Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Your Secret Weapon: Becoming the Trusted Resource in a Price-Sensitive Market

Transcript

Your Secret Weapon: Becoming the Trusted Resource in a Price-Sensitive Market · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishima Ayede.
0:05
I solve sales and marketing challenges and I'm making
0:07
today's recording from my living room.
0:10
And it's a rainy day here in Abuja, so expect to hear some
0:13
noise in the background. Now, the goal of this podcast is
0:16
not to educate you guys on Abuja weather.
0:19
The goal of this podcast is business education.
0:22
So please spread the word so that friends and family members
0:25
in Nigeria and abroad can benefit from the questions that
0:28
we tackle. They can do that by subscribing
0:31
on Spotify, YouTube, Apple or any player of their choice.
0:35
And if you'd love to connect with me, you can call, you can
0:37
SMS or you can WhatsApp me on 08064662140.
0:45
Today on the podcast, we're going to tackle a question that
0:49
I suspect is on the mind of most of you, especially those of you
0:54
who have businesses that are already running, not people who
0:57
are thinking of getting into business, but you know, you've
0:59
been running a business and things seem to be going OK
1:03
until, you know, like around that kind last election, fuel
1:07
subsidy removal, you know, all of that.
1:10
So today a question for you guys.
1:13
And the question is how do I sell effectively in a market
1:16
with low purchasing power or fluctuating economic conditions?
1:22
So let me repeat, how do you sell effectively if you've been
1:26
in business for a while and now that people have low purchasing
1:29
power because you know that there's hyperinflation in Niger
1:33
and you know, today the economy is like this.
1:35
The economy is like that, dollar is like this dollar is like
1:38
that. And trust me, it's a real thing
1:40
because, you know, I've been consulting for different kinds
1:42
of clients, you know, people who sell services, people who sell
1:45
products. So it actually is a thing that
1:47
when dollar goes from like this to like this, you start
1:49
wondering, hey, oh, we sell now before we're selling at, you
1:53
know, 950K and people are complaining now with this dollar
1:59
shift, we have to be selling at this, this, this how we're going
2:01
to do this thing. So these are questions that
2:04
people ask themselves all the time.
2:07
And if you're not there yet, don't worry.
2:08
This is one of the exciting things that we have to look
2:10
forward to in business. And you know, nothing in life is
2:14
easy. That's just how that's just how
2:16
it is. So, you know, people in
2:20
business, they're worried inflation is going on.
2:22
How do we address this? Currency devaluation is going
2:25
on. What does currency devaluation
2:27
means? I don't even understand what The
2:28
thing is here. Are we are we going to address
2:31
this? How is this going to impact our
2:33
pricing? How is this going to impact our
2:35
sales strategy? Those are some of the questions
2:38
that we are going to look at today.
2:39
Now, First off, let's look at what everybody's doing so we can
2:42
figure out what to do or what not to do.
2:47
Please, we should be learning from other people's experiences.
2:50
I'm not one of these people who believes.
2:52
Let me go ahead and make my own mistake.
2:55
And I've noticed that some young people will say, let me make my
2:57
own mistake, usually when it has to do with, you know,
3:00
relationship and sexual stuff. And in my mind, I'm thinking,
3:03
you know, you are an idiot. If there's any other aspect in
3:06
any other aspect of your life, you will say, let me make my
3:09
mistake. You will say, oh, because
3:12
cousin, you know, what you've said is true, is true, is true.
3:15
Let me avoid this thing when I, when it comes to relationship.
3:17
Oh, no, let me make my own mistakes and my mind, I'm like,
3:20
you're a bugger. You're an idiot, you know, learn
3:23
from people's experiences regardless.
3:25
Anyway, that's just a side note. So what are other people doing
3:29
now? Now we know that people have
3:33
been lowering prices left, right and centre or people have been
3:36
discounting. That's the typical response
3:38
whenever things become hard. People lower prices and people
3:42
discount because after all, they say Nigerians are price
3:45
conscious, Abby. But I mean, think of it, is
3:50
there any society where people are not price conscious?
3:53
I really wish people would stop throwing around this whole
3:55
Nigerian price sensitive thing all over the place.
3:58
If you go to India, they're not price conscious.
4:00
Or if you go to Ghana, they're not price conscious.
4:02
Or if you go to America, they're not price conscious.
4:04
Or Canada or the Uki beg, let's stop throwing up all kinds of
4:10
things that are neither here nor there.
4:12
There is no, the only difference is just that in some places
4:15
like, you know, India, Nigeria, Egypt, you know, in places like
4:22
that, you know, Malaysia, pricing is just the culture.
4:26
So people want to haggle you, you know, die.
4:29
That's that's the only thing I can give.
4:34
But when it comes to price sensitivity, price sensitivity
4:38
is a universal thing. And for those of us who studied
4:42
economics, you know, in secondary school, you know,
4:45
secondary school, you know, it's, it's a universal, what do
4:49
they call it? Price elasticity.
4:52
I think we studied on that price elasticity.
4:55
You come up with models for when you change the price to this,
4:59
how does demand shrink or how does demand expand?
5:02
So this one is just reality of life.
5:04
So or basically people lower prices and then people start
5:07
discounting. Then there's some people who
5:09
reduce quality, and then there are other people who reduce
5:14
quantity. You know, there's a difference
5:16
and I'll explain between reducing quality and then
5:20
reducing quantity. But let's start with the easy
5:23
one. Now reducing quality.
5:25
Now quality, how will I put it? Quality is when you start to
5:30
remove some of the good stuff so they can save prices.
5:34
Generally, that is a bad idea. So you'll be wondering what do
5:38
you mean by that? OK, let's take a trip down
5:40
memory lane. During the military era, as
5:45
things started to go really, really bad, you know, the
5:48
economy was really, really tanking.
5:50
It is well known and well documented even in the press
5:53
that what was this thing called? Is this Zakarin?
5:56
I think it's Zakarin. I think they used to make bread.
5:59
So in Nigeria. Now, I don't know much about
6:02
baking, but for those of you who know about baking, you'll be
6:04
able to vouch that what I'm saying is true.
6:08
So was well documented in the press and well noted by
6:11
professionals in the catering space that instead of using all
6:15
these kinds of, you know, good, good ingredients to bake bread,
6:19
what was happening was that bread bakers were going up and
6:23
up and introducing more of saccharine and other stuff into
6:29
baking is even saccharine. Let me not mislead you guys
6:32
here. Anyway, there are some kinds of
6:33
stuff, any basically that people are using as substitutes and
6:38
additives to baking. And then, you know, later on it
6:41
turned out that oh, this thing that people have been using as
6:45
additives or substitutes in baking actually have
6:48
carcinogenic properties. Like it turns out that they
6:51
could have cancer. So basically there was a time
6:56
when in Nigeria eating a giggy bread, you know, a giggy bread.
6:59
That's the one that these children go about in Lagos with
7:03
trays on their head, you know, shouting, I get Gabe ready, I
7:06
get Gabe ready. I'll be how do they say it?
7:08
I can't remember. It's been a while.
7:10
So there's a time when eating that kind of bread was fine.
7:14
You see them passing, you buy the bread, you make your camel,
7:16
you make your cost that you live a good life.
7:19
Or you see them passing, you take the bread, you walk down
7:22
the street to buy some a car. You live a good life, you enjoy
7:25
yourself. But then because of all these
7:27
things that people started adding into it because of tough
7:31
economic conditions, you know, people just stop buying.
7:34
I gave you bread. Like if you could avoid it, like
7:37
in my own house, you know, we could avoid it.
7:39
So it was a matter of look, you know what, no more I gave you
7:41
bread. Go and buy proper bread.
7:44
So it's something that has happened before and it's
7:47
something that will continue to happen that whenever times get
7:49
bad, the economy is hard, Some people will say, you know,
7:53
ordinarily I'm supposed to put three cup 3 spoons of this, 4
7:57
spoons of that. You know, they sort of put in
8:00
three spoons of, of this, let me reduce it, let me put 2 1/2.
8:05
So, you know, like that, like that, like that, that's how the
8:07
quality is going down. And even a car at some point,
8:12
you know, I heard that some people was do I know using full
8:16
beans to make their car that or using something else.
8:19
But anyway, I can't remember. And then plus this, this was a
8:21
long time ago, you know, back when I was an embryo.
8:23
So but it's just, I'm just using that as an example to let you
8:27
guys know that this is not theory.
8:29
This is what happens. It has happened in the past.
8:32
It is happening now that people are reducing quality and it will
8:35
happen in the future. Speaking of quality, this
8:37
particular brand of toilet paper that my mom likes to use, I've
8:41
never liked it because they're only expensive and I won't say
8:43
the brand's name. So I was bought their market.
8:45
But mum see people who used to like to use the brand, you know,
8:48
when all these things started, fuel subsidy, everything, you
8:51
know, they started complaining that I can't believe that my
8:53
favorite brand, that this is what they're doing, that they
8:56
started cutting down on quality. I'd be easy fake that we're
8:59
buying or what is it that is going on.
9:01
But anyway, these things happen when things get bad, there's
9:05
some people who reduce quality. Now, should we reduce quality?
9:10
I'll leave that up to those of you who I'll leave it up to
9:13
people in management to decide. But from the level of sales,
9:19
now, if they call you and they say, OK, salesperson, we're
9:21
planning on reducing quality, why should you answer them?
9:25
From the perspective of sales, reducing quality is always a bad
9:28
idea because it works against something that we call customer
9:32
retention and it erodes trust. Now this is what happens when
9:38
you reduce the quality of something.
9:39
It gives a bad user experience. Now when people have a bad user
9:47
experience, they don't hang around for too long.
9:50
That is what customer retention means.
9:52
Because in sales, we're trying to make sure that when we
9:54
acquire a new customer today, we want them to actually be our
9:57
customer for a while because it actually makes our job a whole
10:01
lot easier. If you're a salesperson and
10:04
every single week you have to go out and look for new people,
10:06
look for new people to meet your quota.
10:07
That kind of life is hard, but if you have a few people who are
10:10
your customers, you know they come in once in a while, the
10:12
call once in a while, you know, it makes your life easy.
10:15
It reduces the amount of stress on your head.
10:17
So reducing quality actually is going to put serious stress on
10:20
the sales team. So from a sales perspective,
10:24
reducing quality a bad idea. People who have a bad
10:28
experience, once they have a bad experience, they will move.
10:32
Once you're a root trust they will move.
10:35
And the whole point of sales actually is customer retention.
10:39
Get somebody and then we'll keep them as our customer for a
10:43
while, at least for, you know, 2-3 years, 567 years before they
10:47
move on, at least while they're still our customers.
10:50
You know, life will be easy, small.
10:53
So that's the whole point of sales, customer retention and
10:55
then maximizing lifetime customer value.
10:58
So that's why I keep saying on the podcast, and I want you
11:01
newbies to understand that it's not about closing the sale, it's
11:07
about opening a relationship. You can be going to be closing
11:10
sale everywhere. That's not a problem.
11:12
It's OK, it's good. What do you think about that?
11:14
Opening a relationship, that one is more profitable because if
11:17
you open a relationship, the person is around for a while,
11:20
Money is exchanging hands, you're getting referrals, people
11:23
are becoming buddies, you are becoming cool like that.
11:26
No one is the one that pays more.
11:28
So for sales, the game is always customer retention and then
11:32
maximizing customer lifetime value.
11:35
That's the amount of money that the customer will spend with you
11:38
over a certain period of time. Anything that messes with
11:42
customer retention, anything at all, it's not good for you as a
11:47
salesperson. So if your guy is thinking of,
11:49
let's say before they used to put 3 spoons of milk, 4 cups of
11:54
sugar and two cups of honey and it's OK because things are bad,
11:59
let us reduce it to one spoon of honey and two spoons of sugar.
12:04
And you know, if they're calling to the meeting, I know if you
12:08
give this advice or say a shot of what, what do you know about
12:11
production? You know, but at least if that's
12:13
their advice, you know, tell them that.
12:14
Look, OK, anything that's going to mess with customer retention
12:18
or that's going to erode trust is not a good idea.
12:21
So reducing quality, bad idea. If you listen to this podcast, I
12:26
do not expect that you will reduce quality when things get
12:29
tough. Now let's look at reducing
12:33
quantity. Now this thing of reducing
12:35
quantity, sometimes it's just a matter of, you know, how far do
12:40
as far inflation has come, things are hard, but we will not
12:45
reduce quality. So what some people do now for
12:47
those of us who like milk, you know, I don't have a choice
12:51
because well, apart from the fact that I like milk, you know,
12:53
milk for my custard and you know, milk for tea as I like
12:57
milk. As in if if I was good, I would
13:00
actually just wake up and have milk for breakfast.
13:03
Just pour milk in the cup, maybe like 8 spoons.
13:05
Then like pour hot water, pour like like four or five spoons of
13:10
sugar. Just mix everything.
13:12
Then take like 12 slices of bread and then just put butter
13:16
and jam and then just eat the whole thing.
13:18
And that's, that's my breakfast, but that's if times are good,
13:21
but times are not good. So I'm not eating like that now.
13:24
And some of you will say, glory be to God, that means I'm going
13:27
to live longer. But anyway, so for those who
13:31
also have to buy milk now because rather like milk or
13:34
because they have small children in the house, you will have
13:37
noticed that for peak milk 3 crowns and all these people, you
13:40
notice that the price is still the same.
13:42
The price has not changed. What has now changed is that
13:45
before the package used to be 420 grams.
13:48
One day you now notice this thing is looking small.
13:51
You now check, you now see that, oh, it's now 370 grams.
13:54
So those are some of the moves that these people have been
13:56
playing on us. You know, those of us who have
13:58
children, these are some of the moves we've been seeing biscuit
14:01
before that used to be, you know, 400.
14:03
Now The thing is still 400 now, but instead of the thing being
14:08
you know, 13 milligrams or whatever, I think it's now 25
14:12
milligrams. So they didn't want to increase
14:15
the price. So you will say that's also also
14:17
increased price. So what it is they left the
14:20
price the same. They now just drop the quantity
14:22
small, which is the same thing as a price increase in my own
14:26
opinion. But yeah, some people play that
14:28
game and I understand it doesn't matter of how far do this thing
14:32
has happened if we increased price while.
14:36
So let us find other ways to cope then, OK?
14:41
Now how does this affect retail performance?
14:43
Is it good? Is it bad?
14:44
To be honest, I have no idea because I am not a retail
14:48
specialist and my area of speciality is not in fast moving
14:52
consumer goods, you know, like biscuits, sugar, spaghetti and
14:57
all these sorts of things. And then I'm not an economist,
15:00
so I don't know if it's good or bad, you know, for a business,
15:02
how it affects sales, how it affects trust, you know, all
15:05
these sorts of things. So should we be doing that?
15:09
I have no idea. Just make sure you talk to a
15:12
specialist, get the best advice before you pull that trigger
15:17
when it comes to reducing quantity.
15:20
Remember quantity. So reducing quality, No, never
15:22
do that. Reducing quantity, I don't know.
15:24
Speak to a specialist. I am not a specialist, but you
15:27
know, we're looking at what people do.
15:31
And yes, there are people who definitely do that.
15:33
Now lowering prices. This is one that everybody
15:38
defaults to the lower prices. And well, I'm not in charge of
15:43
your business, so I won't tell you as a, as a standard rule
15:49
that don't really don't reduce prices.
15:52
But I will mention a few things. Don't forget that is this funny
15:56
kind of consumer, I'll be customer behaviour.
16:00
And this one also is universal, whether it is UK or whether it
16:04
is Niger or America or Malaysia or Mogadishu or you know,
16:09
whatever, this one is universal. It gets to a certain extent that
16:14
some people start asking themselves if this thing is
16:17
good, why is the price so cheap? This is something we should
16:23
avoid or playing this price cutting game because eventually
16:27
we'll enter that space that people will now start using
16:30
price as an indicator of value. You think I'm joking?
16:35
Think about it. You're listening to this
16:36
podcast, you're chilling in your house, right?
16:39
Or you're chilling in your office.
16:40
Look at the brand of AC that people are using in the office,
16:43
the Orca bought for the office. There's some kind of brands, you
16:48
know, Panasonic, what again, Panasonic, LG, you know, there's
16:54
some kind of brands and we know that they span different prices.
16:59
And you know, you know for sure that when Mumsy and Popsy were
17:04
pricing that AC, but when your guy was pricing the AC and or
17:07
not, if you listen carefully, you would have heard that even
17:12
though there are brands that cost cheaper, let's say your
17:16
boss bought Panasonic in the office.
17:19
Definitely there are other brands that costs cheaper.
17:25
Some brands from Asian countries, for instance, they
17:27
cost a lot cheaper. But at some point you all get
17:31
hard to say, you know what we want to spend, We want to save
17:35
money on the AC. It doesn't mean let's go and buy
17:37
something now. Don't not give us headache in
17:38
the future. That's why Orga said, you know
17:41
what, just give me that Panasonic, you know, do a
17:44
cheaper things. So we have these things going on
17:48
and we don't to play this price cutting game.
17:51
And then we'll now enter some kind of bands where people will
17:54
now use look at your, your product or your service and I'll
17:58
classify you as one of those. You know, like in the event
18:04
space here in Abuja, there used to be a place in area 8 or area
18:11
10 UTC, but the place has been bulldozed now because I want to
18:15
put shops there and rent out proper shops.
18:20
But there used to be photographers there, for
18:22
instance, who if you go there and you are looking at that
18:25
time, if you're looking for a photographer for maybe like 30
18:28
KAD, 20 or 30 KAD, you want to come and take picture for your
18:31
children's party. Yeah, you are photographers
18:33
there. 20K, they will agree, but they will only give you soft
18:37
copy and maybe they won't edit it.
18:40
But then if you wanted 20K30K, you will find.
18:44
So now you on the other hand, you're trying to build your
18:46
photography practice. You're finding it difficult to
18:48
secure clients and then you start dropping the price.
18:50
By the time you're dropping your price to maybe like 40K for a
18:55
soft copy, people might not start looking at you with the
18:59
same eye that they're looking at UTC people.
19:02
They'll say it's one that this guy is charging 40K30K dose I
19:06
look at you all time. So be careful because it's
19:12
universal. After a while people start
19:15
looking at price as an indicator of value.
19:22
This guy is charging 1,000,000, therefore he's approved.
19:26
This guy is charging 500K, therefore they're all right.
19:30
This one is charging 100K therefore it must be of poor
19:34
quality. I don't have one M for that top
19:37
guy, so let me just be looking for somebody within that 504
19:41
hundred So yes, customers play those games.
19:45
I don't think you should because it's not your favor.
19:50
Another reason why it's not your favorite because these
19:55
customers, I can say this from experience and I'm telling you
19:58
for free, these people that like going around buying cheap
20:02
things, those are the worst. They will demand heaven and and
20:11
earth from you. When you're thinking about it
20:15
now, I kind of understand somebody who doesn't have much
20:18
only has cobble cobble, and he's trying to manage that cobble for
20:22
the person. Even though your eye the money
20:26
is small for them, it's probably the biggest money they've ever
20:29
spent in their life. So they want to make sure that
20:31
they get the utmost, most maximum return on that expense
20:36
possible. So cheap customers, honestly,
20:41
they are a pain in the neck. And if not for the fact that
20:45
once in a while like you're broke, like you're dead broke.
20:49
You just need some quick cash even not for situations like
20:52
that. Honestly, I think sometimes
20:56
let's, let's just let's just leave those people.
20:59
They can be somebody else's headache, but they should not be
21:02
your own headache. So these low pride customers,
21:04
man, they can be hell or can be hell, but it's a good hell to
21:08
experience. Because if I'm telling you,
21:10
you've never experienced it, you understand.
21:12
But by the time you leave it 345 times, you know, now you will
21:16
know and it will help you run your business better.
21:19
So you're trying to attract certain clients of clientele
21:23
that are not part of that cheap, you know, low price level.
21:28
Then another reason why lowering price is not a good thing is
21:30
because this is a common saying in sales.
21:33
You say customers who buy own price, we leave you own price.
21:37
The person bought your product, your service, because you are
21:39
the cheapest and people have been managing to maintain some
21:43
small relationship. Next month, if somebody comes
21:46
out and the person is cheaper and it looks as if people are
21:48
the same, they will move straight, no notification.
21:53
They will just move and then they'll stop answering your
21:54
phone calls. You think, well, we're friends
21:57
now, like what happened? So customers who buy on price,
22:00
they will leave you on price. And it's confirmed there's no
22:06
customer loyalty there. There's no customer retention
22:10
there. You can't keep them.
22:11
Once somebody drops the price, they're gone.
22:14
Customer attrition is high. Attrition just means something
22:17
that happens that causes customers to bounce, causes them
22:19
to leave you. It is high.
22:21
So because all these reasons that I think lowering prices not
22:25
a good idea. But between you and me, I won't
22:29
say this from stage, but between you and me, I understand how,
22:34
you know, like things are off. You just close eye and then, you
22:37
know, you just collect one of those things because like you
22:40
need some quick cash. You know, funny enough is when
22:43
we were in law school, one of my professors, you know, he, he
22:48
told us during the class, he said, look, I'm not telling any
22:51
of you to go and do charge on bill.
22:53
So charge on bill used to be this thing back in the day.
22:56
I don't know if they still do it now when people like you're
22:59
broke. So you just go to the court or
23:01
you go to the Magistrate Court, for instance, and you see people
23:04
who show up because they don't have a lawyer or they thought
23:08
maybe they could handle it themselves.
23:09
And by the time they enter inside the court and they're
23:12
overwhelmed, they're now thinking, oh, like, they need a
23:14
lawyer. And then some people will just
23:16
go and say, oh, you know what? I can represent you.
23:19
I'll go inside the court now. I'll be your lawyer.
23:22
And what you do is you just pay me.
23:24
Thank you. Now, in legal circles, that is
23:28
regarded as very disreputable behavior because we're supposed
23:31
to be lawyers, are supposed to be professionals.
23:33
How you going to be standing outside the court and then start
23:37
hugging yourself? Like as in is it prostitution?
23:40
Like no, no, no, no, no. Like conduct yourself was on
23:42
decorum. So charge on bail was seriously
23:45
frowned upon. Seriously frowned upon because
23:48
some people will do that. You know, police come, they're
23:51
harassing you. They're going to put you before
23:53
court. You don't have a lawyer.
23:54
You just say you know what? You go and talk to the person's
23:56
relatives, you know, or you don't have lawyer.
23:58
No problem. I'm here.
23:59
You guys just give me 5K, you know, give me 10K.
24:02
I'll standing for you today and I'll do my best.
24:05
So a professor he admitted to also that in his days sometimes
24:11
when things were rough, he will go and do charge and bail.
24:15
That was one day he was able to get as much as I think he said
24:18
80K or 90K like that. He just went to the court, you
24:22
know, OK, I'll represent you. I'll represent you, you know,
24:26
1010K55K that's I was able to raise like 90 grand and then
24:30
that's all this problem. But he admitted that he did it
24:32
once and he only did it for one day only.
24:35
He admits that he felt like crap and that he felt useless and
24:38
that he felt cheap but he was able to solve his problem.
24:42
So I understand those times come where we just close that and do
24:48
this in shop shop I hope for the best.
24:51
But generally lowering prices no recommended then discounting.
24:59
As far as I'm concerned, discounting and lowering prices,
25:01
in my own opinion, they're the same.
25:04
It's just that, you know, discounting sometimes is
25:06
temporary. I drop it now to get you in, but
25:09
then it causes all kinds of problems because, you know, I
25:11
dropped the price to get you in. Now that you're in, I want to
25:14
raise it back to that normal. What The normal price causes
25:17
some tension. And then of course, customers
25:19
who buy on price live on price. So we discounted to get them.
25:22
They are now in. You want to raise it back to
25:24
normal price. There's another person who is
25:26
matching the price that was your discount offer.
25:30
Then they now leave. You know these things happen.
25:32
So generally I'll say discounting is not a good idea
25:36
to entice the sale. However, there are times when
25:42
discounting is good. OK, let me put it this way.
25:44
If you want to discount as a default to close the sale, then.
25:48
So let me check the time August after one.
25:51
I have to get moving soon. Now if you want to discount to
25:55
get the sale, as a general rule that is bad.
25:58
But if you have sat down and you have consciously thought of a
26:02
discount strategy, then typically it can make sense.
26:06
Now, this is one of those examples.
26:08
And the very first time I heard it, I was like, that has
26:12
happened to me before and that is why I'll never forget it.
26:16
So people discount, especially in the UK and in the US because
26:20
they're using it as an incentive to bring people into the shop
26:26
because they have full inventory that they want to move.
26:30
But the inventory that they're going to move now, they will now
26:32
move it at full price or at marked up price.
26:37
Let me say it again and let me slow down so that you guys get
26:40
it. For those of you who didn't get
26:41
it in America and in the UK, when they advertise 80% off, 20%
26:45
or 50% off is because they want people to rush inside the store.
26:51
Now, when people are inside the store, they now have other items
26:55
in the store that have been sitting there for a long time
26:58
and they want to move that product, but they will sell that
27:01
one at full price. Then there's some other things
27:04
that they will now sell and then now mark up the price.
27:07
So in other words, even though they discounted 80%, twenty
27:11
percent, 50% on some items, they will make it up on the other
27:16
ones that they sell at full price or that they sell at
27:19
marked up price at increased prices.
27:22
So you can see that in the UK and in the US is a strategy and
27:27
people have started using it to in certain industries here in
27:29
Nigeria. So if it is a part of a
27:33
deliberate strategy to move inventory like that, then yeah,
27:36
discounting is a good idea. Like I said, I have fallen for
27:40
it before because there's one time I had finished from work
27:45
and I was going to anyway. Let me just leave it like that.
27:50
Let me not say too much. So I finished from work now and
27:52
I was just strolling around in Marks and Spencer's and then I
27:55
saw Brazilian underwear, female underwear discounted price and I
28:00
looked at it now I calculated that based on the money that I
28:04
had in my wallet I could buy like 5 or 6 and my wife would be
28:10
very happy so and I told her no this thing is going on so no
28:16
problem let's check it out. So we went there.
28:19
Remember they say that the Brazilian underwear was
28:22
discounted at a certain amount. I can't remember.
28:27
So I now calculated in my brain that with the money I have on
28:29
hand, I can buy like 5 or 6. If I buy 6 for my wife should be
28:34
happy. That's back when we were based
28:35
in the UK. So went on this high Marks and
28:38
Spencer and then my wife was really impressed because I've
28:42
been telling her since that you know what, you have a banging
28:44
body. You know, based on what I'm
28:47
seeing, you shouldn't be wearing this style of underwear, should
28:49
be wearing Brazilian. Now Brazilian will suit you.
28:51
Well, she wasn't convinced when we enter and she saw it, she
28:56
could see, she could see the vision.
28:58
And so she was excited and we ended up carrying the six and I
29:02
was like, yeah, yes, yes, yes. I spoke my baby.
29:05
I was feeling very happy. Then by the time we got to the
29:08
counter, the rubbish sales girl that was there, as she was
29:12
packaging it, she now looked to my wife and say, oh, you do know
29:15
that we have matching, matching braze Brazil for it.
29:20
In my mind I was thinking what the hell because to be honest I
29:25
told you that based on the money that was in my hand I already
29:27
calculated that based on what I'm holding I can buy like 5 or
29:30
6 when I bought 6 I'm ready at the limit these useless sales
29:34
girl. Now say that this matching
29:37
breezy. I thought my wife was like
29:39
really? They said yes.
29:40
Now on the 1st floor come let me show you.
29:42
That's how we started going. Then my heart started beating
29:44
big big big big big. I said oh what have I entered
29:48
into? Went upstairs.
29:51
Now my wife was impressed when she saw the Brazilian underwear.
29:55
When we went upstairs and my wife saw the matching Breezy, my
29:59
wife just lost her mind. That is how we started doing
30:04
fitting, checking different ones to match the colour.
30:07
I was trying to argue small like what's the point now like you
30:10
already have Breezy at home like what's the problem?
30:12
Wife said no it has to match as it has to match.
30:14
How she say has to match. I say nobody's seen this thing
30:17
now like it's under your garment.
30:19
She said no, that me, I'm seeing if it has to match, I say, hey,
30:22
wahala. So I was sitting down there now
30:27
and then they were doing Brazil fitting and oh, that's one of
30:32
the things that my wife loves about the UK by the way, because
30:35
they're very, very attentive. If you want to go and buy
30:38
clothes in the UK, very attentive.
30:40
You go there to the changing room, they come and meet you.
30:42
They bring it different sizes. In fact, if you're a High
30:45
Roller, somebody that likes to spend money, they won't bring
30:48
you some tea and some biscuits and you know, as a real fancy
30:51
treatment, correct treatment. So after doing that, now we're
30:55
able to find the matching Brizzy for all of them.
31:00
And I was in a bind. That's OK.
31:01
What I'll do is I'll pay cash for the undies, then for the
31:08
Brizzy, I'll put it on the card. So that's how I was able to
31:13
escape that situation. But you see what they did, They
31:17
advertised Brazilian on these at Social Sound.
31:20
So discount so that foolish young men like me will say, ah,
31:25
I can buy something for my wife. I was saving or doing discount.
31:29
And then the scope is by the time anybody gets to the
31:32
counter, if Madame is there, you will now point out to Madame
31:35
that oh we have matching. Breezy is on the 1st floor.
31:38
You now have to take them past ground floor where the discount
31:43
was. You go into first floor where
31:44
everything is full price. Some things have been marked up
31:51
and of course you know, you females listening, you know,
31:53
there is not only the breezy. We ended up buying because we're
31:56
on the 1st floor and there's some other nice stuff there.
31:58
So we ended up buying some nice things as well.
32:01
So my wallet was not smiling at the end of the day, but my wife
32:05
was very happy. So anyway, mission accomplished
32:09
because she was happy even though my wallet was not
32:12
smiling. So you can see that Marks and
32:15
Spencer's next. All these other people, by the
32:19
way, I hear that Marks and Spencer's are shut down.
32:20
I don't know if that's the case because, you know, I don't keep
32:23
in touch with fashion and all that.
32:24
But if it's true, let me know. So that is the deliberate
32:29
strategy that these businesses are using.
32:33
We have inventory, we have Brazil, we haven't sold.
32:36
We have winter clothes, we have this clothes, we have that that
32:39
we haven't sold. So what we'll do is we'll
32:41
declare sales and put everything on ground floor.
32:44
People will rush once they are now inside, we can now show them
32:48
other things that they will buy at correct price or mark top
32:51
prices and then we will make the balance.
32:56
In Nigeria, they have started doing it now to back to school
32:59
retailers. That's for those of us who have
33:01
children. The shop might declare 50% off
33:05
for sandals now. One has happened to me as well.
33:09
And so we're rushing there because of 50% for sandals.
33:13
And then we will go and pack a bunch of sandals.
33:18
But then my wife will notice that, oh, these school bags look
33:21
nice. And then I'll say the school
33:23
bags that we have at home, they're OK, there's no problem.
33:26
Now what is it? They'll say, look, what's the
33:28
children are starting the new year.
33:29
How can they start a new year with the old school bag?
33:31
But I'm like, there's no problem with the old bag.
33:35
No, we have to get new school bags.
33:37
And then of course, new school bag is how much full price from
33:41
there you will see water bottle. From there you will see toys
33:45
from there you will see this, you will see that.
33:47
So Nigerian retailers, they have started catching up to this
33:50
thing. Back to school retailers
33:52
specifically, I've noticed. So I've decided that the next
33:55
time they say 50% off on school sandals, I've decided I will go
33:59
there myself. I'll just tell my wife, select
34:01
the ones you want. I'll go there and buy it because
34:04
if I go with her, I know to be a disaster, we will go there.
34:06
The sandals will be half price, but then the bag will be full
34:09
price, the water bottle will be full price, everything else will
34:13
be full price and they will end up spending more than we have
34:17
planned. So this is when discounting is
34:21
good, you're using it as a deliberate strategy to move
34:25
inventory. If this is not part of your
34:27
strategy, discounting is bad and you're opening yourself up to
34:31
all those other issues that we mentioned when we're talking
34:34
about reducing your price. So now as a salesperson, what is
34:39
the only option? The reason why I say as a
34:43
salesperson is because for management, management can
34:45
decide to do whatever they want. You can tell management this is
34:48
a bad idea, but they can say I don't care, let's reduce
34:50
quality. So it's not really in your hand.
34:54
But let's say you're the owner of the business and you want to
34:59
make this decision from a sales and business development
35:02
perspective. What's your only option?
35:04
The only option is to make yourself the distinguishing
35:07
factor. People should buy the product or
35:10
the service because it is you who is selling it.
35:14
Hope you guys are paying attention.
35:16
Make yourself the distinguishing factor because that's the only
35:19
thing that will be constant whether the economy is good or
35:22
the economy is bad. So you have to be the
35:26
distinguishing factor. I mean, think about it.
35:31
Take for instance, those of you listening to this podcast,
35:33
there's some of you who listen to this.
35:35
We've ended up doing business a couple of times.
35:37
You trust me, I am now the distinguishing factor.
35:42
You're not with me because of the price.
35:46
So even if you come across another consultant who is
35:49
cheaper, there's some of you who will still stick with me because
35:53
I have become the distinguishing factor.
35:56
It's the same for your businesses.
35:58
You have to become the distinguishing factor.
36:02
People have to buy from you because it is you, because you
36:05
are that correct guy or you are that correct babe.
36:09
So excuse me, You have to become their guy or their babe.
36:13
You have to become a trusted resource.
36:16
And that's the whole point of this podcast.
36:18
Over 1000 episodes and I keep talking about these things.
36:20
Have a sales process. Figure out a way to gain
36:23
people's trust, become an advocate, anticipate people's
36:26
problems, help solve customer problems, become a valuable
36:29
asset to people so that when things are up or when things are
36:34
down, it will still be you. Me personally, I'm going through
36:36
it right now. Things are tight.
36:38
Need to go and fix the engine seating on the car.
36:41
So yes, there will be another, there will be another podcast
36:44
episode where, you know, I'm, I'm at the mechanic shop.
36:46
For those of you who like that episode, I want to be back there
36:48
soon, you know, but me and this guy, we've had a relationship
36:53
and I've seen that he's the only one that has solved my problem.
36:55
Other mechanics, you go there, you want to fix my problem.
36:59
Another complication issues. Now this mechanic is expensive
37:02
because the guy went to school. And mechanics that went to
37:06
school, they're very expensive, you know.
37:08
But what can I say? He went to school, he knows his
37:10
work, so he can tell you, he can diagnose.
37:15
This is the problem. If we fix this, that's the end.
37:18
And that's why I like working with him.
37:20
It's just that the guy is expensive anyway, what do you
37:25
expect? If you go and meet a mechanic
37:27
who went to school, who actually went to university, who went to
37:29
go and read everything, What do you expect?
37:31
But anyway, at least with these kind of mechanics, the ones will
37:35
go school one is 1. You won't go and fix this
37:39
problem. And then tomorrow there now be
37:40
another problem. So because he's my guy, because
37:46
he's a useful resource, I decided that instead of me going
37:48
somewhere and doing for cheap, let me just maintain.
37:52
When I arrange the money, I'll call him.
37:53
So I send him a message today, as in bro, I didn't forget to,
37:57
I'll be with you soon. Just remind me again how much it
38:00
is so that before I come, I'll transfer.
38:05
That is what you should be aiming for.
38:07
What this mechanic, the mechanic will go school.
38:09
What this mechanic is doing. That is what I'm saying you
38:12
should do for your business as well.
38:14
What I'm trying to do with the podcast and with the way that I
38:17
do business with my customers, that is what you should be doing
38:19
as well. People should buy because it is
38:24
you and because of how you do business.
38:32
Apart from that, price sensitive people ignore them.
38:37
I beg. They come and they go.
38:38
I really don't think that was the hassle.
38:40
Just ignore. So make yourself the
38:44
distinguishing factor and then hold your course and wait
38:49
because the market will rebound. This thing happens.
38:52
It's up and down and up and down and up and down.
38:54
So I told you guys about I get your bread saccharine and all of
38:58
that. When I was still an embryo, that
39:00
was a down. And then guess what?
39:03
The economy picked up. When the passenger came in, the
39:05
economy was up. So just one of those things up,
39:08
down, up, down, up, down, up, down.
39:09
It's a cycle. That's how it happens.
39:11
So right now, hyperinflation, economy down, but guess what?
39:16
It's going to pick up. I don't know when, I don't know
39:19
how, but it will. So wait for the rebound.
39:23
That's just how economies are. Now, The thing is, if we end up
39:28
like how Zimbabwe was in the 90s, OK, then in that case, let
39:31
all of us Jack back. It means that the country is
39:33
going to crap. But outside of those kinds of
39:37
scenarios of hyperinflation where like in Zimbabwe do our
39:40
buying, you know, a loaf of bread for $1000, Excuse me, was
39:45
it, I think was it dollars or so Zimbabwean dollars or something?
39:49
But there's one time when do buying bread for like $1000 or
39:52
something. So outside of those kinds of
39:55
scenarios, the economy is going to improve.
39:57
And if you keep on doing good business, you keep on doing good
40:00
sales practice and people are buying because it's you, you
40:03
will end up capturing market share.
40:05
Like think of this, my mechanic friend, for instance, while we
40:08
go school, he's maintaining his business, He's not dropping the
40:13
prices. In fact, he increases prices
40:17
because let's be honest, you know, you must survive as the
40:19
economy's hard for everybody's hard for him as well.
40:22
So he increased his prices and he's staying there.
40:26
When the economy rebounds, our things are good.
40:30
People will remember that. This is the guy who knows what's
40:33
up. So there are lots of people who
40:35
left because times are tough. They will come back when the
40:38
economy rebounds, you'll find that you would have captured
40:42
market share. So that's the scope.
40:46
Make yourself the distinguishing factor, stay your course, keep
40:49
your prices there as they are. In fact, some people will say,
40:53
and I agree with them, raise your prices even if it is small.
41:00
I think that's the best thing to do, quite honestly.
41:04
So before we leave, let's do one more case study.
41:07
Since we've known mechanic, let's do one more case study.
41:10
The last person that I chatted with was someone who has a
41:13
business for writing CVS and he targets CV.
41:17
You know as aspire curriculum Vt.
41:19
You know, the paper that you need when you're going to get a
41:20
job and he's targeting NYSE people.
41:24
So now if you're in this kind of business, if you lower your
41:28
price and you discount, you will attract troublesome customers
41:31
that can never be satisfied. And writing CV is hard work.
41:36
You don't want to put in all that hard work.
41:38
And then somebody start complaining me, me, me, me, me,
41:40
me, me, me, me, me. I mean, that's not that's,
41:42
that's, that's a hard life. So if you're in that kind of
41:46
business, please do not lower your price, do not discount,
41:49
maintain your price or better yet, raise your price.
41:52
In fact, the young man who reached out to me, after putting
41:54
in all the work, he decided he was going to raise his price.
41:57
And I was very happy, at least I didn't have to have that
42:01
conversation with him. He decided on his own that he
42:03
has to raise the price and was very happy.
42:05
So raise your price because you have to survive the way the
42:08
times are hard for everybody, that's the way the time is hard
42:10
for you as well. So raise your price and then
42:15
prospect hard into other segments that are not as price
42:19
sensitive. So if NYSE people are too price
42:22
sensitive, then expand. Look for all that customers who
42:25
need CV writing services then to make yourself the distinguishing
42:31
factor, you try and anticipate people's problems.
42:33
You try and provide value in his own case.
42:36
In fact, I was like this guy will go far.
42:39
You really, really go far. Because I didn't have to tell
42:41
him this, He was able to figure out that people who write their
42:45
CVS normally, for some reason their LinkedIn is not optimized.
42:50
So he has started advising some people that, look, it's not just
42:52
about CV, you got to optimize your LinkedIn because people who
42:55
are doing job recruitment these days will not only look at your
42:58
CV, they'll go and check your social media and it's somehow if
43:01
you're LinkedIn especially is not up to par.
43:06
So he has started offering that as an extra service.
43:09
He's anticipating problems that people are going to have and
43:13
he's providing value. I wrote, I write your CV, I
43:17
optimize your social media handles, optimize your LinkedIn.
43:22
Therefore, some other people, he's now thinking of doing some
43:24
interview coaching. When you're going for interview,
43:26
this is how you prepare. These are the questions that
43:28
they may ask, you know, blah, blah, blah.
43:30
You can figure out some of these things out, especially now,
43:32
which are GPT. You can come with a list of
43:34
questions and role play with the person.
43:36
So interview coaching that you know that is 1.
43:40
So instead of somebody like in this kind of business dropping
43:44
your prices and discounting and getting customers that will
43:47
never be satisfied, stay the course or raise your prices,
43:51
offer other valuable services like optimizing people's
43:55
LinkedIn handles and maybe doing interview coaching.
43:58
You're doing good business. People are remaining with you.
44:01
They will refer you when the economy improves.
44:08
You will be set apart from other people who are competition in
44:14
your space because you've been doing business differently and
44:18
you will not be getting referrals from quality
44:21
customers, the people who stuck with you while things are OK.
44:25
It's like this. My mechanic now, honestly
44:27
speaking, I can't refer him to anybody else because you know,
44:30
he's on the high side. Whenever things improve and the
44:33
money is flowing and or whatnot. If any of my guys asked me,
44:35
look, do you know any mechanic who one is one that we did touch
44:39
my car one time will solve the problem.
44:40
Of course, confidently I'll be able to here.
44:43
You can try, you can try movie, but you know, movies a bit
44:46
expensive, but you know try him. He's my guy.
44:48
All right, so it's almost an hour.
44:53
So that's it. And that is all on the question.
44:56
Remember, if you'd love to connect with me then call SMS or
44:59
WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Thank you for your time and
45:05
attention. I'll catch you next time.
45:08
Same place in your headphones or in your speakers.