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Sales Lessons from a Wuse 2 Underwear Vendor · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Lots of Nigerian business people don't have a process for trying
• 0:04
  to figure out what it is that a potential customer or a
• 0:08
  potential client wants. It seems to me that lots of
• 0:11
  Nigerian business people just want to be in the situation of
• 0:15
  being an order taker. They just want to open their
• 0:18
  Instagram and then somebody should just sending a message
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  and say this is what I want, how much?
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  And then you collect the business money and then you
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  deliver or somebody walks into the shop and the person says
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  give me this, is this and this, give me two of this, give me 3
• 0:32
  of this. And then you guys negotiate and
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  then you pay. It looks like lots of Nigerian
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  business people don't actually want to go through the trouble
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  of trying to engage with someone in order to close the deal.
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  They want to be order takers. They want things to come quick.
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  They want things to come fast. They want things to come easy.
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  Now those aspirations are not bad.
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  And when you do get to a certain level of retail powers, maybe
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  like Amazon for instance, yes things can be very, very
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  impersonal. But the problem is in the
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  beginning when we're all starting off at the SME stage,
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  that small and medium scale enterprises, small businesses
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  and micro, micro and nano businesses.
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  It's unrealistic to think that you just open up your inbox and
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  then orders are just going to start coming in or they're going
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  to set up your shop and people are just going to walk in, pick
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  what they want, and then walk out.
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  So unfortunately for the SME, for the small and medium scale,
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  for the micro scale, for the nano scale business person, you
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  actually need to have a process for qualification and discovery.
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  Qualification and discovery just means you're trying to figure
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  out who is it that you're talking to, what exactly do they
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  want? You figure out their needs.
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  When you figure out their needs, you're going to be able to make
• 2:00
  a proposal or presentation. Hopefully it is going to be
• 2:04
  accurate and you're going to speak to whatever it is that
• 2:07
  they need. And then from there, that is
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  what will give us the basis to be able to close the sale,
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  engage in relationship building and nurturing so that we can get
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  repeat business, get referrals and maximize the customer
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  lifetime value. So as much as they're Nigerians,
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  we don't want to speak to people.
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  We just want to set up a system and then have it run
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  automatically. Right now, you're hurting your
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  business by taking that point of view because you haven't gotten
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  to that level of scale yet. You are still a small and medium
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  scale person, you are still a micro or nano business person.
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  So the dynamics of customer interactions are quite
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  different. So nobody talks to Netflix, but
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  that is different that a different level of scale.
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  So it's realistic for Netflix to expect that they won't have to
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  talk to anybody. Somebody would just transfer
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  money and the whole thing is supposed to work.
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  The same thing with Netflix, the same thing with Conga, the same
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  thing with Jumia, the same thing with all those big brands that
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  have economies of scale. But in the beginning, having a
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  process for talking to people and trying to figure out exactly
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  what it is. That they need.
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  Is absolutely important. It's absolutely essential.
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  It's one of the reasons why I run this podcast and it's one of
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  the things that is going to save your business.
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  Funny enough, it is one of the things that is going to give you
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  all the information that you need so that you can scale to
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  that big board status. The reason why Amazon and Jumia
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  and Netflix and all these people can be so impersonal or hand off
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  or whatever is because they know their customers intimately.
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  In the early days, they had to acquire customers the hard way.
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  Whether I was talking to people or running campaigns, having to
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  onboard individual people, they have gone through the stage
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  where they had to interact with customers one way or another,
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  whether by e-mail or by WhatsApp or by phone or by whatever.
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  They have gone through those processes.
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  So Amazon has gone through the process of individually 1 by 1,
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  you know, courting distributors, you know, onboarding
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  distribution partners, trading partners, 1 by 1 onto the
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  platform. They have gone through that
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  stage where they had to talk to people one-on-one and that is
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  what has given them the traction and given them the data that
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  they need to scale to that status.
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  So yes, dear Nigerian business owner, we will get to the stage
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  where we don't want to talk to anybody.
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  We just wake up, we open our bank account and then we'll just
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  see money will just be dropping just between beam, beam, beam,
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  money will be entering. But for now, while we are at the
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  small and medium scale, while we are at the nanoscale, while we
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  are at the micro scale, unfortunately, you have to talk
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  to someone. Forgive me for being rude, but
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  I'm going to say it. Stop being lazy, talk to people.
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  The time will come. Now let me give you an example
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  how somebody is taking the time and is going through the pains
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  to talk to people, but eventually he personally is not
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  going to need to talk to people. But before I before we get into
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  the meat of that, remember if you would love to connect with
• 5:45
  me, you can call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp
• 5:48
  message on 08064662140. If you want me to look at any of
• 5:55
  your business processes, then WhatsApp me on the same number
• 5:59
  0806466 2140. If you'd like to join my
• 6:04
  WhatsApp channel, send me a message on that number and we'll
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  get you started. So let's go straight into the
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  meat of the matter today. Now, I have said that it's
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  absolutely essential that we need to have a process.
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  We need to go through that stage where we figure out exactly what
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  it is that the customer wants, exactly what is that the
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  customer needs. Well, apologies for the noise in
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  the background. It's a holiday.
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  The kids are at home and I'm making today's recording at
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  home. So that's the noise that's
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  spilling in. So we need to have a process of
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  figuring out what the customer wants and what they need.
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  When we figure out exactly what it is they need, we will now
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  have options to present. When we present options to them,
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  we're going to be able to narrow things down and then we can
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  start pricing and we can start negotiating.
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  You know that. Whole stage of how much is it is
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  8541, how much last, OK, give me 7, five, blah, blah, blah, blah,
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  blah and all of that. If we're going to wait to be an
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  order taker, what is going to happen is somebody's going to
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  walk into your shop. Let me stick to the example of
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  female underwear because actually the example that we're
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  using is a female underwear related.
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  Or by the way, if you have children in the room, please
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  send them away or plug in your headsets just in case I say
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  anything that little kids are not supposed to hear, you know,
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  especially little boys since we're talking about female
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  underwear. So if you don't have this
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  process. So what do you mean that
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  situation where somebody walks into your shop and the person
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  will say, Olga, you get Brazilian and you say, no, I
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  don't have Brazilian, and they'll say thank you and then
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  they will leave. That could have been a potential
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  sale, but because you don't have a process for trying to figure
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  out what it is that that person needs since you are in the state
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  of mind of being an order taker. The person just walked in.
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  I said, Olga, you get Brazilian and you said no and the person
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  said thank you and they left. You didn't have a process for
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  stopping them to try and figure out now, OK, no, we don't have
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  Brazilian, but what exactly do you need?
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  What is a Brazilian? Is it something that you're that
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  you're looking for because you're looking after comfort or
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  you're looking after that chic sexy feeling, or you don't want
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  visible panty lines, or you don't want this or you don't
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  want that because if somebody comes into your shop and the
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  person says Orga, you get Brazilian, or Madame, you get
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  Brazilian. And the answer is no.
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  If you figure out exactly what it is that the person wants, you
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  will be able to make some alternative recommendations that
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  would have been as suitable as a Brazilian.
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  By the way. It's obvious that I like
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  Brazilian underwear for some reason, since we came back to
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  Nigeria, it's like Nigerian business people don't know
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  Brazilian underwear is. Anyway, I just say side
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  whatever. Now, for those of you who
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  listened to the podcast episode last week, this won't come as a
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  surprise. But if you're listening to the
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  podcast for the first time and you're wondering this whole
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  thing of female underwear, where is it coming from?
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  Actually, it's very simple. A friend of mine, me and a
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  friend of mine, we did some business maybe two or three
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  weeks back and then we came into some small change.
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  The money is not life changing, but it's enough to do one or two
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  things, you know, school fees, you know, things like that.
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  And so he thought would be a good idea to surprise his wife
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  and just overhaul her wardrobe. That's why he reached out to a
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  couple of vendors. And I thought, guy, you're doing
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  a good thing. And then I called him later on
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  to say, how's this thing going? And he told me it wasn't going
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  so great. And we spoke about it.
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  I made a podcast episode about it just to show how not having
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  good sales practices or not having good conversation
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  frameworks and things like that could be costing you revenue in
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  your business. And then I was using people who
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  sell lingerie and female underwear and things like that,
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  using them as a case study. So if you're listening to the
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  podcast for the first time, no, I'm not fascinated by female
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  underwear. It was a case study that we did
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  last week because a friend of mine was trying to overhaul his
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  wife's wardrobe. So now, inspired by my friend, I
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  thought, you know what actually is a good thing?
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  Why don't I do the same thing? Because currently my wife is
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  away for business. You know, she's traveled to
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  Lagos and I thought would be nice if she comes back home and
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  then, yeah, magically I have overhauled her wardrobe and it's
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  just brand new everything. But I said, you know what, let
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  me just be, let me not be too ambitious.
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  I said let me just start with. Skeevies first skeevies on these
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  underwear, butter pint, whatever it is you call it.
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  So let me just start with that. Let me just overhaul that whole
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  section. So like my friend now, I did the
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  same thing. I reached out to some people on
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  Instagram. Guess what?
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  00 response, zilch, nada, nothing gang 0.
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  So what I said last week still applies this week.
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  There are lots of people who sell lingerie, female underwear.
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  You all are losing business because you are not being
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  responsive. People are reaching out, you are
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  not responding. Or maybe they're reaching out in
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  the format that you don't like. And you're not even having the
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  courtesy to reach out to say, oh, Sir, what you typed, I
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  didn't understand. What do you mean?
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  What do you mean? And then engage them in
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  conversation to actually try and figure out what it is that they
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  want, what it is that they need so that you can make alternative
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  recommendations. Because now that I've joined and
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  I've started looking because I think black Brazilian underwear
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  look nice look looks nice since I've started asking around.
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  You know, Nigerian people who sell lingerie, you know, it's
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  clear that Nigerians are not Brazilian is or Brazilian is not
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  a style in Nigeria. In fact, the last guy I spoke
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  to, the guy laughed. The guy said, Oga, the only
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  Brazilian way I know are hair, not be paint.
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  So please, I really hope there are no children listening.
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  Please send your kids out of the room or plug in their headphones
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  because we're talking about some more mature stuff.
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  Let me just put it that way. So I reached out to some people
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  on Instagram, zero response. One person did get back
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  eventually, but she said my attitude basically was, OK,
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  look, I don't understand what you're asking for, but this is
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  what we have in store. She sent a couple of photos and
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  I said, Madam, you don't get high waist.
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  She said no, I said OK, thank you very much.
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  Then that was it. So you can see that even the
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  woman who responded, she is in the mind frame of being an order
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  taker. If somebody reaches out to
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  Instagram, she wants the inquiry to come in a particular format
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  that she understands. And then she wants the people
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  preferably to go through her Instagram handle first, click on
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  exactly what she wants so that all she does is just takes the
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  order. Now that is not bad.
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  Businesses can grow that way. But believe me, you're leaving
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  lots of money on the table. You need to think of yourself as
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  an advisor, as a consultant and someone who has subject matter
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  expertise. If you sell female underwear, if
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  you sell lingerie, you need to think of yourself as an expert
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  in these sorts of things. If somebody slides into your
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  inbox and the person says Madame, do you have, OK, what
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  Rihanna has this lingerie brand? I can't remember what is called,
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  That's Rihanna the musician, such as a lingerie brand.
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  So if somebody slides into your DM and say, Madame, do you have
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  that Rihanna lingerie? Something, something, something.
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  Instead of just saying no, we don't have it, and then the
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  conversation ends. You should be able to say no, we
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  don't have it. But is it OK if I ask you a
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  couple of questions? Let me see exactly.
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  Let me try and understand exactly what it is that you're
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  looking for. Perhaps I have some alternatives
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  that might be suitable. If you start having
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  conversations like that with people, this is how you can
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  start seeing, you know, 2030% growth in your business without
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  you having to advertise, without you having to go to trade shows,
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  without you having to do anything different.
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  All you are doing is you're just implementing a process in your
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  business for qualification and discovery, for figuring out what
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  is it that people want? What is it that people need when
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  they walk into your store or when they send you Adm on
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  Instagram? Now, this is one example of a
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  guy who's doing it quite well because I reached out to some
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  people on Instagram, you know, fancy, you know, fancy names,
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  you know, women run businesses. And I assume that, you know,
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  women should be the specialist that should be the pro here
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  because of course, we're talking about female underwear.
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  So I reached out to them, zero. No help, no response.
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  So I did what anybody else in my situation would do.
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  I called my sister-in-law and I said hey sis what's up?
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  I said I'm good. I said your sister has traveled.
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  I said Oh yeah I know, I know. I said I want to surprise.
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  I said what do you want to do? Because my sister-in-law, she
• 15:09
  likes surprises. Anything surprise you know her
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  body, good dress, the ginger. Ginger.
• 15:12
  So I told her I want to buy new. I want to buy a new pint.
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  She said OK no problem now I know this place in Wusetu, when
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  are you free? I said OK, I'm free tomorrow so
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  let's go. So we went, lo and behold, when
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  we arrived there, the person that runs the store, first of
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  all, he's a man and the guy is kind of like my age, maybe older
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  middle-aged fellow. And then the guy is very ebotic,
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  as in the guy Ebo gone, very EBO.
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  Sorry, please, no, I'm not trying to throw shit on anybody.
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  I'm just trying to say that this is not what I expected.
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  The other people that we've been reaching out to, you know, like
• 15:49
  one of them was a former, was a former lingerie model in
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  Nigeria. You know, she has a couple of
• 15:59
  stores here in Abuja. So that was what I was used to
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  seeing. I was used to seeing the the
• 16:03
  people who own these businesses, you know, to be women, you know,
• 16:07
  fine skin for my model, correct, babe, you know, things like
• 16:11
  that. But then my sister-in-law takes
• 16:13
  me to this place and he's a man Shocker, middle age shocker,
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  ebotic shocker, you know, no accent, no, no refinery, no
• 16:23
  nothing. But of course it's my
• 16:24
  sister-in-law, so I trust that she knows what she's doing.
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  So it's a physical store in we say to my sister's guy.
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  Oh, and then again, the guy is he's semi literate, let me just
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  put it that way. And after spending one hour in
• 16:41
  his store, roughly one hour, I now see and I now understand why
• 16:47
  someone like him would be outselling other people who seem
• 16:50
  more qualified to be in this business.
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  Because remember some of the people that I reached out to,
• 16:55
  one of them is a former lingerie model who has lots of stores in
• 16:59
  different parts of Abuja. The babe fine, the skin yellow,
• 17:02
  everything is smooth, nose pointed, she resemble Uibo.
• 17:06
  And of course, you know, when she talks, you know, it sounds
• 17:08
  like her voice sounds like a butter, you understand, sounds
• 17:13
  like smooth butter and high quality of babe.
• 17:16
  But I'm here with a middle-aged evil man who is semi literate
• 17:20
  and very ebotic. So when we started the
• 17:25
  conversation with him, it was clear that this fellow has a
• 17:28
  process for figuring out what it is that customers want or what
• 17:32
  it is that customers need. Because he has a process, he is
• 17:37
  able to present options while people are in store.
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  Because he's able to present multiple options while people
• 17:44
  are in store. Most people who walk in are
• 17:47
  walking out buying something. And while I was there around,
• 17:54
  you know, four or five of us spending on average 100K on top
• 18:01
  Pint. Just because this guy has a
• 18:04
  process that somebody walks into my store, they ask for this.
• 18:08
  I don't know what The thing is, but I have a process for calming
• 18:11
  the person down, figuring out what it is they want, making a
• 18:14
  couple of proposals. And then on average people are
• 18:18
  walking out on average 100K, somebody who enter 120, somebody
• 18:23
  who enter 200, you know, somebody who enter 80, another
• 18:27
  person 70. But that's what was happening
• 18:30
  while I was there on top batter, so.
• 18:35
  He has a. Process.
• 18:37
  But of course, like I said, this fellow is semi literate, so his
• 18:40
  process is very informal. But clearly he has a process.
• 18:45
  So we got there and it's like my sister, you don't come and say,
• 18:48
  yeah, so Olga, come inside, come inside, come inside.
• 18:51
  And of course I was with my kids, so children on a day now.
• 18:53
  So we're fine, how's the holiday, we're good, blah, blah,
• 18:56
  blah. Sit down.
• 18:58
  And then the guy moved into qualification and discovery.
• 19:02
  But if you ask him, he's not going to use these terms that
• 19:05
  he's doing qualification and discovery.
• 19:07
  But he did not assume that me and my sister-in-law were
• 19:11
  married. He didn't assume so he started
• 19:13
  asking some questions. So he looks straight at me and
• 19:16
  says so now for them you've now for Madam you define Abby.
• 19:20
  That's what he asked me. Now in that situation, if my
• 19:23
  sister-in-law was actually my Madam and I said now see Madam
• 19:27
  here Now you see he will now know that oh OK, this is Madam
• 19:31
  that is in front of me. But by asking the question like
• 19:34
  that, so now for Madam you define Abby.
• 19:36
  He's not making any assumptions. And I say yes, you see, he has
• 19:41
  now gotten some extra information.
• 19:43
  Two people have come to my shop, a man and a woman.
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  I didn't assume that their husband and wife, I guess,
• 19:48
  figure out who exactly am I talking to and what's the
• 19:51
  situation, you see? And remember I said that
• 19:55
  qualification and discovery. First of all, we're trying to
• 19:57
  figure out who exactly is it that we are talking to.
• 20:00
  What do they want, what do, what do they need?
• 20:03
  So now question. He looks me straight in the eye.
• 20:06
  Now for Madam, you define IB. He's trying to figure out who
• 20:09
  exactly is here because remember one woman, one man, two children
• 20:14
  have worked in lots of people would just assume it is husband,
• 20:17
  wife and begin. But he's not assuming.
• 20:21
  And I say yes, it's for Madam. He now knows that OK, I'm buying
• 20:26
  for wifey. Wifey is not here.
• 20:29
  And then he talks to my sister-in-law said she know your
• 20:31
  sister. And then she said yes, now is my
• 20:34
  sister, now this, my brother here, blah, blah, blah blah
• 20:36
  blah. You know, all that small talk,
• 20:37
  you see he's trying to figure out the scope, what exactly is
• 20:40
  going on. He's not making any assumptions.
• 20:43
  Then eventually all the other people that I was talking to,
• 20:47
  you know, they were asking about size.
• 20:51
  And that's one thing that actually was bothering me
• 20:52
  because to be honest, female underwear, I don't even know how
• 20:55
  you measure it, you know, is it like size 28, size 36, size 52,
• 20:59
  you know, I don't know. So that was one question that
• 21:01
  was tripping me up when they were asked me what's your wife's
• 21:04
  size anyway? So he said, you know, talk to my
• 21:10
  sister. I said your sister, we can say
• 21:12
  yes, she big pass you. Now you see Sammy literate, but
• 21:17
  he's trying to figure out exactly what kind of woman are
• 21:20
  we looking at here? Are we looking at the box on
• 21:22
  chick? Are we looking at the like my
• 21:23
  babe? So now your sister Abby, she big
• 21:26
  pass you, you know, so he didn't push me for, you know, 265672.
• 21:32
  You know something he didn't push me for all of that all that
• 21:35
  confusing. Whatever then of course my
• 21:39
  sister-in-law joke, of course now she get bombed on we big
• 21:42
  past my own and then you know, small talk blah blah, blah.
• 21:44
  And then the guys like no problem.
• 21:46
  Now we get time plenty. Which one you define?
• 21:50
  You see, first of all, he has figured out who are we?
• 21:54
  What's going on? Who are we buying for?
• 21:56
  Now he's going into discovery proper.
• 21:59
  What's the problem? What exactly do they need?
• 22:03
  But then he didn't say which one you define because remember,
• 22:07
  I've told you people that when you leave it up to the customer,
• 22:11
  there's no, you have no way of directing the conversation.
• 22:14
  But we are supposed to be professionals and we're supposed
• 22:17
  to take charge. And we're the one who was
• 22:18
  supposed to direct the conversation, which is what he
• 22:21
  did. He said which are you define?
• 22:22
  And then he picked up a specific item and then he said something
• 22:27
  like this. That is how the conversation
• 22:31
  started. He didn't just say which one you
• 22:34
  define then leave it because if you said which one you define, I
• 22:37
  would have said I'm looking for Brazilian.
• 22:39
  And of course later on asking for Brazilian.
• 22:41
  And in fact, he's the one that laughed at me and said Olga, the
• 22:43
  only Brazilian way I know not hair, no be paint so.
• 22:49
  Where was I? He directed the conversation.
• 22:51
  Which one? You define something like this
• 22:53
  and then he read something and that is how the conversation
• 22:55
  started. And I like this one.
• 22:57
  But the front is like this. The back is like this.
• 22:59
  OK, no. Do you have it in cotton?
• 23:00
  Do you have it in black? Do you have it in purple?
• 23:02
  That is how the conversation started.
• 23:05
  And as we are going to say this or sister, so she like Liz, of
• 23:09
  course, me, I don't know which one is this?
• 23:10
  I'll say which one is this? Then you take a show me say, oh,
• 23:15
  OK, I've seen something like this before.
• 23:17
  I've seen something like that. And then we started talking and
• 23:20
  then you know the guy started asking more questions.
• 23:23
  He asked what about lace? After some time the guy asked
• 23:27
  what about high waist? After some time the guy asked
• 23:31
  what about boyfriend pint. I said we should be boyfriend
• 23:34
  pint again. So guy never hear semi.
• 23:36
  I have never heard who said his boyfriend pints.
• 23:38
  Now for women that seem resemble boxer but not be boxer that's OK
• 23:43
  bring let me see as I was started looking.
• 23:46
  And then he started asking you know she would like this hair
• 23:48
  color. She would like that kind color
• 23:49
  because I was selecting some dark colors, you know, black,
• 23:52
  purple, you know, stuff like that.
• 23:55
  And then you know, he started asking this color, this color,
• 23:59
  that color, and I said OK, what about VPL?
• 24:02
  He said which one be VPL and I say visible panty line.
• 24:06
  So oh OK, you know what make the teen show I be when she dressed
• 24:09
  for work, you say yes. He said no problem.
• 24:12
  That VPL where you do talk. We don't get VPL but we get this
• 24:15
  one. This one no get food, this one
• 24:17
  no get food, this one no get food.
• 24:18
  Don't worry, no good show. And I asked my sister-in-law is
• 24:21
  it true? I said yeah, it's true.
• 24:23
  So long as he doesn't have hemline, the team will not show
• 24:25
  us. OK, no problem, give us a
• 24:27
  couple. Now can you see that this guy,
• 24:31
  this evil man, if you go and ask him what he's doing, he will not
• 24:35
  tell you articulately like I'm saying it, that he is running
• 24:39
  qualification and discovery. But that is precisely what
• 24:42
  qualification and discovery is. And that is precisely what all
• 24:47
  those other Instagram vendors are are not doing because they
• 24:51
  are focused on being order takers.
• 24:53
  So if you go into their own and you say, do you have Brazilian,
• 24:56
  they will say no, go and check on Instagram and do if you see
• 25:00
  and you like click and pay will deliver to you.
• 25:03
  They just want to be order takers.
• 25:08
  Business can grow like that, but trust me, you're leaving lots of
• 25:10
  money on the table because you're refusing to acknowledge
• 25:13
  your superpower. Your superpower is that you are
• 25:15
  the subject matter expert. If you sell underwear, you're
• 25:18
  the one who used to pro in underwear.
• 25:21
  You might not be articulate as all your customers are, You
• 25:24
  might not be educated as much as all your customers are, but
• 25:27
  you've been doing this business for a while.
• 25:29
  Maybe you know the things on that.
• 25:30
  Different names, different terms.
• 25:33
  But because you know this is your industry, take charge of
• 25:38
  the conversation. Be a consultant, an underwear
• 25:44
  consultant, the lingerie consultant, whatever.
• 25:46
  And the attitude should be anybody who is coming here is
• 25:49
  trying to achieve something. Now from the questions that this
• 25:53
  guy was asking and I was impressed, I could see that he
• 25:55
  was trying to break it down into different components.
• 25:59
  He was trying to break down underwear into comfort.
• 26:03
  The ones that my wife would just, you know, wear and just be
• 26:05
  cool. He was also trying to break it
• 26:07
  down into all I put it now friskiness.
• 26:11
  Please do there any children listening, send them out of the
• 26:15
  room now or put on your headphones.
• 26:17
  He was also trying to break it down into the a shallow
• 26:19
  components. If you understand what I'm
• 26:21
  saying. I'm not going to interpret for
• 26:22
  those of us who are foreign listeners.
• 26:24
  So he was trying to break it down into buckets.
• 26:26
  Comfortable butter. Here it is, a shallow butter,
• 26:30
  here it is. Silk.
• 26:31
  Let me feel sophisticated 1 Here it is.
• 26:34
  He was breaking it down into buckets.
• 26:38
  By the time we were done, we had selected a couple of options
• 26:43
  based on different categories to fit different needs.
• 26:49
  Yeah, you've all figured out that I was trying to overhaul
• 26:52
  Madam's wardrobe. So that is exactly.
• 26:55
  What he was. Doing making recommendations
• 26:58
  according to different needs. See some of you men listening to
• 27:01
  this podcast. I was saying I didn't realize
• 27:03
  was this complicated. Honestly speaking, I didn't
• 27:05
  understand that buying female Pata is complicated like this
• 27:08
  because you know how it is for we guys.
• 27:10
  Now you enter the shop, the boxers are there.
• 27:13
  It's either, you know, BYC, you know, like that white underwear,
• 27:19
  that old school one, the one we used to wear in secondary school
• 27:22
  is either BYC or boxer. You just bite and you go finish.
• 27:25
  I didn't know that it was this complicated, that there's silk
• 27:28
  that is satin, that there's cotton that there's this, that
• 27:32
  there's that, that breathability is an issue and that underwear
• 27:35
  effects how a woman feels. So we need to be paying
• 27:38
  attention to different kinds of things, you see.
• 27:44
  But this evil boy, this evil guy, because let me not say boy,
• 27:47
  because, you know, he's my senior, let me respect my
• 27:48
  elders. He understands the game.
• 27:52
  Welcome leads us, broke it down, figured out what we want, and
• 27:58
  then started selecting options based on comfort, based on a
• 28:02
  shallow factor, based on sophistication factor, based on
• 28:05
  different kind of factors. And then he put it all there,
• 28:10
  remember what I said, figure out what these people need, ask them
• 28:13
  questions. From the questions you ask, you
• 28:15
  will know what options to present.
• 28:18
  It is when we now finished looking at everything that we
• 28:22
  now started doing what we Nigerians like to do.
• 28:25
  We started to price and I was glad that my sister-in-law was
• 28:31
  there. I just left you to her because
• 28:32
  honestly speaking, I don't like pricing.
• 28:36
  So we say, OK, this one we will give like this, this particular
• 28:39
  one will give on like this, this one like this, this one like
• 28:41
  this. You see this the reason why
• 28:42
  qualification and discovery is important.
• 28:47
  It was just up to me, our director that said, do you have
• 28:49
  Brazilian? It was another attacker who
• 28:51
  would have said no and I'll say, OK, thank you and then I'll
• 28:53
  leave. That's it.
• 28:54
  Potentially lost revenue, but because it has a process or
• 28:57
  welcome come in blah, blah, blah.
• 28:59
  He's trying to figure out who are they, what is that they
• 29:02
  want? And then he starts presenting
• 29:04
  options. So went into pricing.
• 29:07
  My sister-in-law was there. I made sure she handled the
• 29:10
  pricing. It looked like a number that was
• 29:12
  OK for me. And then at the end of the day
• 29:16
  we paid. And then, you know, small, small
• 29:19
  talk. The guy was even saying that I'm
• 29:20
  lucky that I came with my sister-in-law because he said
• 29:23
  that if I came alone, I would have finished me.
• 29:25
  That's what he said that if I came by myself, no how, no how
• 29:29
  is it would have collected 300K from my hand.
• 29:31
  That wouldn't just stop our underwear.
• 29:33
  That would have continued with browse, for instance and stuff
• 29:38
  like that, you know, and I could see that yeah.
• 29:41
  Honestly speaking this semi literate EBO guy because he.
• 29:44
  Has a sales. Process.
• 29:45
  A process for qualification and discovery.
• 29:48
  A process of figuring out who is there, what it is that they
• 29:51
  need. A process for making effective
• 29:53
  presentations and proposals. A process for closing the sale.
• 29:59
  I have no doubt that the next time any man enters that store
• 30:03
  he will collect good something from that guy.
• 30:08
  So he said that is my sister-in-law does my protection
• 30:10
  because you know, he's a regular customer and everything.
• 30:12
  And we just laughed about it. And anyway.
• 30:17
  I got some. Stuff and a couple of days my
• 30:19
  wifey gets back. I'm hoping that she will give
• 30:22
  her a sign of approval because I hope there are no children
• 30:27
  listening because you know how it is now.
• 30:29
  If you buy something nice or one time likes it, it means
• 30:32
  something nice will happen. I'll give you guys the feedback
• 30:35
  later. So what was I anyway?
• 30:42
  Summary This guy clearly had the process.
• 30:45
  He was process driven because I'm the one with sales
• 30:49
  expertise. I could see the gears working in
• 30:51
  his head and I could see the process.
• 30:54
  Then this guy was keeping it very conversational.
• 30:58
  Remember, this is how you get people to relax and to calm
• 31:01
  down. Because to be honest, I want to
• 31:04
  buy something for all, to buy better for my wife.
• 31:08
  To me, it's a foreign environment.
• 31:10
  I'm surrounded by all these women.
• 31:13
  I won't lie, I was nervous because I was, I'm a young man
• 31:16
  in the female underwear store. I didn't want people to look at
• 31:19
  me as if I'm woman rapper. You understand what I'm saying?
• 31:23
  As if I'm a useless somebody, you know?
• 31:25
  But there's a way that he just welcomed us.
• 31:29
  Put the guard down. You know, my anxieties melted
• 31:32
  away. I could now talk freely and
• 31:34
  speak my mind. If you didn't do that, like, how
• 31:38
  will I open my mouth and be discussing certain kinds of
• 31:41
  things about my wants, my wife's wants and preferences in a room
• 31:46
  full of because apart from me and my boys, everybody else,
• 31:49
  there was a woman. So to be honest, I felt out of
• 31:53
  place. So apart from the normal anxiety
• 31:55
  of when you enter inside the shop and you see everything and
• 31:57
  now thinking early, this will cost money.
• 32:02
  So kept it nice, kept it conversational.
• 32:04
  This is one reason why I keep telling you people sales has to
• 32:09
  be conversational and relaxed. Eventually we'll get to the
• 32:17
  point like when we get to the contract stage, if you need to
• 32:20
  drop contacts contracts for your business.
• 32:22
  OK, at the contract stage ahead, we can start being formal,
• 32:24
  formal, formal again and precise with language.
• 32:28
  But for the purpose of marketing, sorry for both of
• 32:32
  sales, we keep things nice. We keep things casual, we keep
• 32:36
  things conversational because as a salesperson, as the business
• 32:39
  owner, I am trying to figure out exactly what it is that they
• 32:42
  need. They will not say what is on
• 32:43
  their mind unless they're cool and they're calm and unless,
• 32:46
  well, you know, it looks as if they're talking to a reasonable
• 32:50
  somebody, another human being. He clearly did need analysis.
• 32:55
  That is why he was able to make presentations.
• 32:58
  When I asked for Brazilian, he laughed.
• 33:01
  He said Olga, the only Brazilian where I know her hair will be
• 33:05
  banged. He started asking me questions
• 33:07
  to figure out exactly what your Brazilian is now, even though he
• 33:11
  didn't have. He had some.
• 33:13
  I think he showed. I think he called them boy.
• 33:14
  Was he boy shots or something? Yeah, I think he called them boy
• 33:18
  shots. By the time I saw the boy shots,
• 33:20
  I was OK. Yeah, it's close enough.
• 33:22
  So OK. But then my wife was sorry.
• 33:25
  My sister-in-law was now like, and but don't bring this
• 33:30
  material. Bring.
• 33:31
  What does he say? Again, this is a cotton or
• 33:33
  something and there's some material that's supposed to be
• 33:34
  breathable. But you see, unlike other
• 33:38
  people, do you have Brazilian? No, we don't have conversation.
• 33:41
  And for him, do you have Brazilians, Olga?
• 33:44
  The only Brazilian way I know now hair no be pint.
• 33:47
  And then we laugh and then I say, when I say Brazilian, you
• 33:50
  know, what do you mean? He listened.
• 33:53
  He said, is it like this one? I said, OK, close enough.
• 33:57
  So he's doing need analysis. Then he put options on the
• 34:00
  table. And when I say options on the
• 34:02
  table, he literally put options on the table based on comfort.
• 34:09
  This one based on work, this one based on a shallow factor, this
• 34:14
  one based on what is raining today.
• 34:16
  This one they were on the physical table.
• 34:22
  It is from options on table that we now moved to pricing and
• 34:25
  negotiation. How much is this one for one No
• 34:28
  is to use too much. Now you didn't see that we carry
• 34:31
  10 drop it like this. OK.
• 34:32
  This one you didn't see we carry it or drop like this one.
• 34:36
  And this one you didn't see that we carry 15 or give us like this
• 34:39
  give a hair. And like I said in one hour
• 34:43
  about four or five people walked in walked out Average purchase
• 34:47
  about 100K. This animal man, middle-aged ish
• 34:55
  in woman's industry because he has a sales process for
• 35:00
  qualification and discovery, because he has a this is how
• 35:06
  he's distinguishing himself apart from other people.
• 35:09
  And I say women keep coming back to the store and I say women
• 35:12
  feel comfortable discussing all these things with him.
• 35:14
  Honestly, he's a strong man. I don't think I can be involved
• 35:16
  in this business. Honestly, I feel as if I'm a
• 35:19
  woman rapper and I don't want anybody to regard me as Zuma
• 35:21
  rapper. So sorry for those of you who
• 35:24
  are not Nigerian listeners. I know I'm using a bunch of
• 35:26
  terms that you don't understand and I will not explain
• 35:31
  deliberately just so that it doesn't affect my explicit
• 35:34
  rating for the podcast. So your qualification and
• 35:41
  discovery process is the way that you distinguish yourself
• 35:43
  from the competition and this is the reason why people keep
• 35:45
  coming back. Realize that you have a
• 35:48
  superpower. You're the subject matter
• 35:49
  expert. Be consultative, talk to people,
• 35:53
  try and figure out what it is that they want.
• 35:54
  This is the. Reason why somebody will come
• 35:56
  back in the future. Now in the future, I know that I
• 35:58
  can go back there again without my sister-in-law.
• 36:00
  Although to be honest, I'll go with my sister-in-law as my
• 36:02
  protection because the guy's a shrewd businessman.
• 36:06
  So I don't want him to collect 100K from my hand, 500K the next
• 36:09
  time I go there. So I'll go with her.
• 36:11
  She'll be my shield and my protection.
• 36:15
  But I am confident that this guy is a pro.
• 36:17
  He knows that he knows what's up.
• 36:21
  So next time I want to explore more practical options or I want
• 36:26
  to explore a shower options, or I want to explore what is rating
• 36:29
  options or this option or that option.
• 36:31
  I know that he's the guy to go and see because he's the
• 36:35
  specialist. Meanwhile, the other people who
• 36:38
  look the part that I reach out to on Instagram, clearly, I
• 36:41
  mean, they might be the one not useful to me.
• 36:45
  The one not helpful to me. Chances are I'm not going to go
• 36:48
  back there again. Now, there are a couple of
• 36:49
  things that this guy could have done better.
• 36:51
  You could have asked more questions because of our team.
• 36:53
  I would have asked when is Madame coming back?
• 36:57
  Because remember, he was trying to upsell me on bras.
• 37:00
  And since he was trying to change, I'm trying to change
• 37:03
  wifey's wardrobe. He was also talking to me about
• 37:06
  trousers for work and you know, all those other things.
• 37:08
  But I told him, look, you know what, for all those ones, I want
• 37:10
  Madame to be around. So this one, let's just keep it.
• 37:14
  Just do the butter because not to surprise him.
• 37:17
  So he didn't ask when is Madame coming back?
• 37:19
  Because we asked when Madame is coming back.
• 37:21
  You could have tried to gain an announcement.
• 37:23
  So, Madame, when is Madame coming back?
• 37:25
  Oh, she's coming back in two weeks.
• 37:28
  Around March. Something, something, something.
• 37:30
  OK. I know, I know.
• 37:31
  No problem. Let me have your phone number.
• 37:34
  Let me call you. I want to be sure that Madame is
• 37:36
  happy with everything that she has seen.
• 37:38
  Simple something. Reasonable request.
• 37:41
  So when is Madame coming back? Get a date, then collect phone
• 37:44
  number. You should always have your
• 37:46
  customers details. That is how you stay top of mind
• 37:48
  with them because it's from adding somebody on WhatsApp that
• 37:53
  you can be sharing WhatsApp status once in a while, sending
• 37:55
  the person messages on WhatsApp, stuff like that.
• 37:57
  That is how we stay top of mind. So I'm assuming he has my sister
• 38:00
  in law's contact details, but you know he didn't collect mine.
• 38:05
  So that should have been the scope that he will call back
• 38:07
  just to figure out customer success, customer satisfaction.
• 38:12
  Wifey she saw it was she happy? Yes.
• 38:14
  Does she like them? Yes.
• 38:15
  Which are the ones does she like?
• 38:18
  Which ones didn't she really like?
• 38:20
  These are this is what will affect the future
• 38:23
  recommendations that he's going to make the next time he walks
• 38:26
  into the store. So let's say for instance, now
• 38:28
  the A shower options I selected, maybe they're too risque for my
• 38:32
  wife. Now that he knows that the a
• 38:35
  shower options that we picked were too risque, next time I
• 38:37
  enter into the store, you know he will.
• 38:40
  So just something more modest. So these are some of the things
• 38:46
  they could have done. And then also when when is Madam
• 38:50
  coming back? You have a date?
• 38:52
  Was Madam happy? Yes, blah blah.
• 38:54
  We do all those issues. Then that's why you don't have
• 38:56
  the option to say hey boss should be you say you want
• 38:59
  overhaul Madam's wardrobe. Just bring her to the shop.
• 39:04
  Now I have this correct fire, fire trouser Marks and Spencer
• 39:08
  this that that come from China, come from Italy, come from this
• 39:11
  come from that we have correct work hazard.
• 39:15
  I want to show Madam and I just know that she will love it.
• 39:18
  So where can you bring Madam? So that's the only thing that
• 39:21
  was missing in this process. Advancements timelines should I
• 39:26
  figured out when wifey is coming back collect phone number always
• 39:29
  be collecting contact details for our customers so we can do
• 39:32
  relationship building, relationship nurturing.
• 39:34
  Stay top of mind then you should have done a customer success
• 39:38
  satisfaction call. And.
• 39:40
  Then advancements tried to get me and wifey to come back in the
• 39:45
  store. Well have other opportunities to
• 39:47
  sell some more. OK, sorry this has been 40
• 39:51
  minutes. Let me just bring it to a close.
• 39:54
  But I think you guys get the point of what it is that I'm
• 39:56
  trying to say. So applying these principles can
• 39:59
  be tricky. But if you need me to look at
• 40:01
  your own particular circumstances, just call me,
• 40:03
  send me a text message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 40:10
  If you want me to audit any of your business processes or your
• 40:12
  sales processes, then WhatsApp me on the same number
• 40:15
  08064662140. So that's it pretty much for
• 40:23
  today. But the main thing that I wanted
• 40:25
  to pass across for all business owners who are listening,
• 40:28
  whether you're an architect, whether you're a lawyer, whether
• 40:31
  you are environmental consultant, whether you sell
• 40:35
  welding services or you sell washing machines, or you run a
• 40:39
  neighborhood grocery store, or you sell water tanks, or you
• 40:43
  sell underwater mining equipment, or you sell tractors
• 40:49
  or trucks or whatever it is you sell, don't be an order taker.
• 40:55
  Don't just stay in the shop, stay online and then be in a
• 40:58
  situation where somebody asks do you have XYZ and the answer will
• 41:02
  be yes or no. If yes then OK you will haggle
• 41:06
  and then go by. If no then they'll say thank you
• 41:08
  and then they'll move on. You need to come up with a
• 41:11
  process for qualification and discovery.
• 41:13
  Learn to figure out what this Enquirer wants or what it is
• 41:17
  that they need. If somebody comes to your shop
• 41:19
  and they ask for the XYZ, whatever it is that you sell, it
• 41:23
  is not the XYZ that they need per SE.
• 41:25
  It is a particular need that they're trying to fulfill.
• 41:28
  Oh no, I don't have it. But if you don't mind, I'd like
• 41:32
  to figure out exactly what it is you're trying to achieve.
• 41:35
  If I can figure it out, maybe I can put some options on the
• 41:37
  table that might be able to help you.
• 41:39
  Will that be OK? Most people will say yes because
• 41:42
  they're trying to solve a problem and they say, OK, step
• 41:45
  into the store, let's have a chat.
• 41:46
  Isn't that simple? And it's asking your questions.
• 41:49
  You figure out what it is that they want, put some options on
• 41:52
  the table. From the options on the table,
• 41:53
  you begin to price and negotiate and haggle from there.
• 41:58
  You collect some money, you so collect some change.
• 42:01
  These are simple ways that we can grow our businesses by 20%,
• 42:05
  thirty percent, 50% just by having these simple processes in
• 42:10
  place. So if you've gotten value from
• 42:13
  today's episode, please connect with me, call me, send me a text
• 42:16
  message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 42:21
  Thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 42:22
  I'll catch you some other time.