Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Closing the Deal: The Importance of Next Steps

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Closing the Deal: The Importance of Next Steps · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Before we begin, apologies
• 0:05
  because it's the call to prayer that's going on in the
• 0:09
  background. So that's the some of the extra
• 0:11
  noise that you're going to hear in the background.
• 0:13
  So yeah, with that out of the way, let's get on with the show.
• 0:17
  So today, the issue I'd like to tackle, this one is not a
• 0:21
  question that has been sent in, but it's been something that has
• 0:25
  been on the top of my mind, especially I've been since I've
• 0:28
  been doing client consultations in the last month or so.
• 0:32
  So it's, excuse me, it's a recurring issue that I think
• 0:38
  folks haven't quite got a handle on whether you're the business
• 0:41
  owner or whether you are an employee working for someone
• 0:45
  else who owns the business. And so the issue that I'd like
• 0:48
  us to tackle is why we need advancements in sales or
• 0:52
  advancements in business conversations.
• 0:55
  So of course we're going to tackle this by looking at it
• 0:58
  from a multi pronged approach. I'm going to try and define what
• 1:01
  an advancement is. I'm going to try and talk about
• 1:04
  why it's necessary, and then I'm going to use a few case studies
• 1:07
  to illustrate what I mean. So yeah, so with that, let's get
• 1:12
  straight down to business. So an advancement, if you're
• 1:16
  going to define the term advancement well, especially in
• 1:19
  the classical way, you're going to have to look to the book in I
• 1:23
  think was written around 1986 or so or 76 or 86, I can't
• 1:27
  remember. And that's a SPIN selling by
• 1:30
  Neil Rackham, SPIN selling, SPIN.
• 1:34
  Now SPIN, not in the sense of you know, you're trying to
• 1:38
  deceive someone, but SPIN as an acronym, which means situational
• 1:43
  questions, problem questions, implication questions and need
• 1:47
  pay off questions. So for Neil Rackham, who was a
• 1:51
  consultant, he in that book, he was coming up with a framework
• 1:54
  of the kinds of conversations you should be having with
• 1:57
  potential customers that make it easy to seal the deal.
• 2:01
  So you should be asking questions about the situation.
• 2:04
  So basically, who are you? What's going on?
• 2:06
  What problem are you trying to solve?
• 2:08
  And then in the back of your mind, you're trying to figure
• 2:09
  out if your product or service can be that need.
• 2:13
  Then you're also going to be asking, OK, so that situation
• 2:18
  then OK. No, the situation is you're
• 2:20
  trying to figure out the context behind the problem.
• 2:22
  Then the problem questions of course will be where you're
• 2:25
  trying to drill in to try and figure out what kind of problems
• 2:27
  they are trying to solve. The implication is the
• 2:33
  implication questions are implication.
• 2:36
  I need pay off questions. The reason why they're important
• 2:38
  is because they help you figure out if this is a problem that is
• 2:41
  worth solving and then you know, whether you have a serious
• 2:45
  customer that you're dealing with.
• 2:46
  So let me stop talking theory now and make this a little bit
• 2:49
  more practical. So let's say you're a fashion
• 2:51
  designer or you call yourself a fashion designer, but really
• 2:54
  what you do is you have a shop in ultra modern market in, in
• 2:59
  Garrity in Abuja, or maybe you have a shop, you know, close to
• 3:03
  Ikeja, Honda Bridge, you know, in Lagos.
• 3:05
  But you got yourself a fashion designer.
• 3:07
  So no island, no problem. So somebody hits you up from
• 3:10
  Instagram. I've seen some of your stuff,
• 3:12
  blah, blah, blah. My sister's wedding is coming up
• 3:15
  two weeks. I want to sew.
• 3:19
  What's that thing called? I wanna sew peplum.
• 3:21
  By the way, I don't know peplums.
• 3:22
  I have fashion, but peplum is the only name of female garments
• 3:27
  that I know. OK, well, not the only name I
• 3:29
  know of peplum. I know of colour blocking and I
• 3:32
  know of jumpsuit and stuff like that.
• 3:35
  But let me just go with peplum because I remember that back
• 3:37
  when I was a wedding photographer, there was a time
• 3:39
  when peplum was raining as per, you know, mother of the bride
• 3:44
  who do peplum, bridesmaids who do peplum, Even the bride gone
• 3:48
  when she changes her own dress, she might do peplum too.
• 3:51
  So there was a time that peplum was raining.
• 3:53
  So you're a fashion designer or you're a tailor or whatever you
• 3:57
  are. Somebody hits you up on
• 3:58
  Instagram how far my sister is getting married.
• 4:01
  I want peplum. Can you design in two weeks?
• 4:03
  So the spin framework? SPIN would be asking questions
• 4:07
  about the situation. Of course, you've already
• 4:09
  figured out that it's about a wedding.
• 4:11
  So, for instance, if you're someone who's used to doing much
• 4:15
  more corporate type stuff from asking questions about the
• 4:17
  situation, you already know that this is probably not the kind of
• 4:20
  job you should be taking. Because you know that if it
• 4:23
  comes to making office suits for people who work in Zenith Bank
• 4:26
  or Access Bank, you can do a pretty good job.
• 4:28
  But if it's all these wedding things, fashionist of you know,
• 4:31
  not practical, you know, that has to deal with colors and
• 4:35
  curves and things like that. If it's not a simple thing like
• 4:38
  a simple structured garment like a suit, then you can't do it.
• 4:41
  Then you know that this is something you have to weave.
• 4:44
  Just leave it or refer to someone else so you can see how
• 4:47
  the questioning framework works. Situation, the situation,
• 4:54
  situation questions. Then the problem questions will
• 4:56
  be where you'll be getting into the nitty gritty.
• 5:01
  I think like you'll be asking questions, you know, you'll be
• 5:03
  just chatting with the bride and you'll be trying, sorry, not the
• 5:06
  bride is the sister of the bride in this case.
• 5:08
  So yeah, you'll be talking, you'll be trying to feel out
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  this person like who is she say jumpy, jumpy person.
• 5:14
  You see an all Humber person or she likes to party or she like
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  to groove, you know, things like that.
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  So that will give you a sense of the kind of peplum designs that
• 5:21
  you'll be playing with and you know, whether you're going to
• 5:24
  make allowance in the stomach or allowance in the BOM, BOM or
• 5:28
  allowance in the shoulders or, you know, whatever.
• 5:30
  I'm not a tailor, so I don't know how this works.
• 5:33
  So those are where the problem questions would be.
• 5:35
  Then the implication and the need payoff questions basically
• 5:38
  will be this whole thing of OK, how soon do you need this thing
• 5:41
  by sister's wedding? And so, so, so and so.
• 5:43
  So if I get it to you by this and this, would that be OK?
• 5:47
  And then you also ask, you know, she has a backup like what the
• 5:50
  other alternatives are. So this is something you need to
• 5:53
  know. If the sister has a backup
• 5:56
  garment that she has made and something something you know, it
• 5:58
  gives you a sense of whether this is a problem that she needs
• 6:01
  to solve, like whether she needs to get this peplum thing done.
• 6:04
  Maybe she has all that peplums that she can wear.
• 6:07
  Or if you are the plan A and there is no Plan B and it's
• 6:12
  absolutely it, you need to know as well.
• 6:14
  So this is an example of how this questioning framework
• 6:17
  works. Now, since it it is for complex
• 6:20
  hill scenarios, not for simple things like fashion design.
• 6:26
  The examples that I've given are not quite adequate, but at least
• 6:29
  it gives you a sense of how if you have a simple questioning
• 6:32
  framework, you can start having productive conversations with
• 6:35
  potential clients and you can quickly figure out this person
• 6:38
  that I'm talking to, is this thing a good fit?
• 6:41
  Should I lean in? I'll be actually just lean back
• 6:43
  and let this thing go, because if I take this job, you know,
• 6:46
  there'll be Walhalla on my hands and we'll be quarrelling back
• 6:49
  and forth. So that is the backdrop against
• 6:52
  which this whole thing of advancements came up by Neil
• 6:56
  Rackham. Oh, by the way, I'm not sure if
• 6:58
  Neil Rackham is the one who invented the concept.
• 7:01
  Excuse me, We invented the concept of advancements.
• 7:04
  But so excuse me, what was I? OK, So I'm not sure if he
• 7:11
  invented the concept, but The thing is it's something that all
• 7:14
  salespeople, all professional salespeople people have been
• 7:17
  doing it for a while is something that you know, in
• 7:19
  Italy. So that is the larger framework.
• 7:22
  Spin selling, if you can find the book PDF are available on
• 7:26
  the Internet. I'm not saying you should be a
• 7:28
  pirate, but I'm just saying that these things are available over
• 7:30
  there. And then there are also some
• 7:32
  YouTube recordings that people have read the sections of his
• 7:35
  book. So you can go and find out more
• 7:37
  about his ideas. And it's a good example about
• 7:39
  how you need a selling framework, something to guide
• 7:42
  the conversations that you're having with people.
• 7:44
  So that is the book Spin Selling by Neil Rackham, really old, 76
• 7:48
  or 8619761986, I can't remember. Definitely a book that is more
• 7:52
  than 40 years old, but you will get plenty of sales wisdom if
• 7:56
  you read that book. Now.
• 7:58
  This is the idea of advancements.
• 8:01
  This is where advancements comes in.
• 8:03
  Neorakam was trying to solve this problem, was trying to
• 8:05
  figure out that boys and girls who are correct salespeople, you
• 8:08
  know, people who are able to sell very well, What are the
• 8:11
  things that they do that we should start emulating?
• 8:14
  And one of the things he figured out from his research was that
• 8:17
  people who are correct salespeople, professional
• 8:20
  salespeople, as in salespeople that we admire, are people who
• 8:23
  do not leave any interaction without an advancement.
• 8:27
  Now an advancement just means what is the next clear step?
• 8:32
  And that next clear step is something that we have to agree
• 8:35
  to now that you're having a meeting with, now that you're at
• 8:40
  a meeting or now that you're on the conversation with the
• 8:42
  potential customer. So back to the fashion designer
• 8:45
  example, if the person hits you up on Instagram, how far, how
• 8:50
  much are you available, sister's wedding, blah, blah, blah.
• 8:53
  The next step would be when you're rounding up the, when
• 8:56
  you're rounding up the conversation, you need to know
• 8:58
  when you're ending that chat. Well, by the way, I prefer that
• 9:01
  you have a WhatsApp call with this lady and before you design
• 9:05
  the dress, cause anyway, that's just Misha have a WhatsApp
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  conversation. Because when you're having a
• 9:11
  phone conversation, you're going to be able to get non verbal
• 9:13
  cues. You're going to be able to pick
• 9:14
  up things about personality, sense of style, you know, ease
• 9:19
  of doing business. Is this person going to be easy
• 9:21
  to work with? You know, things like that.
• 9:23
  So while you're having the WhatsApp conversation, before
• 9:24
  you end the WhatsApp phone conversation, both of you need
• 9:29
  to figure out that OK, we finished chatting for 35
• 9:31
  minutes. We're friends who are good.
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  It looks like we can blend. It looks like we can jive.
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  You need to end that phone call now figure out what the next
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  step is, because if you don't figure out what the next step is
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  and if you don't propose the next step, what the lady will
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  say is, oh, I really enjoyed your company, blah, blah, blah.
• 9:48
  Can see that we're going to be work well together.
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  You know, this is dot dot dot dot dot.
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  Let me think about it. Let me let me call you, let me
• 9:56
  call you back, that kind of thing.
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  Now when you end with that whole or I like you, I think we're
• 10:01
  going to do well together, but let me call you back or let me
• 10:03
  discuss with my husband or give me one week to think about it.
• 10:07
  That is not the best place to be when you're trying to close the
• 10:10
  sale. You haven't agreed with what the
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  next step is supposed to be. And it's part of the reason why
• 10:16
  a whole bunch of you, when you're doing follow up calls,
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  although I prefer to call them follow through calls when you're
• 10:22
  doing those sorts of calls is the reason why.
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  Like you're nervous because you didn't agree with the person
• 10:27
  before what the next step is supposed to be.
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  And that's the reason why you spoke to them last week.
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  You know you should be calling them this week, but you're not
• 10:37
  really sure. Why am I supposed to be calling
• 10:39
  this person and then calling the person to say, oh, I just call
• 10:42
  to greet. I just say make, I greet you.
• 10:44
  Or I just wanted to say how far like as you know, I say make, I
• 10:49
  greet you and how far that those are not valuable phone
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  conversations to have. And most people rather not
• 10:54
  entertain those sorts of things. Our potential customers are busy
• 10:57
  and they have other things to do in the day than responding to
• 11:00
  your phone calls or your WhatsApp messages where you just
• 11:03
  say hi and then you send and you think that's follow up.
• 11:07
  I mean, like, what am I supposed to do with that?
• 11:08
  Really? If I'm on the other end and I'm
• 11:10
  the potential customer, you just send me a message.
• 11:12
  Hi. Yeah, I will high back and I
• 11:15
  won't say anything or I'll just ignore.
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  And then you, you're now stuck and you'll be thinking that
• 11:21
  you've been following up with someone.
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  The reason why we're ending up with this cat and mouse game
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  chasing back and forth. Or am I disturbing them?
• 11:29
  I'm not disturbing them. Am I too forward?
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  I might do this is because you do not excuse me.
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  It's because you haven't agreed, you haven't gotten an
• 11:37
  advancement, that is you haven't agreed on the next step.
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  And that next step has to be achieved at this current
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  meeting, this current phone call, this current whatever that
• 11:46
  you are having with the potential customer.
• 11:49
  So if you understand what it is that I'm trying to say, then
• 11:53
  it's obvious that if you don't have what a next clear step is,
• 11:57
  then the deal is going to stall for any number of reasons.
• 12:00
  And you're going to hear someone say, let me get back to you.
• 12:02
  You're going to hear the lady say, let me think about it.
• 12:05
  You want to hear the lady say, let me discuss to my husband or
• 12:08
  you're going to hear the person say, I'll call you when I'm
• 12:10
  ready. Now for those of you who've been
• 12:11
  doing business in Nigeria for any length of time, we know that
• 12:14
  it's the typical things that we hear.
• 12:15
  The fact that I'll call you when I'm ready.
• 12:18
  For the folks that I've been working with right now in the
• 12:22
  alternative energy space, there is one salesperson in particular
• 12:25
  who that's where the conversation hangs.
• 12:27
  The person will say, I'll call you when I'm ready.
• 12:30
  And unfortunately, the salesperson thinks that that is
• 12:34
  a good advancement. I'll call you when I'm ready is
• 12:37
  no advancement. At the very least, the person
• 12:39
  says, I'll call you when I'm ready.
• 12:42
  Anyway, let me move on from that.
• 12:45
  We'll we'll let's move to the case studies and then we'll see
• 12:48
  how we're going to solve that kind of problem.
• 12:50
  But you know what, let me just preempt it.
• 12:51
  So if somebody says I'll call you when I'm ready, you know, at
• 12:55
  the very least you say, oh, sure, no problem.
• 12:56
  Yeah, take your time. Think about it.
• 12:58
  Most of my customers usually take like one week.
• 13:00
  You think about it? Would one week be OK?
• 13:02
  And then keep quiet and then you listen if the person says, yeah,
• 13:05
  sure, one case, one week is OK to consider the proposal.
• 13:09
  Now in this case, what you have is a soft advancement.
• 13:11
  A hard advancement is when both of you agree that OK, the next
• 13:15
  step is on Monday the 12th of August.
• 13:17
  That will come to your office at 2:00 PM where we're going to
• 13:20
  look over site design. That is a hard advancement
• 13:25
  because you have agreed something that can go down in
• 13:28
  the calendar. Very, very, very concretely.
• 13:33
  So whether you get a hard advancement, some people favor
• 13:36
  hard advancements all the time, but I'm just trying to be
• 13:40
  realistic here. It's not every single time
• 13:42
  you're going to get a hard advancement with anybody.
• 13:43
  So for me, I think soft advancements are enough.
• 13:46
  The person says, yeah, one week should be enough for me to
• 13:48
  consider the proposal. Fine, no problem.
• 13:50
  You can try and narrow it down. I say, OK, yeah, one week.
• 13:53
  Cool. So does that mean I can call you
• 13:54
  back by by Thursday, 10:00 AM. This is all Thursday 10:00 AM.
• 14:00
  Yeah, I should be back in Abuja by then.
• 14:02
  Yeah, sure. Thursday, 10:00 AM.
• 14:03
  Try it. Let's see.
• 14:05
  Now in this case, you have a soft advancement.
• 14:07
  When Thursday comes around, you can confidently pick up the
• 14:10
  phone and call this person because she is the person who
• 14:13
  told you I might be back in Abuja by Thursday 10.
• 14:16
  So buzz me and we'll give you confidence in your follow up.
• 14:20
  Although I prefer to say follow through, but that's the subject
• 14:23
  for another podcast episode. So now let's look at a couple of
• 14:27
  case studies to show how a lot of people are not getting
• 14:31
  advancements in their sales conversations and in their
• 14:33
  business conversations and how this thing is causing serious
• 14:36
  biggie. As in it's not allowing you to
• 14:38
  collect your money, it's not allowing you to pay school fees.
• 14:41
  You know, kids are back in school tomorrow.
• 14:43
  So a whole bunch of us who are feeling the pinch right now.
• 14:47
  So for a bunch of this is the reason why around this time of
• 14:50
  year depression comes. It's because you'll not be
• 14:53
  getting advancement in your sales or business conversations.
• 14:56
  And then it's time to pay school fees next week.
• 14:58
  But if you've not been getting advancement with sales and
• 15:01
  business conversations, you don't have any idea of whether
• 15:04
  you can close this deal or realistically when the person is
• 15:07
  going to drop money or you know, stuff like that.
• 15:09
  So this is really, really, really important.
• 15:11
  This one is not theory. I'm talking now.
• 15:13
  So yes, the fellow that wrote this book is, you know,
• 15:17
  professor, doctor, blah, blah, blah.
• 15:19
  All that is sounds theoretical, but this is life.
• 15:21
  This is practical, practical stuff, real life implications
• 15:24
  for you and me in moving our businesses forward.
• 15:27
  So the case study is going to be photography and video.
• 15:31
  In fact, that's the reason why I'm making this podcast myself
• 15:34
  because there's one of my classmates who is going to be
• 15:36
  inducted as a son that's a senior advocate of Nigeria.
• 15:40
  Now for those of you who are not Nigerian, the senior advocates
• 15:43
  of the senior, yeah, the Sun title, Senior advocate of
• 15:47
  Nigeria is, is an award for, how I put it.
• 15:54
  It's like a prestigious award for just to say that people have
• 15:58
  reached the pinnacle of their profession when it comes to
• 16:01
  advocacy as people who show up before the courts.
• 16:03
  So you're supposed to, that's basically the for the legal
• 16:07
  professional. Now, what's it called?
• 16:09
  There's a legal professional privileges committee or
• 16:12
  something. They're the ones that award the
• 16:15
  title. So if you are awarded the title
• 16:17
  of SAN, it just means like, you know, you're a correct guy,
• 16:20
  you're a correct babe, like you're top dog, you're really
• 16:24
  good at handling cases in court and things like that.
• 16:27
  So it's something that people pursue.
• 16:28
  They use it as a, as a way to distinguish themselves in the
• 16:32
  profession because we have millions and millions and
• 16:35
  millions of lawyers in Nigeria. You know, hundreds of thousands
• 16:38
  graduate every single year. So, you know, the number of
• 16:42
  lawyers just keeps going up and up.
• 16:44
  But not everybody gets the coveted title of SAN, which is
• 16:47
  senior advocate of Nigeria. So one of my classmates is going
• 16:51
  to be inducted into the prestigious club as a, as a SAN,
• 16:57
  as a senior advocate. So of course I've been talking
• 17:01
  to this person. And so the person wanted
• 17:05
  recommendations for photographers and videographers.
• 17:08
  And I was like, yeah, sure. No, Hala.
• 17:09
  I, I don't do that anymore. But I know a bunch of people who
• 17:12
  are, you know, correct, correct guys.
• 17:14
  And one baby in particular who is really, really solid when it
• 17:17
  comes to photography. So let me just send you their
• 17:20
  phone numbers and just let them know you're from me and you
• 17:25
  know, they'll take care of you. So that's how we ended the
• 17:27
  conversation. So now I called up my people.
• 17:30
  So I called up this babe on. Hey, babe, what's up?
• 17:32
  Now you did. Are you free for So, so, so and
• 17:34
  so did she say? Yeah, I said, OK, my guy is
• 17:36
  doing this thing. He's going to be inducted.
• 17:38
  He's going to be signed, blah, blah, blah.
• 17:40
  And so I put your name down so that you can handle it.
• 17:43
  And she's like, oh, cool, thanks.
• 17:45
  And I spoke to my other guy, too.
• 17:47
  Excuse me. So I spoke to my guy.
• 17:49
  I'm like, hey, what's up? You know that, my friend.
• 17:52
  Now, you know that last job that I sent to you?
• 17:55
  Yeah. The thing has the thing has
• 17:56
  clicked. Then I'm making him sound, so
• 18:00
  are you free for social? And so did I've spoken to him
• 18:03
  and yeah, so they'll be in touch soon.
• 18:06
  So anyway, the senior advocate to be, he says, OK, my wife is
• 18:10
  in charge of all these things, so just send everything to
• 18:12
  wifey. So I said no problem.
• 18:15
  So I call up wifey. So OK, this is what my husband
• 18:17
  discussed. I'm sending you a bunch of phone
• 18:19
  numbers. And so I sent it.
• 18:21
  Then she reached out to them and apparently the way the
• 18:24
  conversation went was wifey just said OK, give me a quote and
• 18:29
  I'll get back to you. So that's how the thing went.
• 18:31
  So basically that's how it went. So video guy and Oola, he asked
• 18:36
  a bunch of questions, drop a quote and then sent and guess
• 18:39
  what? The lady went ghost.
• 18:42
  The lady didn't say anything. The lady is not she didn't say
• 18:45
  any message. She's not responding to
• 18:46
  messages. Same thing on the photography
• 18:50
  end. So the wife of the son, son to
• 18:54
  be calls up my female photographer.
• 18:57
  They have a conversation, she sends a quote and then same
• 18:59
  thing. She goes ghosts.
• 19:01
  She didn't say anything. She's not responding to them.
• 19:04
  And then both these people, the photographer and the
• 19:06
  videographer, you know, they hit me up independently saying, boy
• 19:10
  Alfano, like this thing that you told us, like I sent in a quote
• 19:15
  and nothing happened. Now, since these are my people
• 19:19
  and they know me from a photography background, I don't
• 19:23
  really go into details like this when we're talking about sales
• 19:25
  and business development because, well, anyway, maybe I
• 19:29
  should, maybe I should be talking to my crew on this
• 19:32
  level. But anyway, let's just say I
• 19:36
  have a previous photography life and my current life now as a
• 19:40
  sales coach and a business development consultant.
• 19:42
  And it's like I'm, I'm trying to get rid of the photography life
• 19:45
  and then pay attention to this. So sometimes, you know, my old
• 19:50
  life and my new life don't mix. So that's some of my photography
• 19:54
  people who don't they know that I don't don't do photography
• 19:57
  anymore, but they don't know exactly what it is that I'm
• 19:59
  doing right now. So anyway, summary is when they
• 20:06
  spoke to the wife of the sun, they didn't get any advancement.
• 20:11
  And when you don't get any advancement when you're having a
• 20:13
  conversation with a potential customer, this is what happens.
• 20:15
  They go ghost or they say let me get back to you or I'll call you
• 20:18
  when I'm ready and they don't respond to your respond to your
• 20:21
  message. So this is just a normal
• 20:23
  consequence of having no advancement if when you have the
• 20:27
  person on the phone or when you go to the person's office or
• 20:30
  when the person comes to your office or to your studio or you
• 20:33
  people meet at Hilton or whatever, or you guys meet in
• 20:36
  the public garden. If you don't leave that meeting
• 20:39
  with a clear sense of what the next step is you to be honest, I
• 20:45
  mean like your next, your next, the next thing you're going to
• 20:50
  do to follow up the next action you're going to take.
• 20:52
  If it's unclear, the chances are that you're that you're going to
• 20:55
  do something or do something effectively are really, really
• 20:57
  slim. So the solution is the solution
• 21:05
  is very, very simple. Well, in this case, because me
• 21:08
  and the son were classmates is not a problem.
• 21:11
  So I told him, OK, don't worry, just give me one week.
• 21:14
  I'll boss the guy, I'll boss his wife and I.
• 21:15
  So how far now, like my people say, you haven't responded and
• 21:20
  that's how we're going to rescue the whole thing.
• 21:22
  But remember, it's not always, or rather bear in mind that it's
• 21:26
  not always that you're going to be in this situation where you
• 21:28
  will have someone who can rescue the deal on your behalf.
• 21:31
  So in the future, especially since we don't always have
• 21:36
  someone who can rescue the deal, what should we do in this kind
• 21:39
  of situation? Photography video.
• 21:43
  Madam said give me a quote, you send the quote, next thing she
• 21:47
  hasn't heard ghost mode, she's non responsive, she's
• 21:50
  incommunicado. What should we do or rather what
• 21:53
  should we have done? First is when you gave the
• 21:57
  quote, you should have tried to get feedback on the quote.
• 22:01
  So if you gave the quote and she says, oh, thank you very much,
• 22:06
  I've received it. I said, OK, Madam, I just wanted
• 22:09
  to walk you through a couple of things.
• 22:11
  Option A, Option B, option C, and clearly you've seen the
• 22:14
  price range. So for all these packages right
• 22:16
  now, which one catches your fancy or which one is closer to
• 22:20
  what you have in mind? And you now start talking
• 22:23
  specifically about specific things in the proposal.
• 22:26
  You can see that you're beginning to now narrow things
• 22:30
  down and you'll be able to get to the point of she likes
• 22:34
  package B, but package B is too expensive, so she wants to
• 22:38
  negotiate. If at that point you say, OK, no
• 22:42
  problem, everything is negotiable, but we've already
• 22:45
  been talking for like 10 minutes, so can I come to the
• 22:50
  office next week Wednesday so that we can talk properly about
• 22:53
  this thing? And she says, oh, yeah, sure, no
• 22:54
  problem. Next week Wednesday is fine.
• 22:57
  You can see how now that by asking for feedback on the
• 23:01
  quote, you're going to be able to pull an advancement out of
• 23:03
  it. So you now know that yes, she
• 23:06
  has seen the quote, you guys have had a soft prelim
• 23:09
  conversation, but that you have agreed that Wednesday morning,
• 23:12
  10:00 AM, you should show up in the office so that you guys will
• 23:14
  talk some more. In fact, that's what I recommend
• 23:16
  anyway. If you sit down in the office
• 23:18
  and you know you have a conversation, you're there, you
• 23:21
  can see how you read body language and blah, blah, blah.
• 23:23
  And it depends on the size of the deal because it's not
• 23:27
  everybody now you should be going to their house or going to
• 23:29
  their office because you end up spending a lot of money.
• 23:32
  So some conversations over the phone.
• 23:34
  But if it's a big enough deal, then you're sure the more
• 23:37
  personal you can make some of these things, the better.
• 23:40
  So that is one way that they could have gotten an
• 23:43
  advancement. You sent the quote while you are
• 23:47
  on the phone with the woman. You know, get some feedback on
• 23:52
  the quote and then tease an advancement out of that.
• 23:55
  Now, for some people, they think they're not creative.
• 23:59
  OK, no problem. If you say you're not creative
• 24:01
  and you don't know how to think on the fly, then this is one
• 24:03
  thing that anybody can use. When you're not sure what the
• 24:06
  next step should be, just ask the person what would you like
• 24:09
  to do next and then keep quiet. So you send proposal to Madame.
• 24:13
  Madame says, oh, thank you very much, I received the proposal.
• 24:15
  I saw it in the WhatsApp message.
• 24:17
  OK, Ma, So now that you've seen the proposal, what would you
• 24:19
  like to do next? Keep quiet and then hear what
• 24:22
  Madame has to say. That is not a bad way of trying
• 24:26
  to get advancements, although it's not foolproof because
• 24:30
  Madame can say, you know what, let me think about it and I'll
• 24:33
  get back to you. So in that case, yeah, you're
• 24:36
  just leaning OK. Yes.
• 24:39
  Yes, ma'am. Of course, before you end up
• 24:41
  spending 500 Ki, understand you have to think about this thing.
• 24:44
  No problem. But my usual clients typically
• 24:47
  take about a week to consider proposals before they get back
• 24:49
  to me. Would a week be OK?
• 24:51
  Oh, yes. A week should be fine.
• 24:52
  OK, ma'am. So can I call you by Monday 9?
• 24:56
  Monday 9, I think I'm having something in my children's
• 25:00
  school, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 25:01
  OK, just try Monday night. So, OK, no problem.
• 25:03
  I'll try Monday at 9:00. If I don't get you, I'll hit you
• 25:06
  up again at noon. OK, no problem.
• 25:08
  Bye bye. So you can see soft advancement
• 25:11
  then. This is another one that I used
• 25:13
  to use, well, not me actually, but one of my video guys back
• 25:17
  then, Chagon, that we used to do lots of work together.
• 25:20
  This is something that he used to use and I think he's really,
• 25:22
  really effective. After the proposal, this is what
• 25:25
  Chagon will say. Chagon will say, OK, cool, cool,
• 25:27
  cool. So to get a crew ready for
• 25:32
  December 1st, I need a deposit of 50% by so, so, so and so date
• 25:39
  so that I can mobilize. Is this something that you're
• 25:43
  ready to do? And then he will keep quiet.
• 25:45
  This is also a way of getting an advancement.
• 25:47
  They've looked at proposal. We've read body language.
• 25:50
  You're not sure if they're here nor there.
• 25:53
  Well, clearly they haven't run away.
• 25:55
  Well, this is one way to preempt the conversation.
• 25:57
  We say OK, to get the crew ready for so, so, so and so.
• 26:00
  Did I need to mobilize 2 weeks before to mobilize properly, I
• 26:04
  need a deposit. The deposit has to be 50%,
• 26:07
  eighty percent, 30%, you know, whatever it is.
• 26:10
  So this is something we can make happen by the by.
• 26:13
  So, so, so and so did and he will be specific about it.
• 26:16
  That is a way of getting advancement.
• 26:18
  So when you're having conversations this way, you're
• 26:21
  now going to avoid that situation where you've given a
• 26:23
  quote to Madame, and then Madame says, I'll call you when I'm
• 26:28
  ready. In this case, even though you
• 26:31
  have Oga's phone number, when you call Oga, what are you going
• 26:32
  to say exactly? Oga has passed you through to
• 26:35
  Madame. You've been in touch with
• 26:36
  Madame. Madame is ghosting you.
• 26:38
  So, like, what are you going to do?
• 26:41
  Anyway? I hope you guys are beginning to
• 26:43
  get a sense of why advancements are really, really essential in
• 26:48
  sales and business conversations and advancement is just what is
• 26:51
  the next step. And then we have to agree to the
• 26:54
  next step. When I say we, I mean you and
• 26:57
  this potential customer you're talking to, you guys have to
• 26:59
  agree on the advancement at this current conversation that you're
• 27:03
  having. I agree whether is a hard one
• 27:05
  like Monday 10:00 AM, I'm coming to your office and we will
• 27:09
  review XYZ part of the proposal. That one is very, very hard
• 27:13
  because you can put it on your calendar.
• 27:15
  She can tell her PA to make a note in office diary.
• 27:21
  So the hard, the harder the better.
• 27:23
  Well, if you can't get a hard advancement, but you get a soft
• 27:25
  one, like, oh, I should be in Abuja in about a week's time and
• 27:30
  I'll be around for maybe two or three days before I travel again
• 27:33
  and say, oh, OK, man. So that sounds like you should
• 27:34
  be back in town between September 10th and September
• 27:37
  13th. Yeah, that sounds about right.
• 27:39
  OK. But so if I call you any of
• 27:40
  those three days, is it fine? Yeah, sure, no problem.
• 27:43
  You can call me. OK cool.
• 27:44
  In this case, that is not a hard advancement because it's kind of
• 27:48
  somehow September 10th to September 13th.
• 27:50
  It's kind of broad, but still, it's better than nothing.
• 27:54
  These are the things that you can do that are going to help
• 27:57
  you to get out of this hole. Let me get back to you.
• 28:00
  Let me think about it. Let me call my husband, let me
• 28:04
  discuss with my sister. I'll call you when I'm ready,
• 28:06
  you know, blah, blah, blah. So advancements are absolutely
• 28:09
  essential in the sales process and we should be trying to
• 28:12
  figure out how we can get advancements in every single
• 28:16
  step of the conversation. If you'd like to learn more
• 28:20
  about this, the podcast is now available on YouTube.
• 28:23
  All you have to do is search my name and put advancement there
• 28:27
  and you will see every single episode that I've made about
• 28:30
  advancement so far. We have over 925 episodes of the
• 28:34
  podcast available on YouTube, so just go and search.
• 28:38
  You will see it. Listen with the pencil and the
• 28:42
  paper. Write down things that sound
• 28:44
  doable that you can do when you're done.
• 28:47
  Use YouTube the same way and look for other videos on how to
• 28:52
  secure advancements in sales conversations and listen to
• 28:55
  other people as well. See what other perspectives are
• 28:57
  out there. Don't just follow what it is
• 29:00
  that I've said here. Who else is out there, whether
• 29:02
  Nigerian sales trainers or foreign here, what else is out
• 29:07
  there? You'll be better off for it.
• 29:09
  Apply one or two things. So like I say, if you hit me up
• 29:13
  and you want to work with me, yeah sure, I'll take your money.
• 29:15
  I mean, I need it, I'd love to have it, but really there's lots
• 29:19
  of free resources that you can use for now.
• 29:23
  So that's it for today. And I hope I've been able to
• 29:26
  convince you guys and not confuse you on why advancements
• 29:30
  are really, really, really important in moving the business
• 29:35
  deal forward to the close and also to avoid ghosting.
• 29:39
  So thanks for your time and attention.
• 29:41
  I'll catch you guys at the next episode.
• 29:43
  My phone number is 08064662140. Country code is +234.
• 29:49
  That's for those of you who want to connect with me on WhatsApp
• 29:52
  for tips, questions, or insights.
• 29:54
  Then for LinkedIn, the name is Tava Shima Ayede.
• 29:57
  You can confirm it from the link.
• 29:59
  We're listening to this episode. If you're on YouTube, just check
• 30:01
  bottom left. You see the title of the of the
• 30:05
  video and then my name is up above.
• 30:07
  So the name is what you should just copy and paste into
• 30:10
  LinkedIn. And then you see my handsome
• 30:13
  face pop up on LinkedIn. You follow me there and you can
• 30:16
  engage with me there as well. So I'll catch you guys at the
• 30:19
  next episode.