Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Building Trust from Scratch: How to Handle "Bad Past Experiences" and Close Deals

Transcript

Building Trust from Scratch: How to Handle "Bad Past Experiences" and Close Deals · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Today has been a long day
• 0:06
  because I spend a lot of time hanging out with my colleagues
• 0:09
  from the APVAI think that's the is it association of
• 0:15
  professional voice actors or is it podcasters and voice actors
• 0:20
  or something like that? Well anyway, they're the APVA.
• 0:22
  If you're curious because you're thinking of starting a podcast,
• 0:26
  then use those initials search on Instagram or, you know,
• 0:32
  search for the website. You know it should come up and
• 0:34
  it might be a useful, handy resource in case you're looking
• 0:39
  for community of podcasters. And yeah, if you're trying to
• 0:44
  get into the industry, you know, to be a voice actor or to be a
• 0:46
  podcaster and you're looking for an easy way in, then apart from
• 0:49
  the podcast episodes that I've made where I talk about those
• 0:52
  sorts of things, there might be a good resource to have a look
• 0:56
  at as well. So my hanging out with them
• 1:00
  today was mostly was a social thing.
• 1:04
  But if we ever do business related things in the future,
• 1:07
  then I'll hop on here real quick, let you guys know so that
• 1:11
  you can share some of the business goodness that we've
• 1:15
  been up to. So yeah, that's why I spent both
• 1:17
  of my day doing so. Today is a late night recording
• 1:24
  just in case I sound a little slow, a little foggy.
• 1:27
  That's the reason why it was a long day came back home and you
• 1:30
  know the usual kids homework just so that we can head into
• 1:36
  Sunday relaxed and free and so that Monday we can head into
• 1:40
  school without any hassles. So OK the the what we had been
• 1:47
  on was dealing with business objections.
• 1:50
  Yes. And of course objection is
• 1:52
  anything that any reason that people give you for not wanting
• 1:56
  to go ahead with the sale or not wanting to go ahead with the
• 1:59
  relationship or not wanting to go ahead with the agenda.
• 2:02
  And of course I'm talking about primarily a business context,
• 2:05
  but like I've said the same also apply to those of you who are in
• 2:10
  the work context or a career context because it works as
• 2:13
  well. So I think from the last episode
• 2:16
  what did we do? I think that's where we handled
• 2:23
  when people say I need more time to think about it, I think
• 2:27
  that's what we did the last time.
• 2:28
  I need more time to think about it.
• 2:30
  These are things that also come up in a work environment in the
• 2:33
  corporate context, you know, where your head of department
• 2:36
  says I need to think more, need to think some more about it, and
• 2:40
  some of the reasons why that can happen.
• 2:43
  We explored some of those in yesterday's episode about how
• 2:47
  there might be genuine misunderstanding about what it
• 2:50
  is that you're proposing. Might be some misinformation,
• 2:54
  you know, things like that. And I give a couple of
• 2:56
  suggestions about how you can work through these sorts of
• 2:59
  issues. So this is your first time
• 3:01
  listening to the podcast, and you want to know how to get
• 3:04
  around situations where people say I need more time to think
• 3:06
  about it, whether in the business context or in the
• 3:09
  corporate context. Then listen to yesterday's
• 3:11
  episode, Although I was focusing primarily on sales and business,
• 3:16
  but you can take and apply the principles in the work
• 3:20
  environment as well. So today we're going to look at
• 3:25
  a, we're going to look at an objection that my brothers and
• 3:31
  sisters who also started off in the wedding or the event space,
• 3:36
  this is something that we used to get all the time.
• 3:39
  Now, for those of you in other business fairs, maybe you're an
• 3:42
  architect, you're a business consultant, or you sell catfish.
• 3:47
  Oh, let's see what else? You're a fashion entrepreneur.
• 3:50
  I don't know if you guys get these objections that much, but
• 3:53
  in the wedding space, especially photographers, event planners,
• 3:56
  yeah, we used to get this a lot. And that is when someone says we
• 3:59
  have had bad experiences in the past.
• 4:03
  Now, the person that you're having a conversation with is
• 4:06
  most likely not going to be that eloquent or that forthright to
• 4:09
  say we have had bad experiences in the past.
• 4:12
  So in the wedding photography space, this was, these were the
• 4:16
  kinds of variations that we would get.
• 4:19
  You'd be talking to someone, the conversation would seem to be
• 4:22
  going OK, and then the lady would now say, ah, well, you
• 4:26
  know what, At my sister's wedding, her wedding
• 4:29
  photographer. Then this happened.
• 4:31
  Then that happened. Then that happened.
• 4:33
  And you know, they don't come out and say it, but the
• 4:35
  implications are clear. You talk a good game, looks like
• 4:39
  you can do what you say you're going to do.
• 4:41
  I like the album, but at my sister's wedding, the guy also
• 4:45
  looked like he knew what he was saying.
• 4:47
  I know what not. But then this happened and then
• 4:49
  that happened and then that happened.
• 4:51
  So those are the kind of ways that it will come off in wedding
• 4:55
  photography. And I know a an event planner
• 5:00
  and I think everything seemed to be going smooth.
• 5:03
  And then the person said, well, at my grandmother's burial, you
• 5:06
  know, the wedding planner this, the event planner this, the
• 5:09
  party planner this, and then this happened and then this
• 5:11
  happened and then that happened. So people might not be that
• 5:16
  forthright or eloquent or come out and say I've had bad
• 5:19
  experiences in the past. That's the reason why I don't
• 5:21
  trust you. That's the reason why I don't
• 5:23
  want to go with you. But it is an an objection that
• 5:27
  exists nonetheless. Some of you might have heard
• 5:29
  about it, but if you haven't, I'm sure these examples that
• 5:32
  I've given from the wedding and the event space, you guys should
• 5:36
  be able to relate where the person starts talking about.
• 5:40
  Yeah, this happened, that happened to me, that happened to
• 5:44
  my friend, that happened to my sister, and that happened to my
• 5:46
  brother, that happened to my blah, blah, blah blah, blah.
• 5:49
  So these kind of situations arise where there have been
• 5:54
  previous vendor issues. Now, I know that in the past I
• 5:58
  have said let's not call ourselves vendors for particular
• 6:01
  reasons, and if you're interested in knowing why, I say
• 6:04
  we shouldn't call ourselves vendors no matter what
• 6:06
  professional it is that we're involved in, Whether we sell
• 6:08
  solar panels or we do wedding photography or we sell catfish.
• 6:15
  If you want to know what my opinions are on that, then
• 6:17
  search within your podcast app. And no, there's this other
• 6:23
  service. What's it called?
• 6:27
  I can't remember anyway, but if you can find the website,
• 6:30
  there's a podcast aggregator. Search within my own podcast.
• 6:35
  The podcast episodes just put vendor over there.
• 6:37
  The episode will come up and then you can listen to it.
• 6:40
  But. So even though I've said let's
• 6:41
  not call ourselves vendors before, permit me to just use
• 6:45
  that term for lack of a better term now.
• 6:48
  So there might be situations where people have had previous
• 6:51
  vendor issues. Sometimes there's issues around
• 6:54
  customer service. Sometimes there's issues around
• 6:57
  product failure, service failures.
• 6:59
  Sometimes there's issues around unmet expectations.
• 7:03
  They thought you said you were going to do this, though,
• 7:05
  expecting you to do this, but you didn't end up doing that.
• 7:08
  So these are the sorts of ways where these things can come
• 7:11
  about. Sometimes it's not really your
• 7:15
  fault because there's some internal dissatisfaction on the
• 7:19
  part of the customer, maybe because you implemented
• 7:22
  something poorly. OK, well, in that case it would
• 7:25
  be your fault. But what I'm just trying to say
• 7:27
  is sometimes you're kind of missing the plot, but they're
• 7:32
  not saying anything. So at the end of the day, you
• 7:35
  don't even have the chance to try and redress and to make
• 7:38
  things right. So these things happen, Vendor
• 7:40
  issues on your end, internal dissatisfactions on their own
• 7:43
  end, on the customers end, and they don't say anything and
• 7:46
  sometimes is because there might have been unrealistic
• 7:49
  expectations that might have been set by the vendor or by
• 7:52
  other people as part of their own sales team.
• 7:55
  And this happens in situations where the sales and marketing
• 7:58
  function is separate from the fulfillment function or the
• 8:03
  technical function. So if you're one of those
• 8:05
  businesses where, let's go back to the wedding example, all you
• 8:09
  do is you grab the camera and you shoot, but then your sister
• 8:13
  or your wife or your brother handles the sales, there are
• 8:16
  times when your brother or your sister will say, ah, that's not
• 8:19
  a problem, my guy can do this, He's the man.
• 8:22
  He's the best for the job. And then you book the gig, but
• 8:26
  then they don't pass along those expectations to you.
• 8:29
  So on the day of shooting and when it comes to fulfillment,
• 8:33
  you're not able to meet all those expectations.
• 8:36
  So this is where some of these breakdowns can occur.
• 8:39
  And I'm currently working with a company that are in the
• 8:43
  alternative energy space where there might have been situations
• 8:47
  I haven't quite clarified, but it's looking like there might
• 8:49
  have been situations where these sorts of things happen.
• 8:51
  Sales and marketing people say this can be done, but then the
• 8:55
  technique technical people show up on site, they've not been
• 8:58
  told or the things that the sales people told the final
• 9:03
  customer are kind of inaccurate. And you know it leads to some
• 9:07
  complications along the way. So this happens because there's
• 9:11
  a communication breakdown or ineffective communication
• 9:14
  between the sales and marketing people and the fulfilment people
• 9:19
  or the technical people where it's separated.
• 9:21
  And that leads to frustration on the part of the customer and
• 9:28
  also on the part of the people who have to deliver the service.
• 9:31
  So these are the reasons why you're talking.
• 9:34
  Everything looks like it's going OK and then they start giving
• 9:37
  you the story of, well, my neighbor down the street and
• 9:41
  yeah, he goes to La Panos and they said it was Dubai grade,
• 9:46
  blah blah blah. About two weeks ago his house
• 9:48
  burnt down, blah blah, blah. That whole conversation
• 9:51
  basically is just the customer saying I don't trust you because
• 9:55
  we've had bad experiences in the past or I've heard of bad
• 9:58
  experiences in the past. So these things can come up now.
• 10:03
  If you've been listening to the podcast for the last couple of
• 10:07
  episodes, it's not going to come as a surprise what I'm going to
• 10:09
  say to you right now because the principle, the formula, the
• 10:12
  framework is still the same. First off, you want to
• 10:16
  acknowledge, show some empathy because nobody feels like,
• 10:20
  nobody wants to feel like they're just, you know, talking
• 10:24
  out of their bum, bum. You know, I said they're just
• 10:26
  manufacturing things just for the sake of manufacturing.
• 10:29
  So acknowledge, empathize and validate their concerns.
• 10:34
  So like, oh wow, terribly sorry. So sad to hear that these things
• 10:41
  do happen. Unfortunately, blah blah blah.
• 10:44
  Just acknowledge. Let them know you don't think
• 10:47
  that they're talking total BS. Then a mistake that people make.
• 10:51
  They try to defend their industry.
• 10:52
  Do not try to defend your industry.
• 10:54
  Don't make it look like no wedding photographers are
• 10:57
  totally ethical. And this and this and that and
• 11:00
  that. Clearly something went wrong.
• 11:02
  You should not be making a judgment one way or another.
• 11:05
  Whether it was your brother, wedding photographer, sorry,
• 11:08
  your fellow colleague wedding photographer who was at fault or
• 11:12
  not, or if it's back to the solar place.
• 11:15
  You know you should be making a judgement one way or another who
• 11:17
  is at fault. So don't defend your industry.
• 11:22
  Rather, you should be asking clarifying questions should be
• 11:26
  trying to figure out what went wrong or what were you
• 11:29
  expecting. What did the other person say?
• 11:32
  How soon did you realize there was a problem?
• 11:34
  You know, all those sorts of things.
• 11:36
  And the reason why you're asking all these sorts of questions is
• 11:38
  because when you get all this background information, it is
• 11:42
  now that you're going to be able to make a play for what we call
• 11:45
  risk mitigation. Risk mitigation is just this.
• 11:49
  The customer thinks that doing business with you is a risky
• 11:52
  proposition, so you have to do a couple of things to calm them
• 11:56
  down. Sometimes coming down down means
• 11:59
  you show how your company is anticipating for these kinds of
• 12:02
  failures. It is only when you've asked all
• 12:05
  these questions you'll be able to tell the person, oh, OK,
• 12:07
  Madam, I understand. Yes, yeah, truly.
• 12:10
  It might have been Dubai grade batteries or by the way, I'm
• 12:14
  just making stuff up. I'm not in the alternative
• 12:16
  energy space. So yeah, it could have been this
• 12:19
  kind of battery, that kind of battery, this kind of
• 12:21
  installation and blah blah, blah.
• 12:23
  But sometimes because of poor building codes in Lagos and in
• 12:27
  Abuja, sometimes the house is wired like this.
• 12:30
  The house is wired like that. It can cause this problem, that
• 12:32
  problem. That is the reason why in our
• 12:35
  own company we not only install the solar panels, we also have
• 12:39
  this electrical panels that we fabricate, Sorry that we
• 12:43
  fabricate that 'cause you know that isolate systems and trip
• 12:47
  off in the case of in the case of faulty wiring and blah blah
• 12:51
  blah, this is a fail safe. It'll prevent the house from
• 12:54
  burning down and apart from that it will automatically flag.
• 12:59
  Our system will now be able to call you to say Madam, did this
• 13:02
  happen? Did this happen and we can start
• 13:03
  troubleshooting and solve the problem.
• 13:06
  The only way you can have this conversation is if you ask
• 13:08
  questions in the 1st place. Madam, what went wrong?
• 13:12
  OK what did your neighbor say? When did this thing start?
• 13:15
  What did they notice before this?
• 13:19
  Oh can I even come and have a look?
• 13:20
  Because sometimes you know, that may help.
• 13:23
  If your looks like this is a sweet deal.
• 13:25
  It was looking like it was going to close.
• 13:27
  Wanted lady started talking about her neighbor.
• 13:29
  It might be worth driving down to the estate, having a look at
• 13:32
  the neighbor's house, asking a few questions.
• 13:34
  These are ways of showing credibility and building trust.
• 13:39
  So it's by asking all these questions they can now move into
• 13:42
  risk mitigation. You can now tell the person
• 13:44
  that, oh OK, no problem. I understand how it happen like
• 13:48
  this. It happen like that.
• 13:49
  But for our own services, for the way we shoot our own
• 13:51
  weddings, this is the reason why we do it like this.
• 13:54
  We do it like this so that we can avoid this problem, XYZ
• 13:58
  problem, that problem, and we can deliver on this and we can
• 14:00
  deliver on this and deliver on that.
• 14:03
  So that is part of risk mitigation.
• 14:05
  You're trying to anticipate for these kinds of failures that
• 14:08
  this person has had bad experiences in the past or had
• 14:13
  heard of bad experiences in the past.
• 14:16
  Part of risk mitigation sometimes also involves giving
• 14:21
  guarantees or a trial or some money back guarantee or maybe a
• 14:27
  warranty or something like that. These are also parts of risk
• 14:30
  mitigation strategy. I'm not saying that this is what
• 14:33
  you should do. Quite frankly, I'm not a fan of
• 14:35
  these tools because a lot of people just quickly rush to this
• 14:40
  sort of thing and well, anyway, let me not poison your minds.
• 14:44
  But it's an option when it comes to risk mitigation.
• 14:47
  So just know that you can't move to risk mitigation.
• 14:51
  This is how we're covering from the risk.
• 14:52
  This is how we're different. You can't get to that unless you
• 14:55
  ask questions. OK, Then also it would help.
• 14:59
  You can provide case studies or references, some form of third
• 15:02
  party validation. That's exactly what is going on
• 15:05
  there. And remember, I've told you guys
• 15:07
  in the past that I don't say this is a project I did for Orga
• 15:16
  Chukudi. Here's Orga Chukudi's phone
• 15:17
  number. You call him, he can vouch for
• 15:19
  me. I don't go that far, but I tried
• 15:23
  to talk about similar projects that the person can relate to,
• 15:26
  you know, things like that. I'm just trying to put it out
• 15:28
  there that I've done something similar.
• 15:30
  We've worked on a on a similar situation.
• 15:33
  This is how we cater to this. This is how we cater to that.
• 15:36
  Just to leave open that idea for excuse me that possibility that
• 15:42
  you know if need be. I can't provide third party
• 15:45
  validation. I'm not a total jam bite.
• 15:48
  This is not the first time I've handled this sort of thing.
• 15:50
  Then it also helps where after you ask the questions and you
• 15:55
  try and show how you guys are different, try and set some
• 15:58
  realistic expectations. You need to be able to say what
• 16:02
  is possible and what is not possible.
• 16:04
  So back to the solar pal solar panel and inverter thing.
• 16:09
  You've spoken about the fabrication, how the circuit is
• 16:12
  going to protect the building and everything.
• 16:14
  You still need to let the Madam know that.
• 16:16
  OK, Madam, even with all these things put in place, still,
• 16:20
  these are some things that you need to do to make sure that
• 16:22
  there is no, you know that Yawa is not going to burst here and
• 16:25
  there. You need to make sure that you
• 16:27
  don't iron with the inverter. You need to make sure that you
• 16:30
  don't put water pump on the inverter.
• 16:35
  Like I said, this is not my space, so I'm just making stuff
• 16:38
  up. I'm assuming that sometimes
• 16:39
  maybe excessive load can be a problem.
• 16:41
  It's just my own guess. But whatever it is, those of you
• 16:44
  who are in the alternative energy space, you will know what
• 16:46
  are the do's and don'ts. So you need to have that
• 16:48
  conversation so that Madame Kundayo or Madame Garba or
• 16:57
  whoever you know she knows going in, these are realistic
• 17:00
  expectations. If you're doing this, you're
• 17:02
  pushing things too far. If you're doing this, you get
• 17:06
  optimum results. If you're doing this, something
• 17:09
  is going to break, so set realistic expectations.
• 17:13
  Now your tone in all of this should be respectful.
• 17:17
  Your tone should be concerned. Your tone should be curious.
• 17:22
  You shouldn't be pushy. It's not about trying to close
• 17:25
  the deal, by all means, and it shouldn't be about being
• 17:29
  aggressive. You're trying to build comfort
• 17:31
  or trying to build trust here, so be mindful of your tone,
• 17:37
  especially for guys like me. If you think you're like me, who
• 17:41
  can be a little bit more on the direct side.
• 17:44
  So watch your tone before you make things worse.
• 17:47
  And the goal of asking all these questions is we want to use this
• 17:52
  person's past experience. What have they experienced or
• 17:55
  what have they heard happen to their friends, to their
• 17:58
  neighbor, to their whoever? We're trying to use these
• 18:01
  experiences to differentiate ourselves because we're trying
• 18:07
  to build a long lasting relationship here.
• 18:09
  Because the goal is not to just sell solar panels to this lady.
• 18:13
  The goal is that you do such a correct job here that she even
• 18:17
  talks to the other neighbors. Like, OK, yes, what happened to
• 18:20
  Engineer Conley's home? It's unfortunate, but these
• 18:22
  people, they had the real deal. They handled my house.
• 18:26
  It's been six months. There's been no issues.
• 18:28
  If you want to do solar, let me, you know, talk to me.
• 18:31
  Let me call my guys. That is what we're looking for.
• 18:34
  So we're trying to build long lasting business relationships
• 18:38
  here. But I want to give a word of
• 18:41
  caution because there are sometimes that we have all these
• 18:43
  conversations, but then we have a nagging feeling at the back of
• 18:48
  our minds. And I'm talking about the
• 18:50
  business provider here. You have a nagging feeling and I
• 18:53
  think This is why there are some businesses like wedding
• 18:56
  photography that are different from, you know, solar panels,
• 19:02
  inverters, those kind of thing. When it comes to wedding
• 19:04
  photography, there are some artistic considerations that go
• 19:08
  in there. Now when it comes to solar
• 19:12
  panels and blah, blah, blah and things like that, there are lots
• 19:14
  of technical considerations that go there.
• 19:18
  Now when it comes to technical specifications, it is easier to
• 19:21
  satisfy. If you say you're going to hook
• 19:23
  up the system, it's going to provide, how do you measure
• 19:27
  electricity now? Is it amps or whatever?
• 19:29
  It's going to provide 80 amps of power consistently for 40 weeks.
• 19:35
  Sorry, 40 hours in a week. If there's no Napa, You know,
• 19:40
  that's a technical specification.
• 19:42
  At the end of the day, your sister might have provided 40
• 19:46
  hours of power during the week, or it didn't.
• 19:48
  That's a technical specification.
• 19:50
  You met it. You didn't meet it.
• 19:53
  When it comes to artistic things, wedding photography,
• 19:55
  videography, you know, is there's some, you know, personal
• 19:59
  taste, personal sense of style that is involved.
• 20:02
  So there are times when you might be talking to someone and
• 20:06
  you think like, ah man, it's like this this babe, this bride,
• 20:09
  It's like she's a little fussy. You feel like you might deliver
• 20:13
  on everything and she might still find some reasons to say
• 20:18
  something went wrong, something went wrong, something went
• 20:20
  wrong. If you're in that situation.
• 20:23
  And you're still having like, a nagging thing at the back of
• 20:26
  your mind, even though you followed all these processes.
• 20:29
  Maybe it's time to follow your intuition and to run away
• 20:33
  because all money is good, but clean money, clean revenue
• 20:40
  without hassle. That's the best.
• 20:42
  Because me, I can't testify. I've been in situations where I
• 20:46
  had my nagging feelings but sharp.
• 20:48
  I like I needed the money And then you take the money and then
• 20:52
  sometimes that you hold 400, you know, 300, four, 100K in your
• 20:57
  hand. But after all the Wahala, you're
• 20:59
  like, should I even have collected this money?
• 21:02
  And then there's some money that the one that enters your pocket
• 21:04
  is only 100K. But the experience is so clean
• 21:07
  and so good that your mind is at rest.
• 21:09
  So it's a personal thing. It depends that some people
• 21:12
  don't say whoa, money is money. Let me correct.
• 21:15
  Let me collect that 400K and go with the hassle.
• 21:18
  It's better than me collecting 100K.
• 21:20
  That'll give me Peace of Mind. So it depends on you.
• 21:25
  Yeah, that's just my word of caution.
• 21:27
  At the end of the day, you can run through these processes and
• 21:29
  you just feel like this is nagging at the back of my mind.
• 21:33
  If I took head inside here, you can't blow up here.
• 21:35
  It can't blow up there. So just consider.
• 21:38
  Should I just go in it for the money or should I just run away?
• 21:44
  By the way, I've known some people who say, you know what,
• 21:47
  this is a potentially dicey situation.
• 21:49
  So let me go all in for the money.
• 21:51
  What I'll do is I'll Jack up my price so that when this quarrel,
• 21:54
  at least it's worth the issue or at least there's money that can
• 21:58
  use to, you know, fix the mistake or fix whatever the
• 22:02
  issues are. But you know, that's a personal,
• 22:06
  that's a personal issue between you and your business partners.
• 22:11
  But for now, when people just know that when people say we've
• 22:14
  had bad experiences in the past, sorry, even though they don't
• 22:18
  say it, but it's not giving you stories about my brother did
• 22:21
  this, this is what happened. My neighbor did this.
• 22:23
  This is what happened the last time I had a caterer.
• 22:26
  This is what happened. When they do that, you're trying
• 22:29
  to be respectful, courteous, concerned, curious, trans, slow
• 22:34
  things down, ask questions. You're trying to figure out what
• 22:38
  went wrong, What were the expectations.
• 22:41
  You're just trying to show that, OK, this is how you're
• 22:44
  different. And if things go wrong, this is
• 22:46
  how you guys deal with these sorts of things.
• 22:50
  What different? So why can't we be just best
• 22:55
  friends and let's go ahead and make this thing happen?
• 22:57
  So that's the whole approach. Pretty much.
• 23:00
  So thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 23:03
  It's 23 minutes. OK.
• 23:04
  So let me just wrap this thing up.
• 23:08
  Yeah. So connect with me on WhatsApp.
• 23:10
  The phone number is 080, 64662140.
• 23:15
  The country code is +234. For those of you who are not
• 23:17
  Nigerian then LinkedIn. My name is Tabishima Ayede.
• 23:22
  I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of
• 23:26
  my name from the link where you're listening to this
• 23:28
  episode. So thank you very much for your
• 23:30
  time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next
• 23:32
  recording.