Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Texting Your Way to Success: WhatsApp for Business Growth

Transcript

Texting Your Way to Success: WhatsApp for Business Growth · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:02
  Hello and welcome to the show. Today we're going to wrap up the
• 0:05
  conversation about how you can use WhatsApp for business
• 0:08
  purposes. I think in the last episode I
• 0:10
  was I wrapped up talking about how you can use WhatsApp to
• 0:15
  foster relationships and trust. So we'll just give a few words
• 0:20
  on that and then we'll wrap up that series.
• 0:23
  OK. Then also WhatsApp can be useful
• 0:26
  to use it to qualify clients. For those of you who are newbies
• 0:31
  listening to the show, I'm going to define what qualification is
• 0:34
  later on in the episode. So OK, WhatsApp on fostering
• 0:40
  relationships and trust. Now of course, WhatsApp is a
• 0:43
  direct communication channel and that's what allows you to be
• 0:46
  much more personalized, much more personal, much more
• 0:50
  friendly when compared to e-mail and SMS.
• 0:53
  And that's why over here on the podcast I've been talking about
• 0:57
  the hierarchy of communications and why I would, in most
• 1:01
  situations, prioritize WhatsApp over e-mail and SMS.
• 1:05
  Now of course, e-mail is necessary to tidy things up,
• 1:08
  keep things nice and official, but there's nothing that says
• 1:11
  that if you don't, if you have the other person's WhatsApp
• 1:13
  number, there's nothing that says you can't do most of the
• 1:16
  chit chat, most of the back and forth on WhatsApp.
• 1:19
  And then when you want to get things nice and tidy, nice and
• 1:22
  formal, then you send the e-mail with all the IS dotted and all
• 1:28
  the TS crossed. So it's not a bad way to
• 1:30
  facilitate business communications.
• 1:32
  And that is how, personally, I prefer to do things.
• 1:35
  So yes, you can e-mail things back and forth perpetually and
• 1:40
  spend weeks to try and get things done, but I prefer to
• 1:43
  just pick up the phone, try and see how we can wrap up this
• 1:45
  conversation sharp, sharp, or maybe arrange a meeting.
• 1:49
  I go to the office, they come over to mine.
• 1:51
  We just talk it over sharply. That's not possible.
• 1:54
  Then there's e-mail, you know, sorry, not e-mail and WhatsApp.
• 1:58
  You chat back and forth and you have WhatsApp calls back and
• 2:04
  forth. And then when you're ready to
• 2:05
  make things nice and tidy and formal, you know, reduce
• 2:09
  everything to writing, then we get back to SMS.
• 2:12
  So WhatsApp, that's how it fosters relationships, expedite
• 2:16
  to business and helps to build trust because it a much, it's a
• 2:19
  much more direct communication channel.
• 2:23
  So let's see what else? Oh yeah.
• 2:24
  So of course since it's a much more personalized channel, it's
• 2:27
  going to allow you to do things like have personalized
• 2:29
  greetings, you know people already taking advantage of that
• 2:32
  using emojis and GIFs or GIFs. You know, however it is that you
• 2:37
  pronounce pronounce that then let's see what else stuff like
• 2:42
  that. Basically, that's all the kinds
• 2:44
  of personal and personalized things that you can do in
• 2:49
  WhatsApp that you can't do over e-mail.
• 2:52
  Then it also allows you to provide valuable information
• 2:55
  directly and timely, because we're trying to do things over
• 2:58
  e-mail. You know, that whole thing when
• 3:00
  you send somebody the invitation?
• 3:02
  Sorry, not the invitation. You send someone the information
• 3:04
  and you send it on a Monday. But The thing is, people don't
• 3:07
  usually check their e-mail hourly or every day for some
• 3:10
  people. So you send on the Monday and
• 3:13
  then they check the e-mail on the Wednesday, but by then it's
• 3:16
  too late because you need that the information on Tuesday.
• 3:19
  But if you do WhatsApp, on the other hand, you know people,
• 3:23
  most people respond to their WhatsApp messages shopping.
• 3:26
  So you can send someone the WhatsApp message by let's say
• 3:29
  8:00 in the morning. And even if they've had a
• 3:31
  really, really rough day, they probably get back to you by 6:00
• 3:34
  PM that evening or something like that.
• 3:36
  So you can use that to provide valuable information directly.
• 3:40
  Then because of that whole personal and direct thing, then
• 3:45
  sharing updates with people. Not a bad idea if you're going
• 3:48
  to use WhatsApp for that. Also people keeping people up to
• 3:52
  date with promotional offers and things like that, you know,
• 3:54
  keeping you top of mind. For those of us who are guys,
• 3:59
  married or in relationships, we see a lot of that working.
• 4:03
  When Easter comes round or Christmas comes round, or our
• 4:07
  children's birthdays come round and then Wifey is receiving
• 4:10
  messages from vendors that she's done business with in the past.
• 4:13
  You know, happy birthday for your son, happy birthday for
• 4:15
  your daughter, blah, blah, blah. We're now offering, you know,
• 4:19
  this percent on children's shoes or 70% off on this or on that
• 4:23
  and that and that. So all that magic for building
• 4:26
  business is possible because we have WhatsApp and we can use it
• 4:30
  for business purposes. Now the second part that I said
• 4:34
  I was going to do some explaining on, especially for
• 4:36
  those of you who are newbies, this is your first time of
• 4:38
  listening to the podcast. I mentioned that you can use
• 4:43
  WhatsApp as a tool to qualify clients.
• 4:46
  Now qualification is a part of the sales process that involves
• 4:49
  sorting through contacts. Now whenever you are OK, sorry
• 4:53
  about that noise. That's the alarm.
• 4:56
  OK, yeah, we've done 5 minutes. I want to make sure that today
• 4:58
  is a short episode. OK, so I was on qualification.
• 5:03
  Yes, that's sorting through contacts.
• 5:05
  Because in business, you're going to be having conversations
• 5:07
  with lots of people. Lots of people who hit you up on
• 5:10
  Instagram, DM, or who come to your shop, or you meet people at
• 5:13
  networking sessions, or you get a referral to someone else, you
• 5:16
  know. Bottom line is you're having
• 5:17
  conversations with people all the time and you're trying to
• 5:20
  figure out who you should be spending the most time with.
• 5:24
  Because if someone is merely curious, if someone is curious
• 5:27
  versus interested, then obviously I would say you should
• 5:32
  be spending much time with the interested person because the
• 5:34
  curious person can be a Waka pass.
• 5:36
  You know, you just come like, OK, oh, you have this, how much
• 5:39
  is this? How much is this?
• 5:41
  But they were never, sorry, excuse me, but they were never
• 5:43
  really going to buy in the 1st place.
• 5:44
  But now someone who has a genuine interest, a genuine
• 5:48
  need, the person who has a problem that they're trying to
• 5:51
  solve, a division that they're trying to move forward with, I
• 5:54
  think that you're better off spending time with those people.
• 5:58
  Well, immediately. That is right now.
• 6:00
  So if the person is interested, spend time with them right now.
• 6:03
  If the person is curious, then put them in the list for
• 6:05
  relationship nurturing. You can always get back to them
• 6:07
  later saying, OK, yes, we have this, we have that.
• 6:11
  What are you interested in? You know, blah, blah, blah.
• 6:13
  And keep them, what's the word? You know, just keep top of mind
• 6:18
  and stuff like that. So that if they change their
• 6:20
  mind and they become really interested because they have a
• 6:23
  specific thing they're asking after a specific problem that
• 6:25
  they're trying to solve, then you can move them up the
• 6:28
  communication queue then, OK, yeah.
• 6:34
  So how do you use WhatsApp to do that now?
• 6:37
  Because WhatsApp is a direct communication channel where you
• 6:40
  can have real personalized conversations, provide
• 6:42
  information directly, it allows you to have these sorts of
• 6:46
  conversations where you're trying to figure out who is this
• 6:49
  person, what are they about, How did they hear about you?
• 6:52
  What's the problem that they have?
• 6:54
  What's the vision that they're trying to solve?
• 6:55
  You can usually do this on WhatsApp, pinging back and
• 6:58
  forth, but remember, back to the communications hierarchy.
• 7:01
  I prefer and I advise that you pick up the phone and have this
• 7:04
  conversation sharply. Now if you're worried about
• 7:08
  credit, that's not a problem because in Nigeria anyway, cost
• 7:12
  of keeping in touch has gone down a little bit.
• 7:15
  That's because for WhatsApp, we now have the call feature.
• 7:17
  I remember that when WhatsApp first came out, we didn't have
• 7:20
  the call feature, was only text. But that was a long time ago,
• 7:24
  maybe like a decade ago we didn't have the call feature.
• 7:27
  So now we have a call feature. You don't have to use WhatsApp
• 7:31
  for texting. Only then when it's time to
• 7:33
  call, you know, pick up Skype or I can't remember what we used to
• 7:38
  use back then, back when we were in school, there was Skype.
• 7:41
  Skype is the American company. Then there was another
• 7:43
  alternative, but I can't remember what that was called.
• 7:45
  So now we have WhatsApp called, we have video calls.
• 7:47
  So you can just call the person up, WhatsApp call, and have a
• 7:50
  cost effective conversation where you're trying to figure
• 7:53
  out who they are, what they're about, what they're interested
• 7:56
  in trying to solve, you know, things like that.
• 7:59
  So my son's birthday passed recently and if you're a cake
• 8:04
  vendor, you're speaking to someone in these sorts of
• 8:06
  circumstances, then WhatsApp is going to be a very good tool for
• 8:10
  qualifying because you can be pinging back and forth, you
• 8:13
  know? Oh, congratulations, Ma.
• 8:14
  How is he? How old is he going to be?
• 8:16
  OK, what are you guys looking at?
• 8:18
  Six inches, 8 inches, 12 inch cake.
• 8:21
  How many layers? 234, What flavours does he like?
• 8:25
  Strawberry, Vanilla, blah blah blah.
• 8:27
  What are his favorite superheroes?
• 8:29
  Or what are her favorite? This and that?
• 8:31
  And what else? Do you have a party planned?
• 8:34
  What's the dress code for the day?
• 8:35
  When do you need it delivered? You know all those sorts of
• 8:38
  questions. Now these are qualification
• 8:40
  questions because when you ask them, you're sorting through our
• 8:43
  contacts. You're trying to figure out who
• 8:45
  is worth spending time with if you speaking to the woman and
• 8:48
  his congratulations. When is the birthday?
• 8:50
  You guys are chatting at me and she says, oh, the birthday is in
• 8:52
  September. You know, the difference between
• 8:55
  March and September is, let's see, 396.
• 8:59
  So that's six months. So the difference is, you know,
• 9:02
  it's six months away. So yeah, you can respond, but
• 9:05
  The thing is the mom see who has hit you up now for a birthday
• 9:07
  party in September? Well, could be that she's much
• 9:10
  more thorough and much more prepared than other mothers, but
• 9:15
  she may also just be curious. I'm trying to get a sense of
• 9:18
  what's the market like, who is out there, what are prices,
• 9:21
  things like that. She might be doing her
• 9:23
  preliminary research. So you see how once you start
• 9:27
  asking these sorts of questions in business conversations over
• 9:31
  WhatsApp, you can get a sense of who is more serious, who is more
• 9:35
  pressing, that I have to pay attention to now, and who's the
• 9:39
  other person that I can kind of, well, you never want to ignore
• 9:43
  anyone because you don't want to risk risk insulting anyone.
• 9:47
  And also because we also don't want to risk losing out on
• 9:52
  business opportunities just because we're lazy.
• 9:54
  But The thing is we have limited time in the day.
• 9:57
  We're chatting with lots of people, so we have to find some
• 10:00
  way of prioritizing some sorts of some people.
• 10:03
  So there's some sorts of conversations that you're going
• 10:04
  to continue now, now, now, continue chatting right now or
• 10:08
  pick up the phone to call right now because they're really
• 10:11
  interested. They have a definite need and
• 10:14
  you can use WhatsApp to handle those sorts of conversations.
• 10:18
  So like I said, doesn't have to be done over WhatsApp.
• 10:23
  Left to me. I'd say face to face.
• 10:25
  Face to face is not possible. Then let's have a phone call to
• 10:29
  sort that out. And luckily we can make phone
• 10:32
  calls over on WhatsApp. OK, 10 minutes.
• 10:34
  So let me wrap this up quickly. Let's see what else.
• 10:37
  OK, yes, advancements. Now advancements is also
• 10:40
  something that I talk about over here on the podcast.
• 10:42
  And that's how you know that you're moving forward.
• 10:44
  In a business relationship, an advancement is when you guys
• 10:48
  finish a call, you finish a meeting, you finishing whatever,
• 10:51
  and you have a clear sense of what it is that you're going to
• 10:53
  do next. So back to the Mumsy example.
• 10:55
  So you're chatting with the Mumsy and it's like, oh,
• 10:58
  congratulations, when is the best day okay?
• 11:00
  It's in two weeks time. What are the favorite
• 11:03
  characters? OK, he likes this and this and
• 11:04
  this, but I'm not quite sure. Maybe I should discuss with my
• 11:08
  husband and I'll get back to you.
• 11:10
  And then you say, OK, cool, no Allah, no problem.
• 11:13
  So you're going to discuss with your hobby.
• 11:14
  So will you be able to get back to me?
• 11:15
  Let's say like around that kind 9:00 AM tomorrow.
• 11:18
  And then woman says OK, yes. Yeah, 9:00 AM tomorrow then.
• 11:21
  Cool, no problem. You end the chat.
• 11:23
  Now that is an advancement because you now have a specific
• 11:26
  commitment for 9:00 AM tomorrow for the business relationship
• 11:29
  when we move forward one step and that one step is you're now
• 11:34
  going to know the buying criteria, what it is that they
• 11:37
  find, what they think is essential in the cake.
• 11:41
  So it's moving forward one step that is an advancement.
• 11:44
  Now the opposite of an advancement is a continuation
• 11:47
  and that is where you leave a meeting, a phone call and
• 11:49
  engagement or whatever it is and you don't have a clear sense of
• 11:53
  what the next step is. So if you're a mom, C have been
• 11:55
  chatting back and forth and everything and she hasn't given
• 11:59
  you a clear sense of what the flavour should be, what the
• 12:01
  character should be or whatever. And you guys end the chat by you
• 12:04
  saying, oh thank you very much Ma, it's been nice chatting with
• 12:07
  you. I'm looking forward to serving.
• 12:09
  You guys enjoy the rest of your meeting, Ma.
• 12:13
  And then the lady responds, Oh yes, I had a wonderful time
• 12:16
  chatting with you. You sound very, very
• 12:18
  professional. I look forward to working with
• 12:20
  you and you say goodnight. She says goodnight.
• 12:23
  Some of you might think that that was a good conversation.
• 12:25
  Are you making progress? Because it sounds polite.
• 12:27
  But The thing is, it sounds polite.
• 12:28
  It sounds friendly, but that is not an advancement.
• 12:31
  You guys ended the phone call. Mumsy didn't say how she wants
• 12:35
  to work with you, what the next step is supposed to be.
• 12:38
  You didn't propose anything. You guys just left it like that.
• 12:41
  And those are those situations where you pick up the phone you
• 12:45
  want to call or you want to send a message and even thinking
• 12:48
  like, what should I say self? What kind of message should I
• 12:50
  send? You can't think of anything to
• 12:52
  do because in the last conversation you guys didn't
• 12:54
  make any advancements. You didn't get a clear sense of
• 12:57
  what the next step is. So in those sorts of situations
• 13:00
  now if you're following up, you're just following up for the
• 13:02
  sake of following up, you send her a message and you say, oh,
• 13:04
  good afternoon, ma'am, How preparations, She said
• 13:06
  preparations are coming along fine, full stop and then she
• 13:09
  will send. I mean like, what are you
• 13:10
  supposed to say after that? You know, So we should always
• 13:14
  try and secure advancements. And we can use WhatsApp to
• 13:17
  secure advancements by using WhatsApp to schedule meetings,
• 13:22
  to schedule appointments, can use that to confirm orders or to
• 13:26
  confirm specifications. Like in this case where I said,
• 13:29
  OK, you want to talk to your husband, Ma, no problem, It
• 13:31
  makes sense. After all, he's the father of
• 13:34
  the child too. So you know, he deserves to say
• 13:37
  so. Like what time do you think you
• 13:38
  guys will be done chatting? So like by 9:00 AM tomorrow,
• 13:41
  that means that cool. And she says, OK, you have
• 13:43
  confirmed an order, you have confirmed the specification.
• 13:45
  So those are ways of securing advancements.
• 13:48
  Then you can also use WhatsApp for customer satisfaction and
• 13:52
  customer success. Since WhatsApp is direct and
• 13:56
  it's much more personalized, it's OK for you to have a
• 14:01
  conversation with someone like, oh, you like this?
• 14:03
  You didn't like that. Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Ma.
• 14:05
  Oh, I can't believe that somebody did this and this.
• 14:08
  Please, Ma, can you send me the screenshot?
• 14:10
  Oh my God, I can't believe that my staff member did this.
• 14:13
  I'm terribly sorry. Blah, blah, blah.
• 14:15
  You know, there's more nuance and there's more detail.
• 14:17
  You can't have that that kind of conversation over on SMS or over
• 14:22
  on WhatsApp. But SMS, I'm sorry, you can't
• 14:26
  have that conversation over on SMS or e-mail.
• 14:28
  But WhatsApp being much more personal, you can have those
• 14:31
  kind of conversations and you'll be able to quickly get down to
• 14:34
  the root of whether somebody's happy or not, whether they're
• 14:37
  angry or not, or whether they feel like they got a good deal
• 14:40
  or not. And of course, getting
• 14:42
  testimonials and referrals is a lot easier on WhatsApp because
• 14:45
  people can chat. They talk their mind away.
• 14:48
  And of course you ask, you know, I hope you don't mind if I
• 14:50
  screenshot this and use this on Instagram.
• 14:53
  There are a couple of people that will say, Oh yeah, please
• 14:55
  do that, but please blow up my name.
• 14:57
  And there's some people that will say no.
• 14:59
  But The thing is, at least if you're having those honest
• 15:01
  conversations over on WhatsApp or you're trying to handle
• 15:05
  customer success, customer satisfaction, customer service
• 15:07
  issues, people are speaking their mind.
• 15:10
  But at least if you ask 10 people and three people say
• 15:13
  yeah, sure, you can use it as a testimonial, just blow my name
• 15:16
  out. It's not bad.
• 15:17
  At least that is 3 testimonials more than what you used to get.
• 15:20
  And of course WhatsApp. Very good for follow up.
• 15:23
  You can send birthday messages, work anniversary messages and
• 15:27
  things like that. Other ways of following up,
• 15:31
  personal milestones, work milestones, those sorts of
• 15:35
  things. So summary WhatsApp good for
• 15:38
  qualification is going to help you, asking more questions about
• 15:42
  what they need, their budgets, the pain points, the vision that
• 15:45
  they're working towards and those sorts of things.
• 15:48
  So with this, especially since we're over 15 minutes now, I can
• 15:51
  bring this to a close about how best we can use WhatsApp for
• 15:55
  business and purposes. So if you're one of those people
• 15:58
  who's been using it for entertainment and gossip and
• 16:00
  things like that, just know that you can be using WhatsApp for a
• 16:02
  whole lot more. So please connect with me on
• 16:07
  LinkedIn. My name is Tavishma Ayede.
• 16:09
  I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of
• 16:11
  my name from the link We're listening to this episode.
• 16:14
  And then also connect with me on WhatsApp.
• 16:16
  The phone number is 08064662140. Thank you very much for your
• 16:23
  time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next
• 16:25
  recording.