Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Unlocking True Sales Online: Need Analysis to Lasting Relationships

Transcript

Unlocking True Sales Online: Need Analysis to Lasting Relationships · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Taking today's recording at my
• 0:04
  desk and the in laws at home. So I expect to hear some
• 0:07
  interruptions in the background. Now the goal of this show is
• 0:10
  free business education. So this is your first time of
• 0:12
  listening to the show. Don't be scared, you're in the
• 0:14
  right place and remember to share, promote and talk about
• 0:18
  the show so that your friends and family members in Nigeria
• 0:20
  and abroad can benefit from the questions that we tackle.
• 0:24
  How can they do that just by subscribing Spotify, YouTube,
• 0:28
  Apple or any player of their choice.
• 0:30
  And if you in particular, dear listener, have any sales and
• 0:34
  marketing related questions, then bring them to me.
• 0:37
  Call, SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140.
• 0:45
  Now today on the show, we're going to look at whether your
• 0:48
  website can sell for you because I have been seeing some of those
• 0:54
  posts recently about how you know all these posts now they
• 0:59
  just give you the impression that shy if you set up a website
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  and you follow one or two best practices, then you know that's
• 1:04
  it easy sales is going to come. So I'm going to look at this
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  question now kind of website sell for you.
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  Can you delegate your selling responsibility to a website?
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  Because that's practically what lots of you are trying to do.
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  Set up the website, somebody pings you, send them to the
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  website, the website will sell them on your product or service,
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  Then they come back to you and the only question is what's your
• 1:29
  account number, how to transfer? So can a website do that?
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  I'm going to try and give it the most honest and fairest
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  assessment that I can and I'm going to try and acknowledge
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  both sides of the equation. Now because of that, this is
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  going to be a 2 parter. So today I'm going to look at
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  whether website can sell for you.
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  And then tomorrow we're going to look at websites architecture
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  that you can use to get more people to buy from you or you
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  know, website architecture they can use to facilitate sales.
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  So I'm going to try and be fair, but let me start off by
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  answering the question kind of websites sell for you and the
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  answer is capital N&O. The answer is no, because
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  selling is something that is active and not passive.
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  So please perish the thought that there's some passive thing
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  that you're going to do and put out into the world that is going
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  to obviates or reduce the need for you to sell.
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  That is not going to happen. There are a couple of things
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  that you can put out there that will increase know like and
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  trust or that will help enhance business conversations.
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  But the opportunity, Abbey, should I say the opportunity,
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  the responsibility for selling is going to rest with you
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  ultimately and it's going to rest with the conversation
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  ultimately, whether the conversation is had over the
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  phone or whether the conversation is going to be had
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  over an e-mail or Adm or whatever.
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  But selling ultimately involves having some sort of a
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  conversation. Now, yes, there are situations
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  when people don't need to talk to anybody because they know
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  exactly what they want and then they just go and they pay.
• 3:28
  When that happens, at least in the sales community, we do not
• 3:32
  consider that a sale. We just consider that you have
• 3:36
  taken an order, which is the reason why people who work at
• 3:41
  Auntie Anne, Joby's Kitchen or Tasty Fried Chicken, all these
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  places, traditionally we don't consider those people to be
• 3:49
  sales people because they are there.
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  You just roll up and tell them give me fried rice, give me 3
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  chicken and give me two more money and they say OK, thank
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  you. Would there be anything else?
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  And they say thank you, Sir, the collection money, they give you
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  your food. So traditionally we do not call
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  back sales. We just call that order taking
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  because somebody just showed up. He doesn't need to talk to
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  anybody. He already knows that he wants 5
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  marmorie, 6 chicken, 1 Jalof rice, one fried rice, one big
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  Coke, 1 medium Fanta, and 6 Scotch eggs.
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  Just in case you're wondering if somebody can eat that.
• 4:31
  Yes, I can. I can eat all that.
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  So if you took a note of that and I happen to be in your city
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  and you and I are chilling and you want to test me, just try me
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  order everything exactly as I've said and I'll finish it in your
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  very presence. Yes, I like food.
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  So we do not call that sales, we just call it order taking.
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  So yes, there's something you can do to your website to
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  facilitate order taking, which is exactly what happens on
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  Amazon because some of you will say websites can sell, Amazon is
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  selling. No, Amazon is not selling.
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  The website is hooked up. The architecture is tight.
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  The web architecture and everything is hooked up to
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  facilitate the taking of an order.
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  There is no selling that is going on.
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  So can you do some things to your website to facilitate the
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  taking of an order? Yeah, sure you can do that, but
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  the website is not going to sell for you.
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  Some of you might say I'm splitting hairs, but anyway, no
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  Allah, let's just move on with the question now.
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  The reason why I say selling is active and not passive is
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  because selling involves need analysis, trying to figure out
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  what it is that your customer wants or need.
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  Sorry, one moment I have to attend to something.
• 5:51
  OK, sorry about that. I'm back.
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  Like I said, the in laws are around so I just wanted to be
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  sure that they didn't need me for anything.
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  Where was I? So the things that are involved
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  in selling. So First off need analysis
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  because you need to figure out what's going on.
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  Who is this person? What is it that they need?
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  Because it is only when you know what they need that you can get
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  into problem solving mode and start making recommendations
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  that have you thought of this, Have you thought of this?
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  Have you tried this? What about trying this?
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  If you do this on these terms and at this price, we can
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  deliver you this value to solve this problem or to achieve this
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  result. So selling involves need
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  analysis involves problem solving because you're trying to
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  figure out what it is that is going on.
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  Then you can make an adequate proposal or an appropriate
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  proposal or a relevant proposal or a recommendation or a sales
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  page or whatever it is that people call it.
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  That is what goes into selling. Your website cannot do need
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  analysis. Your website cannot do problem
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  solving. Your website cannot make a
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  relevant proposal. You can set up a website so that
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  somebody who has already figured out all of these things on their
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  own can go ahead and just place the order.
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  It does not mean that when the person places the order and they
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  receive the product that they'll be happy with what they've
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  gotten. Because those of us who have
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  bought from Amazon a couple of times in the past, we all
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  realise when we place an order, Amazon is far self Jumia.
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  You place an order on Jumia, the thing arrives, and then you
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  realize that this thing is not quite what I thought it was, and
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  you're not feeling like an idiot because you already paid for the
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  thing and it's now here in the house.
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  That has happened to me in the past.
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  I needed to buy some sort of adapter or converter that would
• 7:51
  allow me to hook up my children's computer to the TV.
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  Because for the kids, we bought a, what's it called, a
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  Chromebook, an HP Chromebook. And then it doesn't connect
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  through HDMI to the TV. So I needed to buy some sort of
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  an adapter. I looked at something I thought
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  was going to work. I placed the order, thing came
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  here and what do you know? I got the wrong thing called up.
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  Was it Jumia, a big Conger? I can't remember.
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  They put me in touch with the with the merchant.
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  And as the merchant is concerned is like Bros, you don't buy
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  them. So it's up to you.
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  It's not as if The thing is broken.
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  Is the thing broken? No.
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  Is it the right thing with Bros as your problem?
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  It's not my problem. So that's how that thing ended.
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  Now you see why sales is valuable and you see why some of
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  us say that sales is, Yeah, already said, valuable value
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  additive, because the salesperson would have started
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  off that conversation by saying, oh, OK, I know how our Bros
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  here, we have so, so and so. Oh, by the way, what do you want
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  to do with it? OK, You want to connect your
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  laptop to the TV and what kind of laptop and Chromebook?
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  Ah Bros, I'm not sure. Chromebook, Chromebook,
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  Chromebook. Anyway, I suppose consider this,
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  think about this, think about that.
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  Maybe this one, maybe this one, maybe that one.
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  I wish we tested. You see, these are the kinds of
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  conversations that you would have if, let's say, you decided
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  to go to Computer Village to go and talk to somebody before you
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  buy that kind of cable. And in Abuja, we don't have
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  Computer Village. Well, at the time I didn't know
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  that we have computer village. So I'm in these Banux and then
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  there's this place in Area 3, I think we call it like GSMGSM
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  village or something. So, but at the time I didn't
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  know that that place existed. So you can see that there we
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  have a true selling function. There's another human being who
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  is there and who has an an incentive to try and figure out
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  what is it that this person who is in front of me actually need?
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  What are they trying to achieve? Can my product or my service
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  help them fulfill that? Do I have the inventory to match
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  this person's need? Because especially for those of
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  you who live in Lagos have gone to Computer Village, you know
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  that those Computer Village boys, they're not just trying to
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  collect your money now. They actually want you to be
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  happy. So that next time you want to
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  buy a new cable, next time you want to buy a new phone, next
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  time you want to buy a new console, next time you want to
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  buy a new computer, you come back and you go straight to
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  their shop. That is what sales is about.
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  So please do not abrogate the responsibility of selling to
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  your website, I beg of you. But anyway, tomorrow we're also
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  going to look at the architecture that you can hook
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  up on your website to make sure that your website can facilitate
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  the taking of orders. But still, it would help and
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  you'll be nice if you try and in search yourself somewhere and
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  get involved in sales, because there's no point in people going
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  on the website buying something, discover that they don't need it
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  and you're not a helpful resource after all, and then
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  they forget about you. Let's not be.
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  What's the expression, cobo Wise, narrow, foolish.
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  You collect some small coins on the front end, but then you
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  limit opportunities for raking in profits on the back end in
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  future transactions anyway. So if you, or rather if I am
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  insisting that websites don't sell, then essentially what does
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  a website do? So I've said that websites can
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  facilitate the taking of orders or you can use websites to
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  provide leads. That I think is the best way for
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  you to use websites. Remember, I'm talking about
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  small and medium scale enterprises now.
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  I'm talking about people like you or me.
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  I'm talking about people who are moving, moving a few hundreds of
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  thousands if you millions, maybe maybe even up to 10s of
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  millions. I'm not talking about large
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  enterprises on the level of Amazon.
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  When you get to the level of Amazon Jumia Conga, yes, it's a
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  different ball game altogether. But until we get to that level,
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  what we should be using our website to do is to collect
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  leads. Now, a lead is simply a person
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  that has done something, taken some action, done something,
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  gone somewhere, done something to show that they might be
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  interested in your product or your service.
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  They have given some kind of signal, they have shown some
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  kind of interest. They have given a sign that
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  there might be some problem or that they have some kind of a
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  vision that your product or service can solve.
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  That is the best way to use the website so that when these
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  people give the signal, give the sign and you're able to have a
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  conversation with them. How will I put it anyway, when
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  they indicate and then you're able to now have a conversation
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  with them. There should be, there could be
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  profitable opportunities for closing a deal.
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  But remember that in sales, traditionally we're not
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  concerned about the 1st order. We're trying to see how we can
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  get a repeat customer and how to get some repeat business and
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  referrals. Which is the reason why I think
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  the best way to use your website is to generate leads, have
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  profitable conversations with, do relationship building and
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  nurturing good customer service processes so that the person
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  comes back tomorrow, next month, next year, and eventually they
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  bring their friends, their family members and their
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  associates. So please, if you have a website
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  and everything is set up nicely, somebody buys on it.
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  Can you say that a sale has been done?
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  No, the sale has not been done. What happens is just that the
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  person has made a purchase and purchases are not very
• 14:00
  convenient avenues for building customer loyalty, which is why
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  I'm saying we need to insert the selling function somewhere.
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  So they have made a purchase. The reason why they have made
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  the purchase is because the website architecture has been
• 14:15
  set up correct and so the website has been instrumental to
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  getting people to place an order.
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  Another reason why I say this shouldn't be the distinguishing
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  part of your business is because when it comes to website
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  architecture, The thing is somebody can out architecture
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  you tomorrow, somebody can out, you know, raise more finances
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  and build a mortgage bound website over you.
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  So if the website is the key distinguishing factor, then your
• 14:49
  competition can come and they can't overtake you.
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  Of course, some of you who say people like Amazon are really,
• 14:56
  really entrenched and Jumia and Conga, yeah, they really are.
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  So in order to out compete them, you'd have to raise lots of
• 15:04
  money anyway. The journey will be hard, but
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  we're not at that level yet. So at this level, at the SME
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  level, if your website, if the gish boundary of your website is
• 15:15
  the compelling thing, somebody can automotive you in the
• 15:19
  future. So selling involves actual
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  relationships. These relationships are what
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  create a competitive Moat. Competitive mode just means what
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  do you have in your business that stops your competition from
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  coming in and stealing your customers.
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  At the SME level, it is these relationships that we have that
• 15:45
  form a competitive mode amongst other things of course.
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  So the challenge for the SME, for the self-employed person,
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  for the sole proprietor. You have a small team, you know,
• 15:57
  5 people selling for you, maybe 10 people selling for you.
• 16:01
  We should be using your sales process the way that you sell to
• 16:06
  be a distinguishing factor for the business because selling
• 16:10
  involves actual relationships and that is what is going to
• 16:15
  distinguish your business from the competition because at some
• 16:19
  point, everything is kind of like a commodity.
• 16:25
  Anyway, let me stop here since I said we're going to look at
• 16:28
  website architecture tomorrow, let me just treat that tomorrow
• 16:33
  instead of going on. And then next thing this becomes
• 16:34
  a 45 minute episode. So tomorrow we're going to look
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  at the things that you can put on your website that will make
• 16:42
  it easy for people to make a purchase.
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  So I hope I've been fair with my treatment.
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  Treatment of the question, can the website solve for you?
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  No, you're responsible for the selling.
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  You should in fact insert a human element at some point to
• 17:00
  facilitate the actual selling because we're trying to make
• 17:06
  sure that people buy and they're happy and that they come back.
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  However, if you do do, if you do not give a hoot about selling
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  and you just want to set up the website so that the websites
• 17:18
  makes it easy for people to just make a purchase and be gone, no
• 17:21
  problem. We'll deal with all that
• 17:23
  tomorrow and we'll try and figure out the factors that you
• 17:25
  need to have on your website to get people to do precisely that.
• 17:29
  So that's all for today folks. Remember, if you have any sales
• 17:33
  and marketing questions, then bring them to me.
• 17:36
  You can call, you can SMS or WhatsApp on 08064662140.
• 17:42
  Thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 17:44
  I'll catch you, dear listener, at the next episode.