
• 17:07
  I'm glad that you have. Please don't forget to try and
• 17:12
  ask the why and figure out the reason behind it.
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  Because when we find out a time frame, when we find out a
• 17:21
  timeline, the real urgency is going to come from the why.
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  And that is what will give us the confidence that we are
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  following up, that we are following through, that we are
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  chasing, that we are pursuing, that we are close marking that
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  we are, you know, whatever it is you want to call it, that we're
• 17:40
  doing it the right way. So always find out why.
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  So that's all for today. Thank you very much for
• 17:46
  listening. Thanks for your time and
• 17:48
  attention. If you'd love to connect with
• 17:49
  me, you can call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp
• 17:52
  message on 08064662140. If you want me to audit any of
• 17:58
  your business processes or your frameworks, then call me, send
• 18:02
  me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 18:09
  Then yeah, if you want to be, if you want to join my WhatsApp
• 18:13
  channel, send me a message on the same number and I'll hook
• 18:16
  you up. So that's it, I'll catch you all
• 18:19
  some other time.